s/o returning to work..

chillypenguin

The UO thread got me thinking.. Right now I am working full time from home. I have been at my job for 3.5 years, just started working from home a few weeks ago. I also just got a new boss, this is her 2nd week. I met her once before I left to work from home, and we have emailed back and forth a little bit. I am planning on returning to work part-time, ideally 20 hours instead of 40, and I really need to do it from home still if at all possible (I live an hour away from work).

When should I bring up reducing my hours? I obviously plan to do it before I have the baby, but I can't figure out the timing. Should I do it now, or wait closer to May? It's hard because she doesn't really know me as an employee, I mean she can look at my old evals (which are awesome, my old boss loved me). Should I send her an email so she has time to think about a response, or do it in person?

I have a co-worker that I know would be interested in splitting my hours with me (she is probably going to be the one to cover my maternity leave). Should I bring that up, or just let my boss decide how she would handle it? I suck at business-related things.

chillypenguin

Yeah, I figured I should talk to her about it now, it's just hard because I don't know her at all. I wish my old boss was still here for just the next few months. But I can't change that, so I need to just deal with it! She seems nice, so hopefully she will be open to being flexible and working with me since I have been there for a while and have a great history there. It's just hard to figure out the best approach to take since I've only met her once.

Part time is not a definite option, I think my old boss would have been ok with it, but I was waiting on some things in my personal life to come into play first (DH's new job and a move) to see what options we can afford. I didn't want to bring it up earlier if we couldn't afford for me to drop to PT. So I guess I will just talk to her soon and hope for the best!

Do you think an email would be best so she can figure out a reply, or talk to her in person about it? I feel like I can lay things out better in an email (and not forget points that I would like to bring up), but if it would be more professional to do it in person, I will do it that way.

AnnieA75

Actually, I completely disagree. Ironically, my sister and I just had this exact conversation last night. She's due in April and I am due of course in May. Both my sister and I work full-time from home. She transitioned to work from home about 5 yrs ago and I transitioned about 2 years ago.

I would continue getting to know your boss and hold off saying anything for now. Show her your work ethic and prove yourself to her. Get to know her style and what she values in an employee, etc. You can leverage that when making your case to reduce hours. Take time to document a good plan for how your work would be covered, even if you reduce hours (and it soudns like you've already given this good thought). My sister plans to have this same conversation with her boss, but will contact him during her maternity leave. What advantage is it to you or your career to bring it up now? I've can't think of any advantages to you bringing it up now except that you've gotten it out of the way. What if, on the outside chance, she suggests you just go ahead and reduce your hours now instead of after maternity leave? Not sure why that would even happen, but it's one of those "what if's" my sister and I talked about last night in weighing pros and cons.

When the time comes to discuss it with her, yes I would document the request via email and then ask for time on her calendar to setup a meeting to discuss. When I requested to transition to working from home 2 years ago after DD was born, that's exactly how I handled. I now report to a new boss and we've only met twice for 1:1 meetings in 2 months. Otherwise, we've only exchanged emails. I haven't even told her I'm going on maternity leave yet b/c she's been super busy and doesn't really even know me yet. We have plans to meet several times over the next few weeks, so after that I plan to tell her, once she knows me better. In the meantime, I'm documenting my coverage plan for when I'll be out, so that when I do meet with her she'll see a clear plan for how everything will be covered.

MrsT2008

At this point in our pregnancies, I think the sooner the better.  Just this week I talked to my boss about a slightly-extended maternity leave (I had my annual review, so it made sense to ask about it at the end).

ajsweeton

I just talked to my boss about moving to part time this week. I needed to know if it would be an option or not so I could arrange things like child care. I wouldn't wait because if it's not an option you need the time to either adjust your mindset or to find another job.