Tips to negotiate (future) maternity leave in UK?

[whyme35]

I worked for ‘company A’ for 11 months, and left for ‘company B’ where I have been working for almost 2 years.

‘Company A’ has reached out to me again and asked if I want to re-join them, working in their UK office.

I’ve been through the interviews and been offered the role (!!) I’m very excited about it, however when reviewing their contract and policies it’s clear they aren’t ‘counting’ my previous months of employment with them.

This is fair enough (since it was the same company, but a different office).. However, their maternity leave policy from 0-12 months is the statutory minimum.. the leave policy from 12-24 months employment is significantly better.

Am I in any position to negotiate for them to count my previous months to allow me to qualify for this benefit? Any advice on how I could approach this to advocate for myself?

I’m probably about 6 months off from TTC, and I don’t want to take advantage, but also.. I’m always told research shows women (typically) don’t do enough negotiating when they really should ask for what they want.

Is this just a pipe dream request?

 

[chaoticjoy3]

@whyme35 You don't normally need 12 months service at the start of your pregnancy but by a given week (often 24/26). It's worth checking whether that's true for this contractual maternity leave - if it is, sounds like your TTC timeline is fine. If not, I haven't heard of people negotiating contractual maternity leave - and I wouldn't be inclined to disclose I was thinking of ttc when I was looking to start a job (which is the only thing this negotiation could amount to).

 

[seohce]

@chaoticjoy3 Yes, this. Even if you got pregnant on the first try, you should still be over the 12 month mark by the time you hit that 26 week point. I think with this in mind, I would be wary of disclosing such personal information. Even if nothing discriminatory comes of it (and often it's not overt so hard to prove), if you struggle conceiving you might not want people at work to know your timeline.

 

[whyme35]

@seohce Great advice - thanks for replying

 

[whyme35]

@chaoticjoy3 Thanks for your advice.

Their policy is difficult to explain its phrased that I would need to be there for more than 12 months + be in the 24th week. So my timeline would need to be 6/7 months. However it is quite ‘lucrative’ to wait to be in the 12-24 month allowance as it does get so much better for longer serving employees.

I guess I just need to consider if the value of the paid leave is more important than our timeline.

Thanks again

 

[chaoticjoy3]

@whyme35 I'm a bit confused - if you're waiting 6/7
months, doesn't that line up exactly with the requirements for contractual maternity leave?

 

[whyme35]

@chaoticjoy3 Now I’m a bit confused (I probably need to sit down and figure this out..)
The way I understood the contract is that, I need to be there 12 months + be 6 months pregnant. So, I need to move my TTC date back to the end of 2021 so I’d be 24 weeks in June 2021. A full 6 months later than our original timeline.

Am going to double-check the wording now!

 

[denraepat]

@whyme35 Are you comfortable disclosing your plans to start a family in the next year? By attempting to negotiate these terms, you’re saying to the company that there’s a good possibility that you will become pregnant sooner than later. How do the two companies compare? Does your two years seniority at company B trump the new hire benefits at company A?

 

[whyme35]

@denraepat I’m probably a bit naïve/blasé with thinking that if company A is going to discriminate against me about a possible pregnancy, then it’s not somewhere that’s right for me..

The companies are definitely comparable, but company A has been woo-ing me hard to come back to them, so I feel comfortable to negotiate something in my benefit.

Someone elsewhere suggested calculating the value of the leave, and trying to negotiate it as a signing bonus somehow. I’m just such a rookie when it comes to negotiating
Thanks for your questions though. It’s definitely so helpful!

 

[fan90]

@whyme35 Are there any other reasons that you could use an excuse to negotiate? Not that you should need an excuse, but I don’t think I’d be comfortable bringing up ttc when starting a new job. But for example, my company gives additional paid time off the longer you’ve worked there so if I left and wanted to come back, I’d try to negotiate to count my prior years of service in order to get more time off

 

[whyme35]

@fan90 Thanks, that’s really good advice and I’ll see what they say

 

[anw0001]

@whyme35 I mean you’re going to be pregnant nine months. All you have to do is hit three months prior to pregnancy to qualify for the long leave. I would just wait three months to try.

 

[whyme35]

@anw0001 Their leave policy is worded a little tricky, but essentially I need to be there 12 months and be 24 weeks..
But I think you’re right, it just means adjusting our timeline a bit more

 

[wavering]

@whyme35 ask for it. send an email and say hey thanks for the contracts. i was reviewing the contract and i see that you are not counting my previous employment with the company is there anyway we can add X timing and amend the contract to reflect same?