A friend of mine wrote to me the other day, and it was so poignant in a variety of ways, it made me want to share it with you. With my friend's permission to omit her company, and change personal details like names- I'm sharing with you her frustrations. My hope is that you, the reader, will find solace in not being alone in your challenges to achieve work/life effectiveness and that you, like her, might be able to find guidance and assistance through the resources available on our website.

- M. Rosenthal

"Meryl-

I've been thinking about you and your company today.  Our corporation really needs you.  Here is a quick update on where I am with returning to work:

Scott will be 12 weeks next Wednesday, so I agreed to go back to work the week of January 12th.  However, for several reasons (I'm breastfeeding and not sure how pumping is going to work for me/Scott, Mark's busy season is end of January through beginning of March which means I will be a single Mom for most of that time - I'll have to do all drop-offs and all pick-ups, plus he will likely work 1-2 days over the weekend - I'm not looking forward to it), so 3 weeks ago I asked if I could go back part-time for the first 6 weeks (3 days a week).  I didn't hear back from my boss, so I assumed my request was fine and went ahead and made daycare preparations.

Anyway, I ended up speaking with him yesterday and he tells me that working part-time is really hard for the company to work out since they can't adjust my benefits for part-time work (not sure if I am just getting a story because they want me back at work - we have a huge audit issue that they are counting on me to fix).  Therefore, he proposed that I work part-time for 4 weeks at full-time pay!  Then, resume full-time work week 5 and 6.

Meryl, I don't even get my medical, dental or vision benefits from my company.  The time is far more important to me than the money (although I am happy to work part-time for full time pay).  My disability letter from them stated that I had 6 months to return to work.  If they are willing to give me a job after being out for 6 months, why wouldn't they work harder to accommodate a request for 6 weeks part-time when I am willing to return after 12 weeks. It seems ridiculous to me that a company that large does such a poor job working with returning moms.

Assuming we have another child when Scott is 20-24 months, I will probably stay home full-time after that.  Of course, if we move to Westchester, my company has a building there, so it might be possible for me to continue working there.  I'm going to have to wait and see.  I love working, but I had no idea how much in love I would be with this baby.  I've cried every day this week thinking about dropping him off at daycare.  I am sure it will get easier after a few days, but boy next week is going to be hard.

Anyway, I thought I would share my story with you as additional inspiration that your company's work is so necessary!  I plan to find out who is in charge of HR when I get back and pass along the information to you if you haven't already connected with them.  I would love to give some feedback to someone, but am not sure if it is worth it to make waves.

Hope you and your family had a wonderful New Year's and have started off 2009 happy and healthy.

I'll talk to you soon.

-Susan"

A final note, you don't have to be an old friend to reach out for help with finding workplace flexibility or smooth transitions. Feel free to reach out to us through comments or by emailing us directly - contact@flexpaths.com