Working Mummies Support Group #2

Childcare around here is pretty consistent - $80-$100 a day.

We are fortunate though that my ILs are going to take the boys (to answer your question TT) for the two days that I'll be in the office (Th-Fri) and so they will do the school runs as well. We are fortunate. Basically the only reason I am going back is $$$ and they see it as a bit ridiculous that they are retired and basically spending time here or travelling, so they are able to help out, and save us a significant bit of cash each week.

The third day I will do from home, sort of spread over the other three days. So I'll check emails at least twice on the three days and respond where I need to, plus make phone calls if I need to, while DS2 is sleeping. Again, I am fortunate that I can do this. ILs weren't willing to commit to three days, especially spread across the week, so this works for all of us. They can still do their beach life for five days and then come back for Thurs-Fri.

It's going to be difficult to juggle being at home and making sure I do my hours, but it is in my best interest to make it work, so make it work I will. Again, fortunate. I have an understanding employer. Mostly ;)

Nutter, lunch, when? Monday?? :lol:

Well I guess I'm going to find out what our full time care rate is :( After a few months of my boss searching for something else for me, the only thing I can return to is my old job, full time. I'm pretty upset by it really. I hate the thought of my kids in care 5 days a week. And when am I going to get anything done? Family life is going to suck for a while. It may be that I stay until I'm certain of a LSL pro rata payout and search for something more suitable, which I'm not really all that happy about either. Oh well.

Oh hun, that sucks, you must be devastated :(

How long until you are certain of a pro-rata payout?

I'm not sure, we haven't been able to figure out the policy properly, I can't work out what, if any, of my leave is counted. So I worked out to be eligible I need to work there 7 years, or 364 weeks. Including two lots of maternity leave, when I return I'll have been there 443 weeks. If I take away all of the maternity leave, even the parts paid by the company, it's 359 weeks. So, if they include 24 weeks of leave that they paid me for, I'm eligible now. And if not, I'm only 5 weeks away anyway.

Oh no! Would your DH be able to be part time at his work, and spend some time with kids and at home. That way the kids aren't in care 5 days and he can do things at home.

Unfortunately there's no scope for him to do part-time. He's a maintenance fitter at a factory that operates 24/7 throughout the year, so under normal circumstances he does a fair bit of over time and gets call-outs at all hours. I mean he can say no, but the guys doing this job all ned to take turns doing some of the extra work, it can't just be restricted to certain hours.

As it is he works 7-3 so he picks up the kids earlier than I could and therefore can't do overtime unless I can re-jig something at work to leave early. Friday is the only difference, they all go to the pub after work and I don't want to make him stop that, it's the only thing he does all week. So I'm going to ask if I can leave early on Fridays - no doubt I'll be taking work home with me anyway.

With our policy at work, maternity leave, either paid or unpaid is not counted towards pro-rata, however annual leave is.

I had a feeling ours counted the 12 weeks of paid leave, but I'm not sure anymore. Not that it matters anyway, there aren't any part time jobs available that I can do right now - I did find the perfect one but it turns out it's in the hills and the drive would be too long.

Ah crap Teeki that sucks, I'm so sorry to read that. And I don't know about the leave either. :(

Oh Teeki I'm so sorry hon, that sucks. I know u were hoping to find some flexibility.

I've recently gone full time while we ride out the impacts of redundancy and I'm working Mondays from home. It's bloody hard to keep up with everything. The only suggestion I have is whe you have the full time income is it feasible to get a cleaner to help with maximize family time? We find this gives us back valuable time with the kids and it's not as expensive as u might think

That is rubbish Teeki.

Good luck on your first day back OP. Hope your little man gets better soon, after DD I was back full time for three months and the first week of it DD had HFM so was home with DH - kids have impeccable timing!

Good luck today OP! I hope it goes smoothly and quickly for you and your babies xxx

Good luck today OP, hope it's going well!

MN a cleaner is a good idea. I'm not sure how much one would charge here, but if it gets too much we'll look into it I think. How's it going being full time now? Hope you've settled into it ok.

Lol wysiwyg, what horrible timing! The way my two are going at the moment I can imagine DH & I will be swapping sick days for a while!

Thanks lovelies. On the phone to tech assist, such a great way to start.

Lol I'd only consider that a problem if you're still talking to them at 5. The first time I went back my computer wouldn't let me log on and my phone had to be sent to the tech gurus in Adelaide. I spent the day on the phone switching between my manager's assistant and tech assist. Took a week to get everything working properly!

Fabulous effort Teeki!!!! :) Hope I can get sorted a bit quicker than that ;)

25 mins and counting. They've bounced me from tech assist to people assist now back to tech.

People returning from extended leave isn't a huge thing is it??

And of course I can't use my desk phone as I can't log in to it so I'm tying up someone else's phone. Fortunately he's in a meeting... For now.

And I've only had one coffee. :wall:

From what I gather, returning from extended leave isn't as common as you'd think, they're better at setting up someone brand new than someone coming back. Hope you get it all fixed soon!

It's basically like I'm new again. Except my LM didn't know that and hasn't requested a LAN ID. So, no access. Hmm. Going to make working from home later in the week a bit difficult.