Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Did your co-workers/dept staff call you for work-related things while you were on leave?

I'm taking advantage of my employer's extended parental leave, which gives me a total of 18wks off for the birth of DS#2. I know this is a long time to be out and considering the economy is crap right now, I actually WANT to stay engaged with what's going on at my job because it keeps me connected. Still, I'd say I hear from someone at my job at least every other day - either asking a question on how to handle a client, how to handle a dept issue, gossip about management, etc.

Did this happen to anyone else?

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

No but I was only out for 10 weeks and had only been at the job for six months when I had the baby.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

No and you shouldn't answer your phone. this is your time with your DS, don't let anything come before that. it's called leave for a reason!! People make me sooo mad!!

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I was out for 13 weeks and I got a phone call at least once a week. ( not my choice)

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Posted by Linda1003

No and you shouldn't answer your phone. this is your time with your DS, don't let anything come before that. it's called leave for a reason!! People make me sooo mad!!

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

yes. I followed up on emails and attneded conference calls...I took six months off though...i wanted to stay in the loop...

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Yes. Absolutely!

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Hell No!!! We are allowed to do 8 keep in touch days (which are paid) during our Maternity Leave, but no way jose, if my job called about something work related, I would avoid the calls.

I am going to be out for a year...I would be super peeved if they called me all the time. Ick.

Message edited 2/24/2010 3:05:03 PM.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Is your manager aware that you are being called with work related questions?

In my position at work and what I am responsible for, I felt it was important for me to at least be aware of what was happening at the office while I was out. I discussed this with my manager before I left on maternity leave.

I would not have been ok with daily phone calls. An occasional email that I could repsond to when I could was fine, but it sounds like they are being excessive.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Nope, they didn't call me once. I was out for 3 months. I would be very annoyed if they called me that often.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I guess I'm different than most, I asked for an exception to keep my blackberry and laptop functioning and I got it. I did it to keep in the loop and stay in touch.

Not once did my firm ask me to work on any projects/etc. They totally respected my leave, however they checked in with me to see how I was doing and whenever I wanted to touch base or check emails, I had that flexibility. It did not take away from my time with DS.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Yes. When I had DS#1, they actually called me the day I got home and DH told them they could survive without me for at least a week and to please not call unless something serious happened.

After a week, I was ready to talk to them again. I work in a business where I really can't be out of touch so I was okay with it. I just wasn't ready for it the day I got home!

Message edited 2/24/2010 3:04:14 PM.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I got called once.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I was out for 5 weeks and they called me several times a week. There were weeks that I got a call every day. My principal even called my cell when I was in the hospital! After the second week, I started screening the calls.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

YES. I was called and emailed constantly. It was annoying.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

They didnt bother me at all but I tried to respond to emails where I thought I needed to. However, I did really try to remove myself completely from work during that time but it made coming back a million times harder! I will not make that mistake again this time because i can deal with a little work here and there on leave to avoid the stress I felt those first 2 mos back.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Yes, a few times - But it was mainly friends who needed my help -
random coworkers couldn't call me @ home. -

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I got a few calls, but tons of emails. I didn't mind returning them; I felt it kept me in the loop and didn't take away from my time w/ DS at all.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

My boss called me a month to the day DS was born. He called to check in and ask a few questions.

He's called since then with some questions but, he used the guise of an administrative question to ask me (like is my bonus being calculated correctly).

It felt good though to hear that I was missed because this is my slow time - I was kind of worried that they would decide they didn't need me. Although I would love to be a SAHM, we can't swing it financially.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

I wanted to stay engaged too so I asked my manager who was filling in for me to copy me on important emails. I read my emails every few days to stay in the loop.

I did get a few calls while I was on leave, but I didn't mind. My manager was apologetic so I wasn't upset b/c I know she called as a last resort.

Honestly I am happy that I kept up with my client matters while I was gone. It only took me a few days to get right back in the swing of things.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

Yes, and if I had to do it again I would ignore everything. . I just looked back in my old emails for memories and seriously it was every other day of my maternity leave and a few times a week of my unpaid personal leave. It would depend on it your job is worth it... for me, it wasn't.

(Not many calls, but a lot of emails)

Message edited 2/24/2010 10:21:21 PM.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

No. I did not get paid as if I was working, sorry.
I did have 3 check in dates & I did check my email once every 2 weeks to make sure nothing urgent had been sent my way that needed to be fwd. on. I left my job in good hands, I set them up properly with everything they needed. I had 3 months to spend with my child exclusively without having to worry about work, I was not about to get myself stressed over work things when I wasn't even getting paid for it.

ETA: this mentality didn't effect my job either when I came back. I even got a promotion my first week back, which felt good. My company is also very family friendly, so that may make a big difference.

Message edited 2/24/2010 10:28:34 PM.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

No, they leave me alone even though I make it clear they can call or e-mail me about anything. I will be taking an extended leave also, I have been out for 2 weeks now and my phone has not rang once. I will be gone until Nov. I called my co-worker Monday because I knew we filed our 10-K that day and I just wanted to say hi and catch up.

With DD I got 1 call asking about a work related issue and maybe 1 or 2 calls from my mgr about HR stuff, that is it.

Re: Maternity leave moms -- did your job call you while you were away?

no.

i was out for 10 weeks. I called maybe every other week to say hello and ask how a renewal was going..... every few days i might go onto outlook and if i saw an email that they didnt check in a day or so id forward it to them. They laughed when i got back and was like - your home to spend time with your son, you didnt have to worry about calling........ but it showed my dedication and probably helped reassure them i wasn't going to come back for 2 days then quit.