I worked as a computer programmer for 13 years and left to look after my family. I have been at home for 8 years and now am looking to go back to work. I do not know where to start. I am interested in the data analysis side of computing and not looking to return to programming, needless to say that my skills are now mostly out of date. I would love to return to the IT industry, but do not know where to start. I was scared to get back out there which surprised me as I was a confident person when I was working. Please advise.
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I'm currently on six months maternity leave from a senior management position. I've just seen an email that someone has been appointed to a role which is almost identical to mine, with the same remit and responsibilities, but a slightly different job title. This affects the remit of the role I'll do on my return and also my seniority, damaging future promotion prospects which I've been aiming towards. I long suspected this. The company was going through an organisational restructure whilst I was pregnant and I was given no information on how my job would be affected. I pretty much felt sidelined during my entire pregnancy (my boss was openly skeptical about whether I'd return at all). I did postpone my maternity start date from 35wks pregnant to 38wks to help them recruit maternity cover for me. They hadn't sorted anything out by my original finish date (despite telling them about my pregnancy at 10 weeks!) and were vague about cover plans (my boss cancelled all my last one to ones so I lost all opportunity to discuss it properly). However, my boss didn’t like the candidates we interviewed. When I went on maternity leave, it was all still up in the air and my role and future uncertain. I was pretty stressed by it all to be honest, but didn't feel like I had any time to address it with them. This new appointment isn't a maternity cover role, but I feel it directly affects my job. What are my rights? I feel really let down by my company, especially after I postponed my leave to help them sort this. I've always shown loyalty and had glowing appraisals and top bonuses. I feel like they wrote me off the moment I became pregnant.
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I am currently on maternity leave and have been working the same hours days and times for six years. We have recently been tupe'd so the new company are paying my maternity pay. i recently told them I was returning in September and found out they had employed six new members of staff and when I asked about my hours etc they said I'm on a zero hours contract so am not enitiled to my days, time etc back and that they will be shared out with new employees starting the same time. Can they do this? They have agreed as a good will gesture to pay me holiday pay for the hours I would have worked if i was still currently working. I have had a phone call today to ask me to attend a meeting as they are now changing my contract from zero hours (term time only) to zero hours 52 weeks a year and have said that if I don't sign my new contract I will not get any hours whatsoever! This is distressing me as I have 3 young children and need to work, but will now not have the school holidays off. I want to know where I stand with this all. Maternity leave is supposed to be relaxing bonding with your baby, but all I seem to have to deal with is a load of stress from my new employers.
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I work at a chain of fast food restaurants and the store that I normally work at has closed for refurbishment. I became pregnant and went on maternity leave last year. It is now coming up to one year that I have had off and I have been trying to get a transfer to another store since December 2011 as I wanted to return to work early. However, there have been no positions available in stores local to my area and I have been in touch with HR and phoned every week since December to ask for an update and they just keep saying there are no positions. I know that this is illegal, but I'm not sure what steps I should take next as they seem to be trying to brush it under the carpet and hope that I'll give my notice in. Any advice would be welcome.
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I left work in 2010 to raise my child who is now in nursery school. I recently have been looking for jobs for about a year now and I am finding it hard to get back into work. I worked as an administration assistant for three years. I know I have the experience and the ability to do this work, but think that my confidence is lacking and I'm finding it daunting and also scary that I might not get anywhere after two years of not working. I have recently started some courses to help. Is there any advice?
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