Coming back from maternity leave is always bittersweet. You want to look after your children in the best way possible, at the same time you want to be earning money; for your family, for your independence, for your mortgage. You want to work, for your sanity, for having an adult conversation, for the challenge and sometimes just so that you can go out and have a coffee and have a 10-minute break by yourself.

The work you know you can do, you’re motivated, capable, practical and have nailed time management through the process of raising children. You know you will be better at your job than you ever were before because you have developed (by looking after your children) the ability to:

Be calm (when all you want to do is scream)

Plan ahead (continually thinking about the next thing: what’s next, have we got all the ingredients for dinner, have you packed the kindy bag and made lunch, have you got snacks and a bottle)

Time manage (when is nap time, feeding time, bath time, bottle time, play time, story time etc.)

Problem solve and find solutions quickly (whether it be a distraction, finding a place to change a nappy (there never seems to be somewhere practical when you need it)

Be resourceful (you’ve managed a whole year on one salary)

Multi-task (when you have two children you need to nail this quickly to get through the day)

and survive on little to no sleep.

All these transferable skills enable the working parent to be more efficient, capable, stop fluffing about and get the job done. We also know we must be out at a particular time for pick up or up early for drop off, so juggling a million things and condensing them into a shorter day.

Honestly, I feel like companies would benefit by having more flexibility in the workplace, allowing parents to be able to juggle family life and work. This helps not only the company but families too. Companies and employees could be so much more efficient by having working mothers/parents on their staff.

I am fortunate to have a place of work that enables flexibility, understands the needs of children and flexibility for parents, but also trusts that the work will be done and done to a high standard. That being in half an hour later in the morning will not change the workflow or the amount of work done, that the pressure and will to do well is on the person already without having to feel under pressure of being in the office at 8:30am.

Velocity amazingly didn’t just welcome me back with a “hi, here’s your desk!” they overwhelmed me with flowers, a bottle of wine and some of the nicest stationery a girl could want. This immediately made me comfortable and made me think, “wow, this is where I want to be”. The kindness, empathy and soft skills are not something that can be taught; it’s part of what makes a company great. Not just the gifts, but the thought behind it, the personal side, remembering that we are not just on this earth to work – that people need to feel looked after and treated well. Not only this, the welcome emails that flooded in from both Auckland and Wellington and the CEO made me realise just how lucky I am to work with such a great team. A team that genuinely embraces individuals.

So I leave you with this:

Would more companies benefit from having working parents? Yes! Would more parents like to be in part-time employment? Absolutely! So why is it so hard for working parents, and in particular working mums, to get back into employment? Why are there not more workplaces that have flexibility? Why am I continually speaking with women that are extremely intelligent, have had tremendous careers thus far and then have children and cannot seem to get a job?

There needs to be change. New mums and dads need to and want to work, the current way that society is set up for working parents is not good enough. Hopefully, with Jacinda Adern in power, these issues will be addressed, particularly those in relation to women. Although, she may also be setting unrealistic expectations on women heading back into the workforce after only six weeks! We will see if that will stick after she has had her first baby! Nonetheless, more power to her as she will be an icon for working parents across New Zealand, and as the way the international media has truly taken her character by storm, she will be an inspiration for working parents across the world.

Postface: I also wrote this piece as a mum of two kids, a boy and a girl aged one and four and by no means am I excluding or ignoring the fact that there are fathers out there that also struggle with returning to the workforce. I am sure you too, understand the challenge of returning to work and hopefully took something away from the blog as well.