After the birth of your child and subsequent period of lactation, it is time to return to work, either because the maternity leave from your current company is about to end or because you need to work to financially face the new expenses caused by your baby. In any case, returning to the work routine and having to leave your child in the hands of other people is a very strong emotional, physical and psychological wear and tear that not everyone knows how to overcome. Let’s see how to make it more bearable.
Make a decision
The decision to go back to work or stay at home affects your family, but above all you, who are the most involved, so the important thing is that you are aware of what you really want to do and from this premise you will have to create some goals (action plan) to get to be able to do what you want. You also have to establish some priorities in your life according to your values and above all enjoy, because you deserve it, a full life in the family and work environment, without feeling guilty for the decisions you have made.
What does the Labor Law say?
In Spain, the Law recognizes a maternity leave of 16 uninterrupted weeks, which is extended by two more for each child in the case of multiple births (18 weeks if they are twins, 20 weeks if they are triplets…). The mother will necessarily take six after giving birth to recover physically, while the other 10 can be enjoyed before or after birth. They can be taken by the father or the mother if both work, or jointly (5 weeks each). The father has a 15-day paternity leave, independent of the mother’s. The worker also has the right to enjoy vacations after her maternity leave, even if she has finished the calendar year to which they correspond.
Family and work conciliation
After maternity leave, workers with small children enjoy some advantages (reduced working hours, leave of absence…) that help them make family and work life compatible. Most of these rights appear in the Workers’ Statute and its successive amendments, such as the Equality Law of March 2007, but it is also a good idea to consult your company’s collective agreement or the labor sector to which your company belongs, because sometimes they include improvements. Thus, by negotiating with your company you will be able to reconcile the care of your baby with your professional career, at least in part.
Social reality
On many occasions, certain obstacles are placed on the working woman in the workplace so that she can carry out her double social function as mother and worker. Today there are still some companies with no conciliatory policies where the woman’s work is conditioned to her possible maternity. In addition, it is very frequent in the business field that there is not enough flexibility to make work and family compatible. And at the level of public organizations there is a lack of social and community services that help raise young children: few public day care centers, bad hours, etc.
