"When are you coming back? What percentage will you be returning at?"
These questions are standard when maternity leave is imminent. But with my third child, something was decisively different this time: Instead of forcing myself into rigid plans, we at Renuo consciously decided against doing so.
Why is this so valuable? Even with the third child, I don't know before the birth how we will be doing afterwards. Hospital stays, breastfeeding challenges, or the settling-in period at daycare – life cannot be pressed into an Excel spreadsheet. I appreciate our shared credo all the more: We check after the birth how we are doing and what kind of re-entry is goal-oriented and feasible for me and Renuo.
Re-entry
Grateful for a healthy child, a quick recovery, and settling well into the new family routine, I was already looking forward to returning to everyday work life after just three months. Together with Samuel, I looked for ways to start with a greatly reduced workload. The solution was ideal: I was able to take over a project that I had already managed before the birth and which, coincidentally, was paused during my maternity absence. Yes, a win-win situation for the client, the company, and for me. For me, this is not a happy coincidence, but the result of open communication, genuine flexibility and Renuo values in action.
Did everything go according to script during re-entry? Of course not. My child suddenly refused the bottle, and my ideal working day collided, of all things, with the family day of an important project partner. The reduced workload turned into a logistical masterpiece: I had to plan extremely precisely whose inputs I needed and when so that I could make efficient progress during my working hours without having to wait for answers.
Flexibility is not a one-way street
I am now continuously increasing my workload until I am back to my original level from before the birth. The fact that this path is so successful is due to flexibility on three levels:
- Renuo as an employer: full trust regarding working hours, location, and workload.
- My private environment: a strong network that helps support childcare.
- My own attitude: the acceptance that things don't always work out exactly as I had laid them out in my head.
This is the perfect way to live the compatibility of family and career. For me. But not for every woman. There is no silver bullet for balancing family and career. That is why flexible solutions are needed that can be individually adapted, rather than checklists that are applied the same way for everyone. I am happy to have found an employer in Renuo that sees this exactly the way I do.
