New job while on parental leave
I know most people who switch jobs during parental leave go back to their old work for a couple weeks then bounce, but if I don’t want to do that (feels like I’d be wasting everyone’s time catching me up when I’m going to leave and would rather give more time for my manager whom I like to have more time for backfill), how should I go about it? I’d still like to take the maximum paid leave time. Can I start at the new company and continue to take my leave for a month or two then really start working? How would this be viewed by my new manager at the new job? What’s the most graceful way to deal with this?
Everything is negotiable. It's usually rare for a company to agree to give you a leave as soon as you start. In most cases I've seen, people finish their parental leave and let their former manager know that the last day of their leave will be their last day at the company. You could start at your new job in "ramp back in" mode where you work 2 days a week for the first week, 3 days next week and so on.
Thank you for the response. Google is my top choice and currently interviewing. What’s it like at Google specifically? How late can I start after getting the offer? I still have 3 months of leave left at fb.
Also some companies have 'returnships' for parents who are returning back to the work force after staying at home to take care of loved ones.
You don’t want to be employed at two companies at the same time. That’s a huge liability risk.
Of course! I’m not trying to do that. If anything, want to start new job on the day I would return to old job and have the last day of leave be my last day of old job.
Are you the mom? Or is this your first?
Mom and first. Does that make a difference?
I'll share my experience: I started a new job shortly after giving birth and it was a terrible mistake. I really wish I had stayed home longer between jobs. My baby didn't start sleeping through the night u til he was 15 months old, so I was getting 5-6 broken hours of sleep for an entire year. Chronic sleep deprivation and being a hormonal hot mess after birth completely tanked my productivity and since it was a new job, I had no good will on the new team so my performance reviews weren't good. I had an unpleasant maternity leave (colicky baby) but if I had to do it again I would have stayed at home much longer or stayed at my old job. It just wasn't worth it.