{"id":3911,"date":"2021-03-11T11:57:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T16:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/birthyoudesire.com\/?p=3911"},"modified":"2022-05-01T10:38:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:38:44","slug":"planning-your-maternity-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/birthyoudesire.com\/planning-your-maternity-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do You Need A Maternity Leave Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why Do You Need A Maternity Leave Plan\"\"<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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I am thrilled to announce that Mindful Return now offers an official Mindful Return Maternity Leave Template<\/a>, to help you be intentional, structured, and professional about your upcoming leave.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why bother presenting your employer with such a document?\u00a0 \u00a0Don\u2019t take it from me that it can help you up to your game in your workplace.\u00a0 Take it from Jewelyn Cosgrove, the working mama whose plan formed the basis for Mindful Return\u2019s template.\u00a0 Here are her thoughts on the benefits of presenting your employer with an official plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

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As a career-driven woman, I had a lot of anxiety heading into motherhood.\u00a0 The stories of mothers\u2019 experiences finding a safe and sanitary place to pump.\u00a0 The data showing working mothers are often passed over for promotions or raises.\u00a0 The inflexibility often leads to women taking time away from their careers when they start their families.\u00a0 All of these things left me extremely nervous about my future as a working mom.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not to be concerned when you hear some of the horror stories.\u00a0 And when the success stories aren\u2019t widely discussed.\u00a0 The post-maternity leave world seems daunting enough without adding the stress of career stagnation and wage gaps!<\/p>\n

I remember feeling a lot of stress about whether or not my absence would be noticed.\u00a0 Does that sound ridiculous?\u00a0 Or maybe it sounds familiar.\u00a0 I remember not wanting to let go of my major projects.\u00a0 And wondering what would happen to them while I was gone.\u00a0 I remember not knowing when I would be getting back to the office \u2013 the nature of my leave, of course, is somewhat unpredictable.<\/p>\n

I was anxious because I did not feel in control<\/a>.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t know what would happen while I was gone \u2013 with myself or with my job.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like that feeling.<\/p>\n

Starting a family \u2013 or expanding a family \u2013 is a really huge life event.\u00a0 Parenthood is a value to our society\u00a0and to our workplaces<\/a>. \u00a0 A lot of the stresses around employer-based maternity leave stem from a lack of information.\u00a0 Because there is no standard process in place in our country, parental leave differs depending on what state you live in, the size of your employer, and the generosity of your leadership.\u00a0 Not only does that leave you in a bind, but it leaves your employer with a lot of unanswered questions, too.<\/p>\n

It occurred to me, after a few weeks of stressing and feeling like there wasn\u2019t much I could do to prepare for my leave, that the problem was I didn\u2019t have a plan for how I, as an employee, wanted to manage my workload, accessibility on maternity leave, or my reentry to work when I was ready.\u00a0 On top of that \u2013 neither did my employer, really!\u00a0 From a human resources perspective, they had a policy.\u00a0 They had my job description.\u00a0 And they knew who my supervisor was.\u00a0 But did they have everything they needed to prepare for my absence?<\/p>\n

At this point, I stopped fretting and started planning. Your employer needs to know a number of things to adequately plan for coverage of your job while you\u2019re out.\u00a0 These include the status of current projects, how to manage new projects, your daily job duties, and when they can expect to be back at full staffing strength.<\/p>\n

Proactively addressing these areas is one way to assure your employer that you will be back.\u00a0 It\u2019s a way to set expectations around your return and ongoing work duties.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a way to earn your employer\u2019s trust by speaking to their needs.\u00a0 You\u2019re dedicated to your career.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you\u2019re doing the job you do (and why you\u2019re reading this article).<\/p>\n

But planning your maternity leave has an important role for you, too.\u00a0 Going through this planning process gave me the peace of mind that I\u2019d adequately prepared for being out of the office for an extended period of time.\u00a0 It also helped keep me from feeling as though I\u2019d left my colleagues in a lurch.\u00a0 And it gave me something to point to in my annual review, to demonstrate management skills and my commitment to my job.<\/p>\n

When I wrote my own maternity leave plan, I wanted to make it clear I had no intentions of falling behind, stepping back, slowing down, or putting my ambition aside.<\/p>\n

\"Professional<\/p>\n

My plan provided the basis for the\u00a0Mindful Return Maternity Leave Template<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and we\u2019ve made it available to you!<\/p>\n

With the launch of this editable document, we make it turnkey for you to think through your leave proactively and to give you the language you need to make it work both for you and for your employer. Through the template, you\u2019ll be prompted to think about your work, your leave, and your reentry, in a way that prepares both you and your employer for your temporary absence.<\/p>\n

You, too, can proactively manage your maternity leave with your employer, addressing the common fail spots for both you as an employee and on behalf of your employer.\u00a0 And by planning you will be ahead of the game.<\/p>\n

You truly will not be the same employee when you return to work. But you\u2019re not changing for the worse \u2013 you\u2019re changing for the better<\/a>. A comprehensive and take-charge approach to your maternity leave dispels all the myths about how parenthood could make you less dedicated, available, or flexible. \u00a0(Dads, this goes for you, too!)<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just something a Type-A worker needs \u2013 this is something every parent who takes extended time away from the office to care for their child needs to do with their employer to say \u201cyou\u2019ve got this!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewelyn Cosgrove is a working mom to a sweet little girl. She currently works as a lobbyist in Washington, DC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post was originally posted\u00a0 by\u00a0Lori Mihalich-Levin<\/a><\/span> at https:\/\/www.mindfulreturn.com\/official-maternity-leave-plan\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning your maternity leave has an important role for\u00a0you, too.\u00a0 Going through this planning process gave me the peace of mind that I\u2019d adequately prepared for being out of the office for an extended period of time.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[19,24,213],"class_list":["post-3911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birth-you-desire-blog","tag-anxiety","tag-postpartum","tag-returning-to-work"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do You Need A Maternity Leave Plan - Birth You Desire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Planning your maternity leave can give you the peace of mind that you are adequately prepared for being out of the office.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/birthyoudesire.com\/planning-your-maternity-leave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do You Need A Maternity Leave Plan - 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