Dreading Returning to Work after Maternity Leave?
Congratulations you’re now a Mum!
Having a baby is one of the most special times in your life. Often longed for and so special you spend your pregnancy looking forward to the baby coming and then your maternity leave wishing they would stop growing! The maternity leave draws to a close and you have to deal with all the feelings that go back to work brings. If you are dreading going back to work after maternity leave – Rest assure that you are not alone!
Anxiety, worry, stress… mum guilt! It can be so overwhelming dealing with so many different emotions at the same time that often the last few weeks of maternity leave can become a blur or full of stress; whereas actually they should be full of fun and smiles and wonderful memories.
Returning to Work after Maternity Leave Coaching
Nicki from Mumee Mojo is here to help. Nicki has a background in Corporate Human Resources, executive coaching and as a mum means understands the stress and anxiety mums can feel going back to work after such a long time off and has developed her brand new coaching programme to give mums the confidence and tools they need to enjoy them last few weeks of maternity leave and then go back to work full of confidence and power after their maternity leave.
Maternity Leave…
I know myself, that while I was off on maternity leave for nine months, I completely lost myself. I went from being in a comfortable and enjoyable job where I worked with an excellent team to knees deep in nappies and trying to figure out this parenting thing!
Stress of returning to work after maternity leave
My life became all about my daughter, everything I did, I did for her and my family. The confident working women I once was, was gone. When I was returning to work after maternity, I was so anxious. Firstly, the guilt… we all know mum guilt is a killer and irrational but the thought of returning to work after maternity leave and her being only 9 months old going to nursery was tough. Then came the expectations… what if I’d forgotten everything at work? The stress this caused meant that walking back in on my first day at work I felt a shadow of myself, it took months for me to settle back in to work and get back in my stride. I only wish there was someone like Nicki around then to help me with the transition of returning to work after maternity leave.
Returnity – An 8 Week Course for Mums Returning to Work after Maternity Leave
Nicki through her MumMe Mojo business has devised a 5 Step ‘Returnity’ Transformation Method 8 week course to give returning mums the tools they need to go back confident and happy. She starts each 8 weeks programme with a one to one coaching session with each participant to get to know them and understand their needs and to obtain the information she needs to help them in their return to work after maternity.
Further sessions are then done as a group – all via Zoom but don’t worry, if something comes up or you aren’t able to join in then the sessions will be shared in a private Facebook group for you to catch up or even rewatch if you wanted.
Coaching to Help You Return to work after Maternity Leave
Five main areas are covered in the coaching are;
Discover Your New Why… why are you going back to work, what is it for, why are you doing this?
Reconnect with work, you’ve been on maternity leave for up to twelve months, probably not thinking to much about the day to day work so this helps reconnect you with that world.
Prepare, doing some mindset work and giving you practical solutions for the big decisions you need to make around working arrangements etc.
Visualise your most confident, positive and successful self…
Become that version of yourself! Addressing fears, guilt and limiting beliefs that might be getting in the way.
Personal Touch
The final session will then be another one to one coaching session to take everything you have learnt and applied to make a personalised action plan ready for your actual return to work. Nicki then also provide support for up to one month after your return to work for any of the last minute wobbles.
The aim of the programme is to help make you YOU again. It’s a tailored to suit you but also gives the back up of being able to chat to other mums in the same situation as you, sharing how they are feeling during the group session and forming your own new support base.
Our lives change the minute we find our we are expecting and then juggling wanting a successful career as well as being the best parent you can be can lead to big mental health anguishes. Therefore if you are concerned about going back to your work in the coming months this coaching programme is perfect and we at MyBump2Baby thoroughly recommend the 5 Steps Returnity Coaching Programme.
For further details please go to the MumMe MoJo Website.
How long is Maternity Leave in the UK?
Currently all employed pregnant women are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave in the UK regardless if how long they have worked for their employer. This is made up if 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave and then after ordinary maternity leave it is classed as additional maternity leave.
Statutory Pay in the UK for Maternity Leave
Statutory maternity pay in the UK otherwise known as SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks.
Statutory pay is 90% of you average weekly earnings before tax for the first 6 weeks and then for the following 33 weeks it is £151.00 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower)
Jess Bleeze is a mum of 1 & has a contagious passion for supporting growing families and supporting small businesses in Tendring & Colchester and throughout the UK.