Microsoft - does anyone work there &/or......

[Mojomummy]

........know their policies reference going back after maternity leave & working part-time ?

[Mojomummy]

some body MUST work there or know something ?!

[HandbagAddiction]

Don't work there but know quite a lot of people that do - including DH. What is it specifically you need to know?

[Mojomummy]

Ooh excellent ! I have seen a job I am interested in & am assuming it's full-time. I have a DD & currently work partime (24 hrs a week). I would take the role, if offered, as full time. owever, I am TTC & am interested to know their policies on maternity leave & how good they are at mums returning to work & how easy/difficult it is to come back part-time.

I've looked at their website & there is no indication other than they support work/life balance.

many thanks for any advice

[HandbagAddiction]

OK - here's what I can definitely tell you. Maternity leave is pretty good. I have a female friend there who had a dd same age as mine (just over 2), last time I think she got 6 months on full pay. However - not sure whether this comes with any 'tie in' period, i.e. you have to work for 6 months after your return or have to pay some (or all) of it back. Also not sure whether the payments over and above SMP require an initial qualifying period, i.e. you need to have been there for 12 months before they'll pay you the extra. I'll drop her an email this afternoon though and see what I can find out.

Microsoft are generally good on work/life balance. My friend has negotiated herself down to 4 days a week and someone my dh works with only works 3 days a week - in quite a senior role too. However, a lot of this will be dependent on the type of role that you're going for and whether it's feasible for you to reduce hours - same as anywhere else I guess.

DH helps me out with childcare as I work in London and we share nursery pick-up / drop-off duties. They have no problem with him either turning up at 9:30 having dropped dd off or leaving at 4:30 to go and pick her up. As long as you consistently perform and do your job, then it's appears to be OK. They also encourage kids to come into the office and have highchairs and some basic toys in the staff restaurant. I have taken dd in there a couple of times on my days off.

They also have a heavily subsidised nursery on campus - run by Jigsaw. It's quite small - and very popular so there are waiting lists but a full-time place costs max £500 a month. I pay over £900 a month for dd's nursery so it's very good value for money and I know my friend is very happy with it.

Hope this helps for now. Will get back to you if I find out anything else.

[Mojomummy]

Hi, thanks for that info. I had heard that they weren't keen on part-time workers, so good to hear that might have been a one off.

Dh works at Oracle, so our DD goes to Jigsaw already & seems to really enjoy it. Are you thinking of moving your DD there ?

Microsoft seems to be a great company to work for....just cautious over the part-time work....swings & roundabouts again...

[HandbagAddiction]

Glad the info was some help. It would be great if we could move our dd there - but we don't live locally - in fact we live nearer Guildford and since DH travels a lot with his job - we need to have a nursery close to home rather than close to work. The cost savings would have been nice though! .