For many mothers, and often for dad too, one of the biggest concerns they face is the prospect of returning to work after the baby is born. More than 50% of mothers work outside the home, so that means a good many moms are consumed by this concern. They have to worry about how much time they will get off, if they will receive any pay during this time, and what arrangements they will have to make for the baby once they return to work.

Of course there is “maternity leave”, not actually officially referred to as maternity leave here in the United States, instead known as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Unfortunately, FMLA offers little time for a mother to be at home with her baby before returning to work, just a mere 12 weeks. In the grand scheme of things 12 weeks is really just a blink of an eye in your child’s life. Also, FMLA leave is not paid, so the time spent home with the baby is often even shorter for a lot of women who depend on their income to get the bills paid. Some companies do offer benefits under their short-term disability policies for maternity leave, which would allow a woman to stay home for about 6-8 weeks (depending on company policy) with a reduced pay, typically two thirds of your regular pay. What this means is that many mothers are being forced to return to work and place their tiny infant in the care of someone else when the baby is barely two months old.

As a comparison here are some of the maternity leave policies offered by other industrialized nations. As would be expected there are pretty big differences among the list, but you will note that more than half of the countries on the list mandate maternity leaves of 6 months or more.

  • Sweden – 96 weeks*
  • Australia – 52 weeks*
  • Canada – 52 weeks*
  • Denmark – 50 weeks
  • Italy – 47 weeks*
  • Finland – 44 weeks
  • Norway – 42 weeks*
  • United Kingdom – 40 weeks*
  • Czech Republic – 28*
  • Russia – 20 weeks*
  • Brazil – 17 weeks*
  • France – 16 weeks
  • Greece – 15 weeks*
  • Germany – 14 weeks
  • United States – 12 weeks
  • Hong Kong – 10 weeks

(* also offer some sort of income compensation through the government)

As you can see the policy here pales in comparison to those offered to women in other comparable countries. A couple of key examples would be what is offered in Canada, our neighbor, and the UK our “closest ally”. It begs the question, why is our leave here not longer? Likely because our government doesn’t think there is a large demand for a longer maternity leave, and business lobbyist are fighting stronger on the other side of the argument.

Not every woman necessarily wants to stay home full time with her baby for longer than the 12 weeks offered here, some even return to work much sooner. But the idea is that we should have the opportunity to stay home longer if we so choose and have our position protected. Likely we are not going to see a change as drastic as getting 52 weeks of maternity leave, but any little bit can make a difference. If you want to see our system here changed you have to speak up, write to your state representatives, and tell them about the changes you would like to see. Unless there is a loud voice being heard by our government nothing is going to change.

That being said (I’ll step down off my soapbox now) let’s move on to what you need to discuss with your employer, and what details you will need to figure out. It is important to talk to your employer early in your pregnancy to find out what the company policy is so you have plenty of time to ask questions and complete any necessary paperwork.

  • Find out if any time is available with pay. If so how long, and at what percentage of your current pay.
  • If no paid time is available find out what you need to do to be eligible for FMLA. You can discuss this with your employer and also by visiting the the US Department of Labor website.
  • Find out if your company allows any time off in addition to the 12 weeks mandated by FMLA, and what you need to do to be eligible. There may be some additional requirements.
  • Find out if it is possible to ease back into work, for example with shortened work weeks, part-time, or job sharing.

By getting this discussion out of the way early you are less likely to be surprised by your company’s policy, and you will have ample time to plan your time off. It is important that your employer be aware of the time you intend to take off well ahead of time so you can both prepare for your departure.

Your time home with the baby will fly by. Enjoy every minute you spend together, and realize that even though you won’t be spending all your time with your little one once you return to work, you will still be the most important caregiver in their life.