With greatest interest I was reading the Issue pages on PLM .
I am a mother of three, all of my sons born in Israel. With the first one I decided to wave all financial thoughts and to stay at home for the first two years. Coming from Austria (where you get 1 year PLM and you might even prolong it to three years, with lower payments but still your employer has to take you “back”).
Coming from that background in no way I could see me leaving my son earlier than his second birthday.
Then reality stroke hard. With my second son I was employed with a internet start-up (field: instant messaging). According to Israeli law all you get are three months of PLM! Returning to my job I asked to switch to half-day employment. The answer was rather rough: “There is only black and white, either you are with us full-time or you are leaving.” Well, a few month after that the company got sold, I was laid off, and could again take care of my baby son…
My third (and I would say last ;-) one was just 1 year and six month this week. I am currently working for Babylon Online Dictionaries, and I knew what to expect from the Israeli reality. Being prepared made it easier for me to return to a full-time job. And I have to praise my company – they gave me more liberty in doing some part of my job from home and I got a separate room to extract milk. This together with the best nanny there is in the world (which is of course again a question of money) makes raising another baby real fun. I feel that I manage both – job and love for my family, of course on the account of my health (I simply do not get enough sleep.)
I am "okay" with the situation here in Israel now, but "baby and mother heaven” that’s AUSTRIA.
Love - Ursula
