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Backed into a corner again
I seem to be backed into a corner again with my career current job and employer. I really am stuck and although I have a Union to had within my job they seldom seem to want to take my employer on so I end up taking what they have offered and putting up with things.This time round my third time coming off maternity leave wanting to go back to full time work in my current job position of Team Leader but different hours to fit in with my family, as all three of my children are under 6 years of age, and from what I have been offered at present I loose my job status and a large salary decrease as I have been told that what I have requested would be detrimental to the business and they can not accommodate me within the business, but they seem to be able to work something out as long as I give up my Team leader position which I have worked the last five years to get, I'm devastated, as I thought this new government legislation was supposed to help people like me to be able to balance their family life with a career and not sacrifice one for the other, however from what I can gather this does not seem to be the case and no one wants to rock the boat, large employers are still seemly getting around this legislation without too much effort at all. Surely this is not right.
Any body else suffered this? Anyone had a similar experience? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated and if you are reading this and are going through or have gone through something similar I would like to hear from you too, as I for one am all for this legislation actually working as it should do and not ' appears ' to do so? As it is our children that suffer in the end (when we are not at the school play, sports day, music resiteal, parents evening etc) is it not.......?
Comments
Speaking as someone who was for years a working mother, I think at some stage you have to decide your priorities. Is it to spend more time with your family or is it to work full time, you might want to do both but senior jobs which accommodate flexible hours are few and far between. (GP, senior academic, senior civil servant , architect, running own company, self employed working from home).
Certainly there aren't many in IT where I worked. (Mainly they are in the public sector if anywhere). I worked in a medium sized private sector company at one stage and we really needed all my team to be full time all the time or it put a great strain on the other members. This is particularly the case where you are developing software.
One girl on my team had 2 babies in 2 years and was therefore scarcely at work during that time after she had exercised her rights to hospital appointments, holidays, keeing her job open and taking maternity pay and leave. We could not afford a temporary replacement and it meant a lot of extra work for her colleagues. Within 3 months of coming back full time after the second baby she resigned to go to another job.
I do not mean to be negative but it seems to me that if you want to continue working with three young children, you must make some sacrifices, either spend less time with them, get your husband or partner to do more or approach your career differently.
You need to find a job share, become self employed, go part time or look for a career in your specialisation where working selective hours is acknowledged and accepted. Ultimately are your children worth the sacrifice?
roxsana - March 1, 2007 1:52 PM