10 steps to returning to work after having a baby

Returning to work after having a baby can present a real challenge to anybody. Regardless of whether you’re in a relatively low key position or whether you achieved high status before taking your break, the issues that you will be challenged by are similar. Here are 10 steps that you may wish to try.

By Simon North

Take a long term view

We are in a position today where we can have plans. We can plan our maternity; we can plan our career, family and the timings of these events usually, but not always. The longer the term that we plan for, the more likely we are to get this right.
Position yourself before you leave

What is it that you can do that enables the transition out of your job and that will also help you on the return to work? How much of that can you do alone? How much can you do with colleagues or your boss? The more you can make it an easy transition, the more you have positioned your return the way you wish it to be.
Stay in touch

You're going to be away for a period of time and it could be quite a long time. Stay in touch with your organisation; stay in touch with the people you need to stay in touch with.

The most obvious candidates are your immediate boss and your team mates. Where you have personal friendships as well as professional relationships, stay in touch with these people too. They rate you highly and want to know how you’re getting on.
Keep tuned in

Having your baby is going to be a full time occupation, as we know. If you create just a little space to stay connected with the organisation that you left, at an appropriate and relevant level, it may well prove to be useful to you downstream.
Shift your balance

You worked 100 per cent of your life. The baby is taking 100 per cent of your time. Soon you’re going to shift your balance to something different - your return to work. Think that through, get your head around it and start thinking and planning how you’re going to balance both.
Who do you need to have a joint strategy with?

Almost certainly you need to come up with an approach with your partner. Together you might be thinking about time, money, or it could be about childcare.

There are various things that have to be done jointly, solo or arbitrarily. Currently, a joint strategy is going to be easier for you to manage. Apart from your partner, candidates for formulating your joint strategy with include your child carer and your current boss.
Get fit for work

Having a baby keeps you fit. It might be because of the amount of time you’re away, your food intake or how much you might be out and about with the baby. Getting fit for work is a different challenge. To do so is to be ready and fit to return.
Try out your new life

When you return to work, you go through a number of different transitions, psychologically, physically, emotionally. Rather than leaving that until the morning you actually return to full time work, you may well want to practice leaving your baby with the child carer in a way that will make that easier for you.

Maybe go back to work part time before gong back full time. Maybe bring the carer in early, while you’re still on maternity leave, and go and do other things for the day as if you were going to work.
Learn and stay fresh

Having your baby is such a new and extraordinary experience for you. This is great learning for you, about you and about your orientation to work and the world generally.

What other things are there that you may want to be learning about? How do you want that to be? Is it going to be with friends, colleagues; is it going to be with your career guide or your mentors?
Plan your re-entry

There’ll be an appropriate time before your return for you to reengage: reengage with the business, reengage with the organisation if appropriate and certainly reengage with your boss and HR. How can you do that in a way that makes sense for them and makes sense for you?

Simon North is the Founder of Position Ignition, one of the UK’s leading career consultancy companies.
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We are now in a situation where we’re working well into our 60s or possibly well into our 70s.