Money Matters
Xstatic3333
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
WWMMD-TTC with no work policy in place
H and I have been thinking more seriously lately about moving up our TTC timeline a little. The drive to start a family is starting to "gain" on the drive to travel. With that said, I've begun thinking about the logistics.
I work at a small nonprofit with only 4 employees. There is no HR department, and I will not have FMLA protection. I like my job; it's a great career stepping stone and I want to keep it once I'm a parent. I'm ok with being a working mom-it's the right choice for me. All of my time is grant funded, but historically my organization hasn't had a huge problem finding funding and keeping everyone employeed. I currently have 20 hours a week funded through 2019, the other 20 through next year, and more opportunities on the horizon.
Our maternity policy is limited to "leaves of absence for any reason may be granted at the discretion of the board." I'm not expecting anything paid, but am hopeful my job would be held. A previous employee was granted leave once just to travel for a month, so I'm hopeful I'd be okay. Although we don't have formal job reviews, I have good relationships with my supervisor and board of directors and got a merit raise after my first year. We need me to be employeed to keep our lifestyle, although in a worst case scenario we could get by with me making less, particularly if it decreased our childcare costs.
Anyway, there is no way for me to find out a more concrete maternity leave policy without alerting my supervisor to our plans. Would you ask about it if you were me or just hope for the best?
Re: WWMMD-TTC with no work policy in place
I'd love 12 weeks. If it fell during the summer it would be totally doable, but much harder if it fell March-May. We may just avoid those due dates our first year trying, who knows.
I'm really nervous for being pregnant, too, but pumped to actually have a child.
I am open with our dean of faulty. She is aware that my part time 9-1 schedule is going to be seriously wonky with my school schedule next fall. I am trying to get a 6 hour bio/lab a math course and a two day a week art course out of the way before there is baby around. She is supportive and says we will make it work. No harm in asking. I got exactly what I was hoping for.
Love: March 2010 Marriage: July 2013 Debt Free: October 2014 TTC: May 2015
I'm not too worried about the unpaid leave. We can get by for my leave, but with zero margin to save it wouldn't be sustainable long term. I'm in one of four states that offers a small stipend for maternity, even if you're at a small employer. I could also probably use accrued PTO. What I'd really like to have is a "yes we will hold your job." At the same token, I really don't want to have to talk with my boss about "how it's going" all the time, especially if it doesn't go smoothly, so it's a judgement call.
Health insurance is through H, very low deductible and OOP max, and we're already on the family plan, so that's not a huge consideration either.
On the upside of disclosing, she also was able to request (and get!) short term disability added to our company benefits. Major bonus for me as we'd like to go for #2 sometime in the next year.
At my previous nonprofit, I was the first and to-date ONLY person to take a maternity leave in its 40yr history. I wasn't eligible for FMLA (less than 50employees) but I got 2 weeks before birth and 12 weeks after anyway.
I'm sure they value you enough, especially with that much committed funding, to hold your job. If they don't, best to find out ASAP before surprise medical issues or even run of the mill sick days come up. There are a LOT of sick days in baby's first year.
I'll ask my boss when a good time presents itself. She's very nice and pro-family so it won't be a hard conversation. I will also be the first one ever to take maternity leave and then return full time or close to it.
It's not a bad idea to think ahead. If you were on bedrest, could you work from home? It's one thing if you're dealing with high blood pressure, work stress wouldn't help. But if they just didn't want you on your feet, could you do quite a bit from home?