Podcasts about smooth return

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I have a completely wonderful powerhouse for you today who returned from maternity leave eight months ago. Her dream job came up whilst she was away so she decided to return six months early and on day two of her comeback there was a wholescale restructure of the entire business which changed everything. She's just returned from a company celebration trip to Miami in recognition of her being one of the business' peak performers and I think you're going to love her. She had a brutal birthing experience which left her in awful shape mentally and physically so to see and hear her glowing now is an absolute joy. You're about to listen to Lucy Watkins, Head of Productivity, Programs & Enablement at Salesforce.REFERENCES FROM OUR CONVERSATIONLucy Watkins on LinkedInLucy's playbookTim Ferris podcast episode I referencedTherapeutic journaling podcast episodeLucy's meditation coachThe PT Lucy worked withMORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Navigating maternity leave can be super confusing, and it often leaves expecting mothers feeling overwhelmed. You're already juggling the demands of pregnancy, work, and planning for your baby. Now you have to plan for postpartum, too, and what life will really be like once your little one is here? You sure do! The problem is that many women assume their employer will guide the way. The truth? Maternity leave planning really falls on the expecting parents' shoulders. That's why today's episode is such an important one if you're expecting and planning on returning back to work after baby. In this episode, we're diving deep into what it takes to co-plan your maternity leave with your partner, understand your legal rights, and return to work with confidence, while also setting realistic expectations with your partner. Whether you're expecting your first baby or preparing for your next, this episode will help you feel informed, prepared, and supported! Who is Daphne Delvaux? Today's incredible guest is Daphne Delvaux. Daphne is an award-winning employment attorney and the founder of Delvaux Law, the nation's first and only law firm solely devoted to women's rights at work. Known as The Mamattorney on social media, Daphne educates parents, especially mothers, on how to advocate for themselves in the workplace. After struggling to find accurate information about maternity leave during her own pregnancy, she made it her mission to make this vital knowledge widely accessible. Today, she's breaking down what every working parent needs to know. What Did We Discuss? In this episode, Daphne and I dive into: Why Daphne became so passionate about protecting women's rights at work How to start planning your maternity leave (and what to consider) How to understand and calculate your total paid leave Whether and how to negotiate better maternity leave terms Some key conversations you and your partner should have before baby arrives Partner rights for postpartum leave and how to combine time off Emotional and mental prep for returning to work Common challenges working parents face and how to overcome them Final Thoughts Maternity leave isn't just a personal matter. It's a legal, emotional, and logistical one. I'm so grateful for Daphne's time because she reminds us that we deserve to know our rights, to advocate for our needs, and to be supported, not just by our workplace but by our partner and community, too. Daphne shares the truth about what's often left out of HR conversations and how we can shift the narrative around working motherhood. It's a fantastic episode, and we can't wait to have her back for part 2! So, if you're currently expecting or already navigating your return, this episode is for you! Daphne's Resources Website: themamattorney.com Instagram: @themamattorney Facebook: @themamattorney Thank you for listening to our podcast. Cheers to a smooth maternity leave!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Emilia, which isn't her real name. She's been an avid listener of the podcast and got in touch about having a coaching session to support her in making a lateral move in a large multinational healthcare company. Not long after we arranged to speak she e-mailed to say her line manager was going to be leaving and could we talk about how she navigates shifting from peer to boss in her current team on an interim boss.There was so much ground we could have covered and the 45 minutes whizzed by. Emilia has got several significant professional transitions running in parallel which could be overwhelming if she expects too much of herself at once. She's dealing with the fallout from an authoritarian boss; she's navigating moving from being a peer to being the boss, all the time knowing it might be temporary; she's also needing to be considered about how she enters her new peer group and lastly she's attempting to limit the impact the new role will have on her family. It's a lot of effort, a lot of thinking and all on top of delivering the things she previously delivered – with a smaller team. If I were the HR Business Partner of Emilia's part of the business I would be talking to her about sponsoring executive coaching to support her over the next 6-9 months.As ever I hope you get something useful from eavesdropping on this one time coaching conversation. It's recorded in one take so what you hear is exactly how the conversation played out.I referenced an article I wrote titled Promoted into a new peer group? 5 actions to settle quickly.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Danielle Wallington who lives in St Albans, the place I've called home for 23 years. Danielle was an events manager who had her flexible working request turned down after maternity leave with her first son. From that setback came her first business “Milk & Fizz” where she used to her events management skills to bring mothers together for a different type of gathering to what was on offer at the time. She's now the founder of Flock Here – a social networking app that connects women who work from home to places to work from and people to work with. She's been through some massive setbacks in the business which is why I wanted to bring you this conversation. Self-employment isn't an easy choice and it's not for everyone and this is a chat you're going to get a lot from if you work for yourself and have small children or if you're wondering about self-employment as an option; if you're a woman working in events or if you're needing to hear a tale of grit to boost your own motivation. If you're a long time listener you'll know that COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support: the Comeback Community employee experience. It's a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in many large and small organisations that who want to support their returning colleagues and get them feeling comfortable back in their roles as smoothly and swiftly as possible. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.REFERENCES Flock HereDanielle on LinkedInKings Global Institute for Women's Leadership eventsGender differences in the association between unpaid labour and mental health in employed adults: a systematic reviewHow I built this podcast with Guy RazMORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest today is 53 year old journalist Samantha Downes, who last year took up the post of senior news reporter at The Express after many years working freelance. She joined The Express in November after specialising in pensions and investment journalism as an investigative reporter for both trade and national publications including the Financial Times, City AM, and Pensions Expert. She's a mother of two teenage girls and writes about midlife, parenting and money issues for her own substack. She's written two books and has another underway and is also a financial commentator on TV and radio. We met a couple of months ago at the House of Lords at a breakfast hosted by another podcast guest, Baroness Helena Morrissey – episode 102 – to launch a report about the gender ISA gap.I think you'll love Samantha's honesty about returning to employment and her raw self-reflections about ambition. I really could have listened to her for much longer than we had time for and at the end of the episode I share my thoughts on why and how mothers careers come in and out of bloom – and it's not to do with the age of their children.ReferencesThe power of small wins – HBR article by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer. Visualisation podcast episode with Maya Raichoora.ADHD & Hormones - episode 207 of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing podcast with Kate Moryousef.Danna Greenberg paper - Identity and the Transition to Motherhood: Navigating Existing, Temporary, and Anticipatory Identities. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I wonder whether you've seen the Netflix hit Buying London with Daniel Daggers and his team of agents at his property firm DDRE? It's a lot of fun and very glamorous and my guest today is one of the team who you won't have seen on screen. I met Serge Cowan on a flight to Nice last September when he was going out to look at a property in Monaco and we got into a deep conversation about his life, including his four children. Serge is a global real estate advisor at DDRE who has sold properties in 27 locations and deals with DDREs international sales. Serge's 16 year old daughter Emily makes an occasional entertaining double act with him on Instagram and there's a link in the show notes.In 2002 Serge set up a property business which he told me he felt like he was married to. His wife worked with him too and alongside their professional life they spent five years trying to have a child. In 2007 along came baby Maddie who was born with cerebral palsy who very sadly passed away in 2017. Maddie's early years also coincided with the recession of 2009-2012 which hammered the business Serge had built. By 2018, a year after Maddie's death he realised the marriage wasn't right and their divorced was finalised in 2024.You're going to hear us talk about:A father's perspective of the strain and emotional difficulty of raising a profoundly disabled child.Battling the SEN system and local education authority for a child with cerebral palsy.His marriage coming to an end and walking away from the business he'd builtSerge's experience of ‘chronic anxiety' Negotiating with French estate agentsI hope you enjoy and extract something useful from my chat with Serge.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Baroness Helena Morrissey, ex CEO of Newton Asset Management, founder of the 30% Club and founding ambassador of AJ Bell's Money Matters campaign to help women feel good about investing. She's also the mother of nine children and author of A Good Time to Be a Girl.We talk about how to ask for a promotion and the power of holding silence when you do.The gender ISA gap, pensions and investing for children.Helena's experience of returning to work after nine maternity leaves.The psychology of what we wear at work. Helena's top tips for returning to work after a break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Francesca Woodhouse who is the MD of UK Workplace Advisory at Edelman and mother of four children. She works full time and is married to Lewis who also works full time as a Head of Communications. You're going to hear Francesca talk about: The need to proactively managing your career.Moving between freelancing and employment.Key habits that support working full time and caring for four children.The difference having a true partner at home makes to your life.Francesca's experience of being a disgruntled middle manager.Before we glide into the conversation with Francesca, three thank yous to listeners who've left a review of COMEBACK COACH on Apple Podcasts since the last episode:Simone wrote: “Wonderful podcast on the realities of corporate career life. Always get great inspiration and some actionable tips to try out.”Lizi left this review: “I really enjoy listening to the podcast and hearing how other women manage the career and family juggle but mainly I just love hearing Jesica's take on the world. It's impossible not to feel uplifted, energised and inspired listening to her.”And thank you to Geeko1003 who says: Jessica expertly navigates the emotional and performance issues for everyone at work. The tools, tips, and insights help to create an inclusive workplace.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Mark Ski celebrates his sophomore album RECLESS with a Groovement deep dive - the LP features the likes of Homeboy Sandman and Guilty Simpson. Sandman drops in briefly to talk his UK tour dates for March and April, plus new music from The Colonel, Kid Acne, Sonnyjim, Chuck Strangers, PremRock, Ella Mae Sueref, Move 78 and more.Angie Stone - I Wish I Didn't Miss You (Live)Angie Stone - No More Rain (In This Cloud) (Wookie main mix)Homeboy Sandman x Illingsworth - Too DeepDoechii - Slide Antony Szmierek - The Great Pyramid Of StockportThe Colonel & Mr Bailey - The Boogie44th Move - AnthemRoy Ayers Ubiquity - Everybody Loves The Sunshine   Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Everybody Loves The Sunshine (Machinedrum edit)Quasimoto - Seasons ChangeKid Acne - Those Ones ft SonnyjimCrimeapple and Apollo Brown ft Sonnyjim - AlmanacsDon Leisure - Proper WeirdoChuck Strangers ft Graymatter - MarigoldPremRock ft Pink Siifu- Steal WollApta - One FootWu Tang Clan - MandingoKhruangbin - Maria ZambianBacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Maria También Greenfinguz - BallyCladNewen Afrobeat - LloveraElla Mae Sueref - Tomorrow Victoria Port - HauntingA Tribe Called Quest - Stressed OutVisioneers - RaidMove 78 - Mistakes On PurposeGreenFinguz - Pat ButcherMark Ski ft Rasheed Chappell- Back In The Day Mark Ski ft Homeboy Sandman and Booda French - I Get's BusyMark Ski ft Jake Palumbo - Dry SocketsMark Ski ft Guilty Simpson & H3RO - Go HardMark Ski ft SoSoon and Tony Dimes - RECLESSPete Rock and C.L. Smooth - Return of the MeccaHomeboy Sandman - Men Are MortalBooda French - Young WorldJake Palumbo ft Craig G and DJ Dainja - Big Top Clown Circus

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, in this episode we go beyond the comeback and discuss the habits, resources, ways of working and ways of thinking that help support career development when you have young children.We recorded this episode in front of a live audience at Arcadis, London - one of our treasured clients.My guests are all professional women who have 13 children between them and they've all previously been on the podcast. They were tremendously candid for which I am truly grateful.Emmie Faust – exited founder, investor and founder of Female Founders Rise. Past coachee of Jessica. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 52.Amanda Newman – Accenture. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 21.Rachel Maguire – Earl Kendrick. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 19.Liz Twiney – BlackRock. Past coachee of Jessica. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 13.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Brights Minds, I've been thinking a lot about displays of emotions at work because of the increasing number of women I've been coaching over the last 12 months who've described being taken by surprise by their tears and worrying about the implications. It tuns out there's some pretty complex psychology at play when it comes to how crying at work can potentially affect our reputation.I'm Jessica Chivers, a psychologist and executive coach. For the last 20 years I've been coaching leaders, senior professionals and high potential individual contributors during career transitions and challenging times. The work always involves an element of increasing their understanding of themselves and I'll often bring in evidenced-based insights from the world of psychology and related disciplines to help with that ('psychoeducation').In this episode I cover:My new comeback coaching research published by the British Psychological Society.Why we cry (including some gender differences). [05:41]What's been happening for the women I've been coaching who have been crying at work. [08:19]What co-workers are likely to be thinking when they see a colleague cry (where I explain ‘cognitive scripts' and ‘attribution theory') [11:06]What the research tells us is the best thing to do to mitigate any negative downsides of crying at work. [18:30]What managers need to do when they see a team member cry (where I explain some nasty gender biases) [22:11]What repeated crying at work might be telling you. [25:37]REFERENCESBecker, W., Conroy, S., Djurdjevic, E. & Gross, M. (2018). Crying is in the eyes of the beholder: an attribution theory framework of crying at work. Emotion Review, 10(2), 125-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917706766Elsbach, K.D. and Bechky, B.A (2018). How observers assess women who cry in professional work contexts. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(2), 127-154. Gelstein, S. et al (2011) Human tears contain a chemosignal. Science, 331, 226-230 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1198331Malle, B. F. (2006). The actor-observer asymmetry in attribution: A (surprising) meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 895-919. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.895Tiedens, L.Z. (2001). Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1): 86-94.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

The Dáil is back in session today, and if the shouting match two weeks ago is anything to go by, tensions will be high. We speak to Brian Mahon is Political Correspondent for the Irish Daily Mail.

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Amber (not her real name), a past coachee of mine who I worked with years and years ago and is now on the brink of making a second career change. She wanted to have a space to think about how to navigate relationships with different organisations that she's in parallel recruitment processes with. Over the years I've had the pleasure of working with coachees years down the line after their first coaching engagement and it's so wonderful to see how they've changed and to reconnect.If you would like to have a (free) one-time coaching conversation with me that we will record and share as an episode of COMEBACK COACH, take a look here. Link to tickets for the LIVE-IN-REAL-LIFE GATHERING for the recording of episode 100: BEYOND THE COMEBACK - Raising your career through the Primary School years (26/2/25). MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

The Dáil is back in session today, and if the shouting match two weeks ago is anything to go by, tensions will be high. We speak to Brian Mahon is Political Correspondent for the Irish Daily Mail.

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I am really happy to be back with a very vibrant episode to kick off season eight where Marketing Director Caroline Smith from the toy shop, The Entertainer talk about:Making sideways and strategic ‘downward' career moves.Finding unexpected fresh drive and ambition after maternity leave.Job search challenges and strategies.Being the wildcard candidate.Nourishing your professional network.Using LinkedIn to showcase your expertise.Discipline and structure during the job-search journey.Caroline's advice for making a comeback.>>>> If you're listening before 19th February 2025 you're in time to get a ticket for the LIVE recording of episode 100: "BEYOND THE COMEBACK: Raising your career through the Primary School Years" in London on 26/2/25.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, keen eyes might notice that this episode is out a day earlier than usual. I've chosen to release this episode of Tuesday 3rd December to tie-in with International Day of Person's with a Disability. And it feels fitting to have saved this episode to the last in the current season on COMEBACK COACH because we're talking about the power of a sabbatical to refresh, re-energise and have a bit of a rest, which I hope you'll get later in the month. My guest today is Beth Wooller, a Strategic Sourcing Manager at Sainsbury's Head Office where she's also the founder and Chair of Enable, the first ever Sainsbury's Disability Network. Beth started her career as a Management Consultant at Deloitte, having graduated from Cambridge University and has a lifetime of experience living and working with a hearing loss. She is dedicated to helping people with disabilities and differences excel and focuses on raising awareness, increasing confidence and simplifying workplace processes to better support people with disabilities. Beth has recently been listed as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. 11 years into her career and feeling burned out, Beth took a sabbatical from her corporate role to reset, continue her disability work, and gain her professional qualification in Interior Design with the National Design Academy. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds,This is the penultimate episode of season seven of COMEBACK COACH and it's inspired by my 16 year old daughter Artemis, who wants to become a pilot. This is something she decided upon at the start of the year and since then I have had many happy drives around the M25 to Heathrow airport to watch A380 planes come in and take off this year. Plane spotting is actually a lot of fun.My guest today is Rebecca Andrews is a pilot and a few months ago she returned to the flight deck after her second maternity leave. We've been chatting over WhatsApp for about six months and we recorded two separate chats. In the first part you're going to get to hear how Rebecca was feeling about returning to the air before she started her re-induction training in the simulator. Then in the second chat you'll find out how she's feeling now that she's back at work and into the reality of working parenthood and managing two pilot schedules alongside two little children. Yes, she's married to a pilot.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my conversation today is with Laura Scougall, Head of ITV Academy. Knowing Laura is a chatty, confident person we decided to make it a freeform conversation without any pre-agreed questions so it's a bit of a random episode that covers a lot of ground.We talked about:How to get back to sleep after being up with a baby or an 18 year old in my case.Coping with being placed at risk of redundancy and dragged out of your maternity bubble to think about finding another job.Not introducing yourself in meetings with an apology.Why I walk around my garden barefoot when I first wake up.The daily additional stress of being a working parent of a little boy with autism.Being totally open at work about what's going on at home.Having the confidence to ask colleagues to reschedule a meeting that you can't make last minute.Being generous with positive feedback.Laura's wobbly moments and tips for coming back to work after maternity leave which includes leaning into the chaos.I hope you get plenty from it and if you do, please would you leave a short review and a rating wherever you listen. Thank you so much.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest today is Sarah Banks from Arcadis, the global design and engineering company. Sarah has two little children and was promoted after both of her maternity leaves. We have a wide-ranging conversation including: Challenges and benefits of after work socialising.KIT days.Being the main earner in her family.Being surprised by feeling a drop in confidence.Worrying about not being able to do her job when she came back. The shadow board that Arcadis has put in place in the Places part of the business to bridge the generational gap between employees and the leadership team and avoid groupthink.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds. My guest today is  someone who wanted a platform to talk about her experience of continuing to work on and off during breast cancer treatment with the single goal of helping others find their way through this really difficult time. Tara Ferguson is an Associate Director within the People team of a medium sized bio-tech business. She's worked in a number of different sectors and types of business, in roles ranging from People Business Partner to Lead Coach to Employee Wellbeing Manager, in a career spanning over 20 years. She lives in Scotland with her husband Andy and teenage daughter Charlotte - enjoying cold water swimming, CrossFit, reading and time with family in her spare time.We talk about:Deciding not to walk away from work completely for the duration of her treatment.Coming back on a phased return at the end of last period of chemotherapy.What best in class line manager support looks and sounds like.The impact of a medically induced menopause.How businesses can hang onto women and turn the tide of the numbers of women walking away when they hit menopause.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I hope you're on good form and thank you for choosing to listen to this episode of Comeback Coach. Dan Hewitt is the Head of Talent Management and Development at Ocado, the UK online-only supermarket HQ-ed in Hertfordshire just down the road from me.When Dan came back from a few months of paternity leave he thought he was going to stay in a comfortable place professionally, not striving for the next job. This was so he could focus on family, but that was not to be and Dan moved into a bigger, stretch role.REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODESummary paper of Erik De Haan's meta-analysis of coaching using only randomised controlled trials.What Can We Know about the Effectiveness of Coaching? A Meta-Analysis Based Only on Randomized Controlled Trials MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, this episode is inspired by the previous where my guest, Ramona Aning from Ketchum, talked about how her CEO is open about family time and downtime.  I'm geeking out on "psychological job control" and "segmentation norms" which are talked about in a new paper in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology titled The competing influence of psychological job control on family-to-work conflict. As ever, there are practical takeaways from the episode which include the five questions bosses can ask in team meetings and 1:1s to ensure their people are getting the downtime they need.  The paper I refer to was published in 2023 and can be found here: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joop.12426MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

In this week's episode, we're diving into a topic many of you might relate to after the blissful summer holidays — the summer scaries. Similar to the Sunday scaries after the weekend, these feelings of dread, anxiety, and stress about returning to work after the summer break can be overwhelming. Anna shares her personal experiences of taking a proper summer off, enjoying family time, and exploring new adventures, while grappling with the impending return to routine. We'll explore strategies to ease these transitions, celebrate the beautiful moments of summer, and prepare for the new season ahead. Whether you've had a perfect summer or faced some disappointments, we have practical tips to help you deal with those summer scaries and find balance in your everyday life. Stay tuned to discover how to make meaningful changes and create a smoother transition back to work. *Resources mentioned during the episode* 1:1 Coaching & Mentoring - If you're looking for one-to-one support to help you achieve your specific life and business goals, Anna has a limited number of spots for individual coaching and mentoring. www.onestepoutside.com/coaching Join the free Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/onestepoutside/ Follow Anna on Instagram: https://instagram.com/annaselundberg  Get started with these free resources: Explore a broader definition of success https://onestepoutside.com/success  Find a way to quit your job and start your own business https://onestepoutside.com/roadmap  Get a free assessment of your business https://onestepoutside.com/scorecard Discover the book, Outside of the 9 to 5 https://outsideofthe9to5.com  

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I am really happy to be back with a very vibrant episode to kick off season seven. We ended season six with an episode on the psychology of focus and attention and how to adapt your day when you wake up absolutely shattered. And you loved it and you told me so and I'm so thankful that you did because my brain runs on little drip-drip doses of positive feedback. Today I'm bringing you a conversation with Ramona Aning, a coachee of ours from Ketchum, the PR and marketing communications consultancy. She returned to her role as an account director after maternity leave earlier this year and we go into depth on:Holding boundaries at work, and how Ramona became adept at this.The signs Ramona spotted during the recruitment process for her role at Ketchum that told her it was going to be a place where she could be herself. How she found people to connect with on maternity leave via the Peanut app and how helpful those friendships have been as she returned to workPlus Ramona's wobbliest moment as she returned to work.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I hope you're on good form and by the end of this episode got a better sense of how you can help yourself find focus, sustain your attention and experience traction. I'm Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience, of which this podcast is a part.The idea for this episode has been stirring in mind for some time because focus is a frequent source of conversation with coachees who are returning to work from maternity leave with less time on their hands than they had pre-baby. If you're not a new parent or a parent at all I think you'll get plenty from listening to the psychology and my personal hacks that I'm going to share with you. REFERENCESFicca, G., Axelsson, J., Mollicone, D. J., Muto, V., & Vitiello, M. V. (2010). Naps, cognition and performance. Sleep medicine reviews, 14(4), 249-258.Leroy, s. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109 (2) 168-181: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597809000399MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I'm inspired to bring you this episode as I've been invited to be part of a 'Human Library' at CIPD's Festival of Work where my title is "How to not burnout as a parent of a neurodiverse or challenge child." Journaling or 'free-writing' as a I call it has been one of my consistently useful coping tools, especially over the last two years, and I'll be talking about that.I'm talking you through the science of a very specific journaling protocol that has a very significant evidence base in the academic research literature. It was developed by Professor James Pennebaker in 1986.Here are the links I mention in the episode:Caremail: https://www.subscribepage.com/comebackcommunity Huberman Lab podcast 20/11/23 A Science-Supported Journaling Protocol to Improve Mental & Physical Health: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/a-science-supported-journaling-protocol-to-improve-mental-physical-health Professor James Pennebaker research: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing (summary of research findings) by Baikie & Wilhelm (2018) published in Advances of Psychiatric Treatment:  https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F Therapist Uncensored podcast episode 225 with James Pennebaker: https://therapistuncensored.com/episodes/neuroscience-proven-writing-protocol-james-pennebaker-225/ Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GK5817W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, at the end of 2023 I read about a landmark legal victory for a former Avon Fire and Rescue Service employee, Sasha Acheson, who won her sex discrimination case against the organisation. Reading that piece got me curious about the experiences of female firefighters after they've notified their employer that they're pregnant; what it's like to have to shift from active frontline duty to something else and what it's like to return to an environment where you may not have a single colleague near you who understands what you've been through. My guest today is NOT that former employee but a Emma Young, a female firefighter who has a lot to say about what it's like to be a pregnant woman in the fire service. Emma has a 15 month old daughter and she's currently pregnant with her second, a pregnancy that she found out about just as she was returning from maternity leave.You're going to hear about:How Emma navigated the lack of maternity policy and the difference a good line manager can make in uncertain circumstances.Lack of knowledge in the fire service around the needs of a person who is put on modified duties.The impact of a disconnect between what organisations say they want to do to be inclusive and what happens in practice.And as ever, my guest's wobbliest moment as she returned to work, a high point and Emma's three top tips.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Sabeha, a first time mother based in London who has returned to work for a Californian tech company. It's a conversation about the tension that exists within us when we want to give more to work and also be present at home - and the specific challenge of working for a US organisation who comes online as your working day is drawing to a close.In this coaching session we explore:How to experience more joy, not just “getting through it” as a working parent.Wanting to work more hours than you're able to.Discomfort and tension leaving work before you feel ready to, to be with your child(ren)Tensions with our partner about what time we go ‘on duty' caring for our child(ren)MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Yvette Bramley, a woman who describes herself as a full time mum and part time business psychologist. She works with the Quality Team at Lexxic, a specialist psychological consultancy and the focus of her role is ensuring the quality their delivery and reports through training, audits, spot checks and actioning client feedback. She proudly tole me after we'd chatted that was she was always a “weird” kid growing up and hopes she continues being the weird one. She also told me – and I quote:"Patience does not come naturally to me and I am a control “freak” but it works for my family. However, my daughter has taught me to be more relaxed and spontaneous. I no longer live life focusing on the next qualification or physical achievement. I now live to have fun and experience as much joy daily as possible".Yvette is my most energetic guest yet and you're going to hear about:Why KIT days are a brilliant thing to do when you're on maternity leave.Getting comfortable with changing your mind about career development activities you simply don't want to find the time and energy for now you're a working parent.Recognising how successful you already are and remembering to question self-talk that suggests otherwise. COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support that we call the Comeback Community employee experience. It's a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in organisations such as ITV, Lily's Kitchen, GAM Investments, Federated Hermes, Veolia and more. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

This short “JUST JESSICA EPISODE” is about managing rumination, how to keep healthy habits going when you're consumed by work and the psychology of mindful meditation. It's inspired by a particular coaching conversation I had one Tuesday a few weeks ago. I put these episodes together myself without the lovely Chris cleaning up bumps in the sound or adding in the swanky intro and outro and I hope you get something from it. If you do I'd love it if you shared it with someone else who you think might like it too.Click here for "DAILY CHECK-IN" tool you can download and print for your wellbeing.The meditation mantras I mentioned in this episode:Hummee Hum – The Other is you by Mirabai Cieba (12 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CFI0hslXv8Ramadasa by Satkirin Kaur Khalsa (12 mins)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVewRvqNrE The article I mentioned about meditation and the DMN on the Mindfulness Association's website: https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/science-of-mindfulness/meditation-and-the-default-mode-network/ MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, this is a very different episode to anything I've done before. Brian is a chap whose energy, openness and actions around supporting fathers I've admired on LinkedIn for quite some time. Throughout the time Brian and I have been in each others' orbits he's worked for Amazon as a Program Manager in Luxembourg, whilst also training to be a coach In June this year I spotted a very candid post from Brian about expecting to be made redundant so I got in touch to offer my condolences and to tell him how much I liked reading what he was writing about what he was anticipating and we started swapping voice notes. I do love a voice note!I asked Brian whether he'd be up for coming on the podcast later in the year when he'd made his comeback and then a thought occurred to me: why don't we document, through voice notes, what's happening for Brian on the run up to redundancy and what happens next. I do all of this with you in mind dear listener – I'm constantly thinking about how I can bring you ideas, insights and tips to make your comeback smoother, easier and more enjoyable. I'm also always wanting to bring you the hard stuff that people are going through and the emotions they're experiencing as a way to give you hope when you're going through similar struggles. At the end of the episode you're also going to hear from Dr Madeline Stevens who is the author of Strategic Redundancy Implementation: Re-Focus, Re-Organise and Re-Build. She knows a lot about how to help people through redundancy..MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Michaela Thomas, a clinical psychologist I've been really looking forward to chatting to because we've been batting voice notes back and forth for about a year and then I heard Michaela on a podcast I've been lapping up over the last 9 months (Kate Moryousef's ADHD WOMEN'S WELLBEING)  that was the galvanising stroke to get Michaela on. I originally wanted to have a chat with Michaela about how to keep partner/spousal relationships feeling good once you have a baby and go back to work and the pressure ramps up drawing upon her own lived experience as well as her professional insight. She's the author of a book called The Lasting Connection – which is about developing compassion for yourself and your partner - and has a podcast called Pause Purpose Play. I've since learned that Michaela also has a special interest in perfectionism and she has an ADHD brain and is starting to do more work in that area too. Given my recent diagnosis of ADHD and our growing interest in neurodiversity as a coaching team my mind I thought wow, let's get Michaela on to talk about her return to work and all of these things. So, you have an extra long episode today because there's so much I wanted to chat to her about. If you like what you hear from Michaela then you can find her on Instagram @the_thomas_connection and Facebook @TheThomasConnection.**Michaela is going to be joining me on Tuesday 21st May 2024 12 NOON for a live Q&A on HOW TO LIVE & WORK WELL WITH AN ANXIOUS MIND AND OTHER MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES. The Q&A is part of the Comeback Community employee experience programme and once our clients have had first dibs we open spare spots to all absolutely free**. ..MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Lianne Baker, Head of People & Culture at Enfuse who had surprise baby number three last year and we caught up at the end of her five month maternity leave. Lianne is an award-winning People professional with over 15 years' experience working within TV for Endemol, publishing for Condé Nast, recruitment, hospitality and now for Enfuse, a digital transformation management consultancy. Since joining Enfuse Group, she has been focused on culture and engagement, bringing in forward thinking and inclusive policies. Enfuse Group is recognised as a Great Place to Work, Top 5 Best Companies and best new Management Consultancy at the MCA Awards. Lianne has previously spoken up about the importance of flexible working to enable parents to parent as well as have a career in addition to writing various articles of managing IVF and Fertility treatment alongside work. You're going to hear about:How to have smooth harmonious relationships with family members who care for your children.Wanting to work during maternity leave and how to communicate that to your team.Tips for returning to a new role and/or a new organisation after a period of extended leave.Owning your decisions and tuning into what's right for you and your family.Knowing your worth and feeling good at work.And as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Ros Kwok, a woman I was introduced to after asking one of the wonderful Partners at our past podcast sponsor, Rayden Solicitors if she had a client who had had to return to work due to a change in financial circumstances following divorce. Thank you Emily Watson for coming up trumps in less than 24 hours! And you'll also hear from Emily at the end of the episode where we talk through several questions about divorce, spousal maintenance and arbitration.**LINK TO "MOTHERS WALK" on 8/3/24 for International Women's Day**Ros is originally from Singapore and came to study in the UK. She became a stay at home mum after she had children and when her youngest went to nursery she took a part time job in a nursery and after four years became a freelance photographer. When the divorce happened she was told to get a proper job, was forced to sell all of her photography equipment and then made 50 applications for jobs, and got only one interview. That interview was with John Lewis – I love JLP sooooo much – but even that didn't work out. Fast forward to today and Ros IS working for John Lewis and she's worked her way from an entry level role to being a fashion merchandiser and instagmmer for JLP. Today Ros is thriving and this episode talks about how she got there. I think many employers are recognising just how destabilising any big life can be for their people and divorce is right up there. If you're going through divorce or it's on your mind I'm sending you all the love because I know how hellish it can be. I'm a child of divorced parents and I have people around me going through divorce at the moment. To you all I send love and hope, more of which at the end of the episode.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Andrea Byrne, one of the faces of ITV News and a past coachee of mine.  She anchors the BAFTA award-winning daily news programme Wales at Six, as well as ITV's national bulletins. This includes ITV Weekend News, Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten and Prince Harry is among the many high-profile names she has interviewed.Andrea also presents the current affairs programme Wales This Week; hosts her own fertility podcast ‘Making Babies'; and is a Tedx speaker. She has recently been nominated for several broadcast awards for her documentary work.She is an ambassador for ‘The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme' and a Non-Executive Director for Hockey Wales. Andrea is married to Wales and Lions legend Lee Byrne.  She is passionate about wellbeing and pioneered the introduction of Mental Health First Aiders in ITV's newsrooms.Away from the newsroom, she is a keen yogi, a novice stand-up paddle-boarder and a budding novelist!In this conversation with Andrea you're going to hear about:Remembering how good you are at your job before you start back.Why it's a good idea not to expect too much of yourself when you first return to work.It not being selfish or wrong to want to have time to yourself or not liking every moment of parenthood even when your child was very hard ‘won' as Andrea's daughter Jemima was.Pitching to be involved in projects and activities that are outside of your role.The time it takes to adjust to working parenthood.And a few random bits about the psychology of perfume and what wearing stretchy clothing does to our minds.We do also talk about baby loss and miscarriage towards the end where Andrea shares something harrowing that happened to her when she was about to do a very significant day of broadcasting.And as always you'll get to hear the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience as well as her three top tips for returning to work after a break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, and welcome to the start of season six of COMEBACK COACH. I am so pleased to be back sharing stories and coaching sessions about returning to work and onward career development after a break. My guest today is Joanna Jacobs who took a career break straight after maternity leave from Vodafone. Prior to that she was living in Shanghai and working for Sainsburys, sussing out whether China would be a viable market for them and now she's the HR Director for UK Twinings Commercial. In between Vodafone and Twinings she experimented with a few things including the library assistant role (which wasn't for her!)If you are thinking about taking a career break or you're on one now you are in for an energising treat because this is a conversation that shows it IS possible to have a gratifying and stretching career after a significant career break.You're going to hear about:A useful way to think about your career break when you describe it to recruiters and potential employers.The power of experimentation and doing dramatically different work to what you used to do. How to set about finding a new role in the sector you were in before. Also Jo's wobbliest moment when she returned to work and her top tips for coming back from a career break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds and welcome to another JUST JESSICA episode of COMEBACK COACH where I'm reflecting on three things that have been top of mind for me lately that I think could be useful to you too. I'm a coaching psychologist, author and founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists which is home to the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.A few weeks ago I went away for three days, two night by myself to my favourite hotel in Cornwall.  It's something I booked in September – when they were doing an offer - in anticipation of needing a break from home. None of the girlfriends I asked to go with me could commit and so I decided to book to go solo. And this solo trip brings together three things I wanted to mull over here:Knowing your needsThe power of a solo trip to develop your intuition How to focus on your career as well as your jobIn this episode I mentioned an article on Psychologytoday.com and our COMEBACK CONVERSATION live Q&A listings.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Phil Bush, a Credit Control Manager for Euromonitor International in London where he's worked for 17 years. He responsible for managing a department that collects unpaid debt for the business and minimises financial risk to the company. He lives in Brighton with his partner Jo and their 15 month old daughter Sadie. He's a runner who has been very keen to do the London marathon and finally this year got to do it after applying and being unsuccessful for the previous 8 years. He's also a community-minded man who volunteers for the charity Fairshare.We talk about:Why he took a sabbatical not Shared Parental Leave.How he supported his partner's return to work (to a new job).The difference having a supportive partner makes to a woman's return from maternity leave.Coping with hospitalised baby.What a 'supportive' employer looked like for Phil.Volunteering whilst on sabbatical.Feeling strange separating from family to go back to work after intense months together.Finding a new normal as a family.Deciding to have counselling to deal with the shock of an ill child.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

You're excited to return to your engineering job. But you're worried about going back to work as a mom. How much have you missed? And how will you handle your complex schedule? This episode teaches you post maternity leave strategies to ease you back into your engineering career.

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Gemma Hill, a Heart FM radio presenter whose maternity leave was covered by non other than the formidable Anna Whitehouse AKA Mother Pukka but even still she says, maternity leave was still pretty terrifying. We talk about:Not being instantly delighted that you're pregnant3am worries about going on maternity leaveHaving a bl**dy brilliant maternity leave coverMiscarriageHow staying in touch with work can reduce anxiety about going backGemma started on air age 20 on stations around the Midlands and the North, before hanging up her headphones to pursue what she calls “a real job.” She was a national sales manager for a construction company for 6 years living in London with a stable job, a pension, maternity pay, but binned it off to chase the dream again when she was offered a job in Birmingham on the Free radio Breakfast show (for which she did her demo in Pat Sharp's towel cupboard.) After a couple of years she made her move to Heart, where she did the breakfast show across the west midlands for 3 years before moving to Drive. That's where she is today and where she was when she found she was having a (surprise) of a lock down baby. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

My guest today is Andy Lancaster who took three months leave for planned eye and shoulder surgery from a job he loves at CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. We count CIPD among our clients and love working with them.Andy champions and leads the vision for innovative workplace learning and has been at the heart of CIPD's transformation to digital and self-directed learning, with its professional development opportunities now accessed in over 180 countries. He has more than 30 years' experience in learning and organizational development in a range of sectors and has a research Masters' degree in instructional design. He regularly speaks at conferences, writes, and contributes to research in evidence-based learning. His award-winning book “Driving Performance Through Learning” is published by Kogan Page and he is currently working on a new book on social collaborative learning called: “Organizational Learning Communities” which is due out in 2024.In this episode:How to prepare for leave as a leader of a big team.Why being vulnerable is good for us and the people we lead.Coping with brain fog and pain management.Three aspects of returning to work: the physical, the mental and the social.The unexpected good that can come out of sick leave.Why we shouldn't rush to pick up exactly the same job we had before we went on leave.The difference between being resilient and being a hero (and why none of us should be heros).MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Kerry Hickman, a past coachee of ours at Ramboll. Since qualifying as an Accountant at 21, she's had a very broad commercial career in Accountancy, Audit and Financial Management before landing in roles that manage Sales & Customer Insight.  She's travelled across sectors including consultancy, media, FMCG, currency and public sector, and worked both in the UK and internationally.  We talk about:Being made redundant when you've just come back from maternity leave.Working with a career coach - why, what, how?Using LinkedIn to find openings. opportunities, learn and expand your network.How to set about landing a quality PT role.Live Q&A tickets mentioned in the episode for 31/10/23: HOW TO HOLD YOUR BOUNDARIES AND WHAT IS A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT?MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, today you're going to eavesdrop on a one-time coaching conversation with "Zara" (not her real name) and get some expert tips on making a career change from Natasha Stanley at Careershifters. I said I'd include a link to the 8 week Career Change Launchpad experience that I talked about with Natasha that 3000 people have been through over the last 10 years.My guest coachee today used to be a diplomat and we're talking at a point when Zara has applied for roles that she's overqualified for and although she's been invited to interview she hasn't secured the job. After her last interview she was told they were not convinced she would settle and were concerned that she would leave because of the nature of the work and the income.EPISODE MARKERS2:32 Coaching conversation with Zara.38:50 How to make a career change with Natasha Stanley, Head Coach & experience designer at Careershifters.org.51:51 Three summarising tips for making a career change.54:04 Tips for people who have been on a career break and want to change careers.56:28 Zara's update one month on from our coaching session.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Cecily Motley, an accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record of growing companies and brand building in competitive markets. She is the founder of JustParent, a new company working to close the gender pay gap by helping small companies offer more paid parental leave.Previously, Cecily co-founded Motley London, a VC backed, direct-to-consumer brand making world class design affordable. Whilst she was there she was both the pregnant employee and the CEO trying to put good parental leave provision in place. Which led her to her next venture. She lives in London with her husband and two year old son.You're going to hear about:Putting yourself under stress at work before you give birthWorrying about what people will think of your commitment as you become a parentWhat it's like to be a venture capital backed entrepreneurWhy it's good to define your leave period and stick to it Not finding your tribe on maternity leaveThe positive power of a partner who takes shared parental leaveWhat Cecily hopes her new venture, JustParent, will do for the take-up of Shared Parental Leave among men who work in SMEsAnd as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.REFERENCES FLAGGED IN THE EPISODEIf employers really want to increase the uptake of men taking Shared Parental Leave, here's how: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/employers-fathers-taking-spl/The single best thing you can do for mothers in your organisation right now: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/the-single-best-thing-you-can-do-for-mothers-in-your-organisation-right-now/ What do business leaders think about SPL: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/business-leaders-shared-parental-leave/Expectant fathers at work: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/breakingthebias-iwd2022/MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is an HR leader who recently returned to a new job in a new organisation after being bereaved. Having met at university Helen Rowell and her husband Mike married in 2015 and went on to have a son together, Alfie, who at the time of recording is five. In March 2022 Mike was killed in a skiing accident, leaving Helen to raise Alfie alone. One of the many decisions she needed to make was how to approach her career. Up until that point she had worked full time for a global bank, progressing to Director level at the age of 33. After a period of leave Helen has now returned to work having made some radical changes.You're going to hear about:Choosing the attitude that's going to help you the most.Remembering who you were before the bereavement.How employers can support bereaved colleagues including the importance of a bereavement policy.Signs you're ready to start thinking about returning to work.Deciding to start a new job, in a new organisation.The difference a brilliant line manager makes to your self esteem.The joy and purpose Helen found in setting up a charity, Brightest Star and why she started The Widowhood podcast with Rosie, another young widow.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds and welcome to an impromptu and somewhat experimental "Just Jessica" episode of COMEBACK COACH, the podcast for people returning to work after a break. I'm Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author, founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.I started to write this fortnight's edition of Caremail – that's our newsletter for people returning to work and looking for support for that transition and career development beyond their break – about the happiness and opportunity that can be found in rejection and thought: I wonder if I might turn this into an episode of the podcast. So here I am experimenting! If you listen all the way through and like it please let me know and maybe I'll do some more. If you're on Instagram an easy way to tell me what you think is via a DM and you'll find me @comebackcommuk.3 SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR YOUWhat are you repeatedly asking yourself to do that is draining for you?What piece of self-knowledge are you repeatedly ignoring?Where would your time be better spent?MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Divya Manek, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock and a mother of two beautiful girls who I had the complete pleasure of coaching when she returned to work two summers ago. Day to day Divya's work involves being close to market developments, being close to clients and what they want and making sure client money is managed in the best way possible. She manages 5 people directly and 6 indirectly and she cares hugely about supporting the people around her. And she works extremely hard, you might think too hard when you listen to this.  We talk about:Doing maternity leave your own way – and not comparing yourself to what others are doing.Studying for a qualification on maternity leaveHaving an incessant hunger to achieveWhat it's like to ask for and receive family support on maternity leaveThe mindset to employ when a colleague says something hurtfulDivya's tips for making your comeback.Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, Chantelle Angel started her career as a Montessori teacher before going onto work for a children's disability charity where she became pregnant with her first child. That baby is now 3 ½ and she has another son who is 17 months. Chantelle is now a qualified paediatric sleep consultant and founder of  Dreaming Angels,  working with a range of parents, mainly in the UK, although she's reached as far as Singapore and the US.You're going to hear about:Common baby sleep issues and what you can do about themChantelle's transformative experience of being helped by a sleep consultantThe science behind why babies who are cuddled off to sleep are more prone to waking and crying later in the nightTop tips for settling babiesAnd as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright MInds, in this episode you're going to hear from Georgie Siddall, an operational risk manager who took voluntary redundancy in 2019 when she recognised she was burnt out trying to keep the show on the road at work and at home with three sons under 10. One of her sons is on the autistic spectrum and with no family around to help share the load, life was really challenging for her and her husband. She made her career comeback in July 2021 when she landed a job at Santander, one of three organisations she had on her “want to work for” target list. Alongside her day job she also co-Chairs Santander's Enable network because she wants to make a difference to colleagues who have different needs.Georgie and I met on LinkedIn on GCSE results day 2022 when I posted about my son, being permanently excluded from school for persistent disruptive behaviour four months ahead of his exams. He has ADHD and ASD and my golly it's been quite a ride and in the end he smashed his GCSEs which was just brilliant and he's now got his sights set on a Russell Group University to study economics and finance.…I am so proud! Anyway, back to Georgie. It's a beautiful story of really coming through after a very difficult time and finding a job you love. You're going to hear about: the signs of burnouthow Georgie came to the decision to take voluntary redundancyhow she got herself ready to return to workhow to ask for compressed hours and make it workthe joy and meaning that can come from doing ‘off the side of your desk' work – and how to make that work when you're already working really hard in your day jobwhat makes Santander a great employerIf you're reading this before Tuesday 26th September 2023 you're in time to come to our live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on HOW TO SPOT THE SIGNS OF BURNOUT & TAME YOUR OVERACHIEVER GREMLIN.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

What are some tips for adjusting from working from home back to a nine-to five-schedule in the office?First of all, be easy on yourself,” advises Hall. “We've been living in a weird state of reality for the past several months, and so practice some grace and show yourself some grace. We're so used to just rolling out of bed in our sweats and then jumping into a Zoom call, but when you have to get ready for a commute, you have to pack a lunch and you have to let your dog out. Start doing that so that the first day back and the first week back, you won't be so stressed that by the time you get to work, you are panting and sweating and just overly anxious. Another thing that I think is really important for people to do, whether you're working at home or in the office or in a hybrid model, is that you need to create a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule.“It's an important way to keep yourself accountable, keep yourself on track, and give yourself a roadmap. But also you can see where your time drains are. A lot of us have those times sucks and you're like, ‘Wow, I should have done this by the end of the day on Wednesday, and I haven't even gotten started.' It can let you look back and see where you're having those types of bottlenecks. “Another thing that I think that a lot of us, including myself, need to remind ourselves is to be generous when scheduling your meetings and assigning yourself tasks. If you're going to do a meeting from 9:00 to 10:00, don't necessarily schedule the next meeting at 10:00. You have to factor in some time because it might run over. You have to take breaks. You have to check your emails. Giving yourself that cushion is very important.“Another thing I want to really emphasize is that a lot of things that we did before the pandemic we did them that way because we always did them that way. And we didn't really question our routines or our processes. Now is an opportunity to hit the reset button. We realized during this pandemic and working from home that we could be creative and streamline processes and be very innovative. As you go back to work, don't necessarily go back to the same old same old. Think of some ways you can make jobs more efficient. Now is a really good opportunity to hit the reset button.”What are some tangible ways that employees can practice self-care during the workday if they feel anxious or overwhelmed?“It is normal that people are feeling stressed out right now. I'm feeling stressed out right now. We are dealing with the Delta variant, and we haven't been in the office for a long period of time. Things are very new, and things are constantly changing. Realize that it's normal to feel stressed out and out of sorts. I think practicing grace is an important first step.“Another thing on self-care is to take five minutes for yourself. Practice meditation. Listen to music. Go for a walk. Hang out with your pets. Do things like that and block out time to reset. We're still living in a pandemic, and it's going to be even more difficult as people transition back and as people who have children transition back to the school year. A lot of kids are going back to school; how do you negotiate that? Know that you need to take that time out for yourself. “The other thing that I think is very important is to solicit social support, whether that means leaning on your coworkers or commiserating with them. Be transparent with your boss about what kind of needs or apprehensions you may have.  Join some type of employee resource group or support group where you have other people who you can talk to. Lean on people who are in your professional network. I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have a great network of people I can lean on, bounce questions off, and ask for help. If it's to the point that you're depressed, because a lot of people are depressed, reach out to your employee assistance plan and try to find some type of counseling and do things that support your mental health.”What about for employees who may be asked to come to the office more than they may be comfortable? What are some good tactics for addressing those concerns with their supervisors?“This really resonates with me because I have a child who is immunocompromised and is on immunosuppressants. I had a very frank conversation with my boss, and I said, ‘I don't feel comfortable coming in right now because she's very, very sick.' And he was so cool about it. He was like, ‘No, no, we want to help you.' This past year and a half, people have become more empathetic. They realize that times are tough. Be transparent about what you're going through rather than try to come back and be resentful because you should've said something that you didn't.“But there are situations where you just can't work remotely. You are a nurse or you're with an organization which is just not allowing people to work remotely. There are still some things that you could try to do. You could try to have a schedule where you are coming in only a couple of days a week, or you could try to ask for a certain type of space where you could be more socially distant from people. You could ask those around you, ‘I've got some problems. I have some concerns. Do you mind masking?' Be transparent and proactive. Also, if you feel that you cannot come back for whatever reason, arm yourself with data.“You can tell your boss, ‘Hey, for the past year and a half, I've been working at home and things are working out okay. I've been able to do my work. I have been able to be proficient. I haven't had complaints from customers, clients, or coworkers. And I'm productive. Let me show you how I'll hold myself accountable in the future.' Try to negotiate and say, ‘Hey, why don't you let me continue to work remotely from home until you see a problem, and then we can try to revisit that. But if things aren't broken, why try to fix them?' And that all goes part and parcel with explaining why you want to work from home; be able to address the concerns that your boss may have.“A big concern for a lot of bosses is that they're afraid about the office culture. They feel things may not be as cohesive when people aren't in the office seeing each other face to face. But you can talk about having Zoom meetings on a regular basis - one-on-one or in groups - or meeting people socially distanced for short periods of time so that you can see their faces. Hopefully, you can reach some type of compromise or happy medium where you allay your boss's concerns, and you've also allayed some of your own.”From the employer's perspective, what are some things they can do to help their employees transition smoothly back into the office?“Don't expect things to be perfect when you come back. For example, I haven't worked the photocopier in my office for a year and a half. Trust me, Russ, I won't know what to do if paper gets stuck in there. I'm going to be calling someone for help. So imagine there are going to be hiccups. Things are going to take a little bit longer. For example, my husband just went back to work. He's an attorney with the state of Michigan, and he works on the eighth floor. He has to budget more time to get up to his office because either he has to walk up the stairs, or only one or two people can go in the elevator. Can you imagine eight o'clock when everyone's going in? So, you have to expect that things are not going to be like they were before.“You've got to also practice regular check-ins with your employees to make sure that you discuss their concerns and help them feel validated and heard. Even if you can't change things for them, just the notion of employees being able to engage in what we call voice and being able to air their concerns goes very far in terms of employee wellbeing, mental health, and productivity. Another practical idea is to schedule meetings for midday rather than early morning. At the end of the day, we all get Zoom fatigue, and so you don't want to have these meetings necessarily at the end of the day. And people have to get used to their commute, finding a parking space, and walking in. And be open to feedback from your employees.”How do you see the rise and acceptance of more remote work playing out in the years ahead where people seem to want more work-life balance and some of the power dynamic seems to be shifting more in the employee direction?“I see this as the next wave of the labor movement because there has been a shifting of power. And it's not because employees just want a free ride, but they'd rather get a job where they're treated like a human being rather than go someplace and make 12 bucks an hour and go through hell every time they go to work. Employers have to think about treating their employees better. They have to see employees as a resource instead of as an expense. They're not an expense you're trying to minimize, they're a resource or an asset that you're investing in. You need to empower employees, hear their voices, solicit feedback from them, and make sure you have good two-way communication, like having transparency about what you're doing. Even if the communication from the employer is, ‘We don't know. We're living in uncertain times, we'll keep you posted, but as of this moment, we really don't know.'“And you don't want to create a big chasm between the frontline workers going to work and the higher paid or mid-management executives who work from home safely away from all the drama. As a manager, even if you are working remotely some of the time, you need to come in on a regular basis to check in with your employees to see how they're doing and to hear their voice.”What are some issues, challenges, and opportunities in the fields of human resources and labor relations?“The biggest challenge is the notion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am a person of color. I am an Afro-Latina first-generation from Panama; my parents came from Panama in the 1960s. The DEI movement in the academic field of human resource management got very little love for many generations. In fact, my advisor when I was at Florida State told me to stay away from those issues because he didn't want me to be looked at as an angry Black woman. And that was good advice at the time because it would've been career suicide. But now, people are really interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We need to make sure that this is not just a moment. This is a movement for anybody who wants to feel included and valued in the workplace, whether it's because of your gender identity or orientation, whether it's because you have a disability, you're a veteran, or you're a low-income worker. It's an issue that needs to be ingrained within the field of human resources. Another thing that is very important is the notion of artificial intelligence and technology, their place in the workplace, and the fact that once again, we don't want there to be a chasm created. We don't want those employees left behind because they're not trained or because they're being replaced by technology. Find a way for them to have a place in the workplace.“Another trend that you're going to see in human resources that we began to see even before the pandemic but that you're going to see even more is something called job crafting. More and more employers are allowing people to craft their job into a job that fits their skills. For example, you may be better at creating reports, and your co-worker may be better at analyzing the data. You may have the same role, but you do more of the report generation and that person does more of the data analysis. Job crafting and finding ways that employees can thrive in their roles is something you're going to see more and more of in the future.”What first attracted you to MSU? And what are some of your own research interests?“What attracted me to MSU is that I'm in the multidisciplinary School of Human Resources and Labor Relations; it is one of the few schools of HR and LR in the country. The fact that I could do multi-disciplinary research at a top ranked program really attracted me, and the fact that I could learn from people from other disciplines. It's really cool being able to work with a psychologist, for example, and the great thing about MSU is that we're able to work with people so easily from other disciplines. I'm currently working with some faculty and students in the College of Engineering, particularly Andrew Mason, who is also a real dear friend of mine.“The main thing that I am known for if you were to Google me is that I study employee accountability. Accountability means the belief or expectation that you'll be called to account for your actions. Because we feel like we're going to have to account for things, we adapt certain types of behaviors. It might be covering your behind in a situation, or it could be a situation where you think ‘I better think about this long and hard because my boss is going to ask me why I did that, so I better have some good explanations.' I'm looking at how employers can promote accountability and how people react to accountability. The other accountability research that I'm really excited about is how people from historically marginalized groups manage their accountability.”Tell me about your podcast, what you focus on, and why you think this medium is a good way to get your message out.“I have a podcast series called People Talk with Angela Hall. It is available on Apple and Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts. I talk about how you engage and motivate your employees and also discuss issues about career leadership, career management, diversity, equity, and inclusion. It's fun, and I get to talk about timely topical things related to HR.”Summarize some of your tips for making a smooth transition back to working in the office. “As an employee or as an employer, you need to practice grace with yourself and others. You need to be open and transparent about what you're feeling, and you need to solicit feedback from others. You need to lean on others and seek social support. Don't seek social support once you start flailing. Seek that kind of support from the beginning. Employers need to think about having things like town halls and open communications, and employees should feel empowered to talk to their employers about what's happening. We all realize, too, that we're in a time where things are pretty ambiguous right now and that we have to realize that what is okay today may be very different tomorrow. And remember that we're going to have to practice some flexibility.”MSU Today airs every Sunday morning at 9:00 on 105.1 FM and AM 870 and streams at WKAR.org. Find “MSU Today with Russ White” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.