THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2023 41 with that person every few weeks to check in can cut down on the emails and questions received while on leave and still ensure that what’s necessary gets done. Some may find this option stressful and prefer to be completely disconnected while on leave. If you choose to stay in touch, this approach could also help you stay connected enough to what is happening in the office so that you have an easier time reentering the office when your leave concludes. Thinking about, and drafting, your out-of-office message in advance is also important, especially if you are planning to work right up until the birth of your baby. Reentry In the overwhelming, (sometimes) delightful, sleep-deprived first days of parenthood, the return to the office may seem another world away. We found there were a few things that, if done in the final weeks of post-baby leave and then during the first weeks back in the office, smoothed reentry to the office and made it easier to embrace the new normal of being a working parent. Connecting with Your Team. Setting up calls with your supervisor and direct reports in the week or two before the first day back in the office can give you a chance to begin slowly refocusing on the office, get more up to speed on any personnel or other policy developments during your time away, and put your approaching return on your supervisor and colleagues’ radar. As always in Foreign Service life, it is possible you will find yourself getting a new supervisor either shortly before you depart or during your parental leave. Share the transition memo you prepared with the new supervisor. Request a meeting with them a few weeks before your formal return to work to clarify the exact date for your return to the office, develop a direct relationship with your future supervisor, and make your future boss aware of your subject matter expertise and previous supervisory role in the office, if you had one. You may also want to reach out via phone before you go on leave, even if the new boss has not yet arrived, to introduce yourself. The goal is to reestablish your role now so that you can fully reintegrate when you return to the office. First Weeks Back. We won’t sugarcoat it—the return to work can be rough, even when you love your job. You may feel bone-tired and off your game. Sleep deprivation, combined with the need to establish a whole new rhythm for you, your partner, and your baby can make the whole process seem impossible. Here are a few practical tips. Consider a phased return to work. If you have enough leave accumulated and your office is supportive, consider scheduling regular annual leave days in your first month back. Avoid sudden changes. One wise friend cautions against making rash decisions in the first month following the return to work. “No matter how miserable you are, stick with the new routine for 30 days. You may come home the first day vowing to quit the Foreign Service and become an organic goat farmer in Oregon, but give it time and don’t make any big decisions (about work schedules, jobs, hours, etc.) for the first month,” she suggests. Start on a Friday. Make your first day in the office a Friday so you can get through a full day with the weekend immediately ahead. One colleague notes that she “started baby in daycare on a Friday and used that day to adjust to having her away, including working out a pumping schedule for myself. It also gave me a full workday to complete paperwork/emails for my new position.” Finally, be kind to yourself. Working and taking care of a baby can be exhausting, and you will do yourself and your baby no favors by taking care of everyone but yourself. n We won’t sugarcoat it—the return to work can be rough, even when you love your job. Anne Coleman-Honn and her two older children at Embassy Chisinau’s Bring Your Child to Work Day in 2019. COURTESY OF ANNE COLEMAN-HONN
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