Diversity Dimensions > Resources > Parental Leave Case Study

Parental Leave Case Study

Laura is an employee of a leading Australian business and after 2 years of employment she fell pregnant with her first child. Laura’s initial thoughts were that she would take her 12 months maternity leave, but was unsure in what capacity she would return to work. Laura attended Diversity Dimensions’ “Preparing for and Returning from Parental Leave” Seminar and the way she managed her maternity leave and return to work changed quite dramatically as a result.

During the Seminar, Laura became aware of many things that she hadn’t given thought to previously. She was able to prioritise what was relevant to her situation and had a plan of action to help her get ready for this exciting chapter in her life. Laura learnt about all the different types of flexible work and was able to work out which type of flexible work would suit her own personal circumstances, work style and her current role. As a result, Laura came to the conclusion that after her maternity leave she would ideally like to come back to work 4 days a week with one of those days working from home.

Laura was now ready to negotiate with her Manager. During the Seminar Laura experienced the Diversity Dimensions’ Five Stage Process to Negotiating Flexible Work. From her knowledge gained during the Seminar, Laura wrote a proposal about the way she would like to work in the future. Her proposal cited the benefits and acknowledged the challenges while outlining any solutions. Laura submitted her proposal to her Manager and requested a time for them to meet to discuss. The meeting went well although Laura found herself getting a little emotional when her Manager pointed out some additional challenges of her proposed new work arrangement. However, Laura managed to keep her emotions in check and asked her Manager if she could be given the opportunity to re-work the proposal with the additional challenges in mind. As it turned out, Laura and her Manager negotiated that she would be in the office for 4 days per week with the flexibility to work from home on an ad-hoc basis, no more than 1 day per fortnight.

Now that her arrangement was negotiated, Laura could commence her maternity leave with some parameters over when she needed child care arranged and on what days.

Needless to say, with all the planning Laura invested early in the process, she returned to work as per her negotiated arrangement, 4 days per week. Laura is enjoying her work and although she expends a lot of effort communicating her arrangement and managing her time, she finds it has made her much more efficient, both at work and at home.

If you think your organisation and employees would benefit from attending our “Preparing for and Returning from Parental Leave” Seminar, check our 2009-2010 calendar for dates in your State. Alternately if you are interested in running internal Seminars exclusive to your organisation’s employees, please contact Carolyn Gallaway on (02) 9836 5838 or email cgallaway@diversity-dimensions.com.au
 

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