Staying In Touch With The Boss While Away Is Key To A Successful Career

While many of us love our job and enjoy time at the workplace it's likely that, only the keenest jobsworths would check their work emails or voice messages while sunning themselves on a beach on their summer holidays, and many women may be tempted to cut off all communication with their place of work for the total duration of their maternity leave.

Such an attitude is clearly understandable, not only since even the most career-minded of women has things other than her job to be thinking off while expecting.

According to experts, women who stay in touch with their employers while on maternity leave are said to be more likely to walk back into their old positions upon their return, rather than finding themselves lumped in a dark corner of the office with fewer responsibilities and significantly reduced chances of securing a promotion in the near future.

A parenting expert, said: "In terms of advice, I would say that for the whole period you are off on maternity leave to really stay in touch with the office."

"If mothers who are returning to work show willing in that respect they'll probably find [that] employers [will also] remember that they are going to be coming back. It is a two way street."

Such advice is all the more relevant given that new research from the National Childbirth Trust has revealed that just one in three mothers feel their re-entry into the world of work was 'easy'.

In comparison, two in three said that they found their return to their place of work to be difficult and stressful, with around a third believing that their career prospects had been harmed and one fifth resigned to having to switch to a lower pro-rata salary.

So, like it or not, it clearly pays to at least occasionally touch base with the boss and the workmates, however little they are missed.

If you would like to know more about maternity leave why not ask AnswerBank Jobs and Education.