The compromises to be made when you go on long leave

WHEN I was pregnant with my first child, I thought I had things all figured out.

I spoke to my bosses early to let them know about my pregnancy, sat down and thought through a rescoping of my role at the company, planned and decided on an advance date to commence maternity leave, scheduled handover meetings and completed a highly-detailed, multi-page document listing and explaining how to perform all my duties and projects in the last 2 weeks I had before going on leave.

And yet - I wound up returning to work after 90 working days away, only to discover that I had just about nothing figured out. And ultimately, that I was regrettably way in over my head in my mistaken assumptions of what I could accomplish and the workload I was able to handle.

Roughly a year-and-a-half on, I'm realising that what I had failed in doing in a big way was to build in opportunities for compromise. What I neglected to understand was that the grand plan I had inked and agreed upon with my bosses was only as good as it could be in the absence of any actual experience I would obtain becoming not just a mother, but a mother with a full-time, not-quite-just-9-to-5 job.

So I would like to discuss the tricky matter of what happens should you decide to take a long period of leave from your company. And more importantly, the compromises you - and your employers - may have to think about making when you do so.

1. The compromise of productivity

This applies particularly if you are going on extended leave for a medical procedure, or, like in my case, to give birth and take full responsibility for a brand new and completely dependent human being.

This is a compromise an employer has to make, based on a level of trust he or she would have to have in the employee's continued dedication to doing their best for the company in the work they are doing - even if their ability to contribute might be reduced beyond a level the employer may be used to seeing from the employee.

What is important here for the employer to understand is that the employee might not deliberately be slacking off, but he or she may require a certain period to adjust to their new lives - either with a child, or with a medical condition that may hamper the speed and efficiency of their work for an extended period, or permanently even. And the problem is, this employee may not be able to definitively define how long this is going to last.

What an employer would then have to ask themselves is: Do I trust this employee to pull weight once they are able to? Do I expect them to work at the same level they did prior to this life-changing event or circumstance they now are in, at some point? How long am I prepared to wait for this reversion to take place? Or am I not prepared to wait, and deal with the reduced productivity levels this employee will contribute for the salary I continue to pay them for an indefinite period?

Certainly, you yourself need to recognise and be prepared to accept yourself, and your lower productivity, throughout your period of adjustment or recovery (and frankly, potentially beyond that). Parenthood is life-changing - as, indeed, would certain life- or physically-altering medical procedures. If you are the kind of person who sets high expectations of yourself, it is time to recognise that something has to give: either your work or your personal life (be it time with your family, the ability to feed your child the way you want to, or your successful recovery).

You have to decide which to compromise in the interest of the other, and communicate this clearly to your bosses to ensure they are on board with and supportive of your choice. Most importantly, you have to accept and be at peace with what you opt to prioritise.

Which brings us to...

2. The compromise of performance

An employee has to recognise that during the period of adjustment, recovery or seeking a new equilibrium, their productivity may decrease and by extension, their performance also - depending on how it is measured by the company and by the performance indicators the employee agrees upon with his or her bosses.

Certainly, an ideal scenario would see an employer measuring an employee's performance based, for instance, solely on the time they were working - instead of including the time that person spent on extended leave and comparing the total output to other colleagues, as is unfortunately often done.

In the latter scenario, a definite compromise you would have to expect is in the area of performance. You are likely to have to accept a lower rating by virtue of you being away, and therefore receive a lower bonus relative to peers who have been around throughout and contributed more than you in the year of assessment.

3. The compromise of remuneration

This would ideally not need to come into question, but employers kind enough to continue paying a high salary on what may perhaps be a permanently-reduced workload or output are few and far between.

That is not to say refusing to do this is cruel; to be fair, an employer has to manage budgets, company priorities and perhaps to a smaller extent, the expectations and treatment of other employees - who, by no fault of their own, are not in similar circumstances as this particular colleague who is perceived to enjoy "preferential" treatment.

So as the employee going on long leave and returning on an altered or reduced job scope, it would, therefore, come down to how much you are valued by the company in terms of the contributions you can or might provide in the longer run.

This compromise might take the shape of altered hours - for instance, if you were to decide to go part-time - or work arrangements, which understandably would necessitate a pay cut. If you are comfortable with a lower salary in exchange for shorter, more clearly-defined hours and job scope, this might be a compromise that is easier for you to accept.

4. The compromise of realising you are actually not needed

For me, this is the most disconcerting of all - and regrettably, more likely to happen than any of us would like to imagine.

Nobody likes feeling like they are dispensable. But the fact is, when you go on long leave, your colleagues have to pick up the slack - and if your bosses realise they can handle their own jobs and your job decently without you around, that is one less head count they need to get the same work done (and satisfactorily so).

On the flip side, the extended time you spend away from work may make you realise and reprioritise your life - and decide that you may not actually want to return to work at all. Of course, this is a choice not everyone has the privilege to make. But if you are in a position where you do not need to earn an income, stopping work for a few years to be with your children or other family members, or to simply take a break to study, or rest and recover from years of toil, could be the best choice you make for yourself.

So in light of the above, how does one cope with these tricky tensions? The answer, I venture, lies somewhere between clear self-determination and communication with your managers - first, know and decide definitively where you stand on these issues, and what you want to or are willing to do, and then take these proposals to your managers, ensuring you give them enough time to consider their options and responses to your positions.

Expectations must always be managed too, of course, and you should convey your uncertainty - or at the very least, stress that the plan you have in place may not pan out precisely the way you have in mind, especially in terms of your ability to manage the workload. Request a follow-up meeting, say 3 months after returning to work, to check in on these goals you have agreed to and whether you are on track to getting there or if the workload needs to be adjusted further.

None of this is any fun to read - especially when you are looking forward to big, new changes in your life (such as a sabbatical, an exciting degree or other professional course, or a new baby), or in the case of medical procedures, worse so with the decidedly unexciting journey of rehabilitation and recovery ahead. But giving these matters sufficient consideration - and also time for yourself to work out - will help you in ways I wish somebody had advised me when I went through it.