Work

Back to work… for real

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office

Even with a generous allotment of maternity leave in Austria (for me it amounted to 2 years, 2 months), it did eventually come to an end.

I was looking forward to going back to work. Craving it, even. Something new to look forward to; getting out of the house (wearing more than stained tracksuit pants); drinking a cup of hot tea in peace while I read through emails; talking to my colleagues about more than just nap lengths and tantrums.

In some ways it was as easy and enjoyable as I imagined. In others it was harder.

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Back at work… for 5 weeks

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Back to work

As mentioned in my previous blog, the Austrian maternity leave system is generous. So I opted to go back to work for two months while hubby stayed home with Sam. During this time I also took all the holidays owed to me, so the end result was a brief five week stint of work for me.

I’m not sure how ideal it is for businesses – to gain an employee back for such a limited amount of time, or to lose one, but it did me a whole lot of good, and in the end, that’s the most important thing.

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The Austrian maternity leave system – giving me a break

debbiekaye19802 Comments
baby shoes

I was told when I moved to Austria that if I planned to have children I should definitely do it here because the system is so generous. And yeah… it was hard going through pregnancy and postpartum in a foreign country… but the advice was right… the maternity leave is generous. The system is good to parents.

Starting with eight weeks of paid leave before you even go on official maternity leave, it’s pretty standard to take two years off as a stay at home parent. During this time your workplace cannot fire you. And they must take you back in a part time role.

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Working from home

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Proper standing desk at home

I’m not really sure where we’re at on the working from home debate these days. Earlier there was uproar about having to return to the office, but it seems to have died down a bit now. Some people have grudgingly accepted the return, some have purposefully quit and found work that suited them better, while others are more than happy that things are somewhat back to normal.

I’m a huge fan of working from home. My job requires me to be at a computer with an internet connection – that’s all. And with my boss based in the UK, and most of my meetings online anyway, there is little point in me travelling an hour to get to an office. Prior to the pandemic I was quite often not doing it.

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Sitting… standing… or both?

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First standing desk
The first standing desk

We all know that sitting all day is bad for us. After I slipped discs in my back, I was under strict instructions: from here on I would need to balance out time spent sitting with movement, be it walking or standing.

At the time, because I couldn’t drive, I created a standing desk at our dining room table – two cardboard boxes created the perfect height for my laptop. I’d stand for half an hour and then I’d sit for half an hour, and so on. Soon after, we installed a standing desk in my home office, and thankfully my company provided me with a standing desk at work. So I was set.

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A change in pace – working only four days a week – but why should I justify it?

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Now tell me, would you do it if you had the opportunity? Would you really?

Would you happily trade less money for more time? And if you did, how would you feel? Would it make you feel lazy? How would you react when everyone else was groaning about the long, last day of the workweek? Would you feel like you weren’t contributing to society and being selfish?

Working 4 days a week
My Friday workstation

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Why my new car is awesome – meet the Snow Tiger

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When I finally (just in time) got a job in Austria, I didn’t have much time to buy a car. Though with a 45 minute commute to contend with, it was a necessary evil.

New car_awesome
Meet the Snow Tiger

Thomas doesn’t like car shopping, and I’m not much help. To me, it’s a car – I want to be able to drive it without breaking down and I want to listen to music… if it was a cool colour that would be ok, too. But that’s it. We checked out a few cars and found some models I liked (in truth, I would have been happy with any of them… I just wanted a good deal) and I ended up with a Ford Focus. I’ve never been a Ford girl, but it was the best one we found. And here’s why: Continue reading →

My first Austrian Christmas Party – what was I thinking not wearing a dress?

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Are Austrian work Christmas parties any different to Australian ones? I found out last year – and rest assured I’ll do a better job this year!

I was full of nervous excitement about my first Austrian work Christmas party. Excited because it was a night of eating good food, drinking and dancing, nervous because I’d only been with the company a month, and my German was not quite ready for drunken conversations.

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