【へっぽこ英会話１２Months③】休職明けこそ、”慣らし仕事”のススメ

I went back to work yesterday.
Until last month, I had taken a year of maternity leave. Now that my son's nursery school has started, I have to went back to my work.
It was all of a sudden.
I don't like the job. But I like working with my colleagues.

what are you concerned? Are you concerned about going back to work?
I almost going back to a new job, a different type of job. New people, new systems, new decoration. Many things have changed.
but you're a mother. Change is what you do. That's what you're good at. One minute, your baby wants one thing.
The next minute, the baby wants another. The next thing you look around, the baby's eating something, a battery, something they shouldn't be eating. You need to cook. You need to clean. You need to do the washing. You need to change baby. It goes on and on and on. You are a multitasker. That's what women have, this ability to multitask.

Why are you worried?
This is what you do best.
Changing can be a bit stressful for me.
Yep. Bit nervous.  that's normal.

so, what is your main concern about going back to all this change?
your main concern about going back to all this change. It's not the job you left, it's slightly different. It could be better.
My main concern is when the handover of work can be completed.

You should really be going back to a phased return.
When any of my staff come back from paternity leave, I always get them to do a phased return. That means for the first week, you go back for three days.
For the next week, you go back for four days and then you work up to five days, six hours. For me, for my staff, I would do two days, four hours, three days, five hours and up. So, it's a phased return. So, it's not all in one go.
Could you ask for a phased return?
I have never heard of such a system. I heard it for the first time.
But it's a very good idea. Even at the nursery school, my son did phased return. It is necessary for an adult to work in the same way as him.

We always do. If someone's been sick or they've been on maternity leave, if they've had a long period off, we do a phased return. It's much kinder.
Do you get on well with your supervisor?
Do you work well together?
Yes, I do.
My supervisor sympathetic.
Good. So, you've got no worries.
Just say how you feel. I'm a bit worried coming back. And then your manager should help you to come back a bit more gently.

So, in the return to work meeting, you can discuss the things that you're concerned about and ask if you could come in gradually. Even if you're there every day, perhaps trying to make it seem as normal as possible for you, because the changes that have happened while you were away happened over one year. But for you, it's happened in one day. There must be some expectation that you need some support around managing change.
I think that's important.