The conversations you need to have within the first few months of returning to work

Key takeaways

• Proactively think about what flexibility you need and be prepared to talk about it with your employer.
• Have an open conversation with your employer about your 'non-negotiables', such as being there for your child at a certain time or on a certain day. 
• Set up times for regularly check-ins to keep the conversation going. 

As a working parent it's likely you'll need to have a few conversations with your employer, and not all of them will feel easy. However regular communication is essential as your needs (and your baby’s needs) are going to change constantly throughout early parenthood.   

You might like to cover all the topics below in one conversation, or raise them at a time that is relevant for you.  

Flexibility  

Employees who are parents or responsible for the care of a child who is school-age or younger can request flexible working arrangements. To be eligible to request flexible work under the Fair Work Act, you must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months on a full-time or part-time basis. Long-term casual employees with a reasonable expectation of ongoing employment are also eligible.  

There are many different types of flexible work, but the following examples are some of the more common arrangements:  

• Changed starting and finishing times. 

• Part-time work or job sharing. 

• Working more hours over fewer days. 

• Working additional hours to make up for the time taken off. 

• Taking rostered days off in half days or more flexibly. 

• Time off work instead of overtime payments. 

• Changing work location or the need to travel to work (for example, working from home).  

Before discussing your flexibility needs with your employer, consider what you are trying to achieve. Worried about missing pickup time because of traffic? Want to be home in time to bathe the kids? Or do you feel the need to balance your time more generally between work and home? Flexibility takes many forms and it’s helpful to keep an open mind while exploring the possibilities.  

Next, be careful not to assume what options are or aren’t available to you. Your employer can’t read your mind, so be proactive and think about what you want to accomplish in this phase of your working life.   

You might want to reinforce to your employer that discussing flexibility or the logistics of your re-entry doesn’t make you any less committed to your job. Be prepared in these conversations to let them know what opportunities you would like to be considered for and, alternatively, anything off the cards for now (e.g. interstate travel, 7.30am meetings). Again, managers aren’t mind readers so don’t expect them to know what you are and aren’t able to do. 

Support plans 

Your support plan is primarily a tool for you, so there’s no need to take your employer through it step by step, however you might need to convey what plans are in place around logistics, and how you’d handle certain situations.   

Think about what’s important to you (your ‘non-negotiables’). You might need to be the one to pick up your sick child from daycare, or perhaps you need to leave early each Tuesday to relieve the nanny or carer. Maybe Saturday swim lessons with your baby are your favourite time of the week. Run through your supports and open a conversation about the realities of your new priorities and boundaries with your employer.  

Staying connected  

Around this time, it’s essential to set up regular meetings (ideally, your employer is following the steps in our parental leave toolkit for managers) to regularly check in. These meetings are designed to remove any barriers to having effective conversations and raise any support you might need as you return to work.  

Soon after returning from leave, many new parents often start considering leaving the workforce, sometimes without even talking to their employer to see if there are solutions to their life-work challenges. That’s why having an open dialogue with your employer is crucial to staying connected in these first months back.   

Life-work logistics during the first few months  

Returning to work after baby has arrived can be hard, and it’s likely your plans and preferences will flex a little over the first few months.  You might want to work from home to support breastfeeding or be more present for another parent. If this is the case, you may need to ask for accommodation or requirements such as remote access or temporary work adjustments. Knowing this period of time might be a bumpy ride, you might want to discuss what tasks are critical in the first few months of your return versus the not-so-urgent components of your role.   

Now that you know the topics you need to cover, you might want to think about how you'll set boundaries as a working parent.