Taking time out of your career for maternity or paternity leave — or indeed any other sabbatical — will invariably prompt concerns about the nature of your job afterwards.
During leave a number of questions might run through an architect’s mind. What is happening in my absence? Will there still be an interesting job for me on my return? Will I still be given challenging projects to work on?
In this career resilience feature, architects describe their own experiences during leave and after their return to work.
Am I being forgotten about?
While an architect might take a sabbatical for many reasons, the most common reason for a long period away from your job is maternity or paternity leave.
Maral Tulip, an Associate at xsite architecture, bullet-pointed a number of concerns in a detailed message to her manager before she went on maternity leave. She has a good relationship with senior management and felt comfortable in stating her concerns honestly. The considered response she received reassured her that she would not be forgotten while on leave.
“While it was reassuring, a small part of me was always subconsciously aware of the fact that architecture has its ups and downs,” Tulip admits. “I did keep in touch with the practice over the 11 months.”
Practices ought to have policies in place for what you are entitled to in terms of pay and duration of absence. Make sure that all your questions and concerns have been addressed well in advance.
Her manager would sometimes drop off correspondence, including architecture magazines. Being good friends with colleagues meant she caught up on projects naturally, as part of socialising, and while going for walks she actually saw a few of her onsite buildings take shape.
One young architect describes how she agreed time out from the small practice she worked for to go travelling.
“There was a small potential question mark over my return,” she explains. “This was when the Brexit referendum was first having an impact so being able to return to my job was not 100% definite. When I restarted work it was initially on a three month basis, and a little like the probationary period of a new job.”
Keeping in touch days and easing back into work
The offer of up to 10 ‘keeping in touch’ days is common during parental leave. At xsite, there are usually three, reports Tulip, which amount to an hour long meeting with a manager for a general update about projects, fellow staff members and overall strategies in the office. Tulip scheduled a fourth to agree terms of returning to work: a phased-in approach was agreed with two days per week for a fortnight; followed by a four day week.
Another architect describes how she began her maternity leave with grand plans of learning this or that, but quickly realised they were over-ambitious. She did, however, enjoy the occasional coffee mornings with contacts from local architecture related groups.
“I went to a regional RIBA event once a month, and brought my daughter. It was great to hear about the projects in the region and switch on that different part of your brain again.”
Can you pick up seamlessly where you left off?
Louise Drew, Senior Architect at Medical Architecture, took 11 months’ maternity leave. Healthcare projects often take many years to deliver and Drew found a happy coincidence in the timing of her leave. A project begun in 2014 was put on hold a month after she went on leave, but it restarted and she was able to pick it up a month after her return.
“When I left, the works were at concept stage, but when I returned they were at Stage 3,” she explains. “I have knowledge from the project’s start that I can bring through to younger trainees. It was great to be given a Lead Architect role to jump straight into.”
Francesca Harrison, Senior Architect at Ryder Architecture had a positive experience of returning to her job.
“Ryder had started a ‘reboarding’ progamme for those who have been away for a long time,” she explains. “It featured regular chats with your team leader over how many hours you will be working, and allows you to request extra training in Revit, for example.”
She “jumped straight back” into her work, and asked fellow team members if there was anything she felt unsure about. Subsequently she has put together a proposal to enhance the reboarding process and make it a more comprehensive digital resource: with information provided in videos to cover internal CPDs on updates in the law, for example.
Agreeing flexible hours
Many architects end up working different hours after becoming parents. Different practices have differing attitudes but most architects report at least some degree of flexibility. One architect described her practice as specifying core hours of 9 to 5 around which there is flexibility, but according to a fixed routine. If you have a regular commitment, such as a school drop off, you can agree an earlier start or finish and make up hours, or take a reduced lunch hour.
Others report official flexitime policies applicable to all staff (not just parents or carers). Time is recorded and logged. If you work extra hours, they are banked and can be used when needed: if your child is off school for example.
Some describe situations in which workers are simply trusted to work their designated amount of hours however they choose, so long as all their project diary commitments can be met, within reason. All architects spoken to have reported the increased amount of remote working during 2020’s pandemic as having made working hours easier from that point of view.
Nathan Sanders, now working happily at P+HS Architects, had a less than ideal experience at a previous practice after he became a father. He reports that, while plenty of support was promised verbally, it was not put into practice. When he had to leave early for childcare reasons, he was frequently asked why his wife, an architect at a larger practice, could not take care of it.
“As far as I know, I never missed a deadline from having to leave early,” he explains. “There was a lack of trust: the implication each time was that I had not already explored all the other options.”
At P+HS, his hours are much more flexible. There is no question over whether you should or should not be starting or leaving at a time: only that it is agreed in advance and that deadlines are covered.
Increased levels of responsibility
Encouragingly, both Louise Drew and Mara Tulip received promotions not long after their return. In both cases, it was not so much a major increase in responsibility so much as an acknowledgment that they were already working at that higher level of responsibility anyway: that they were leading on larger projects and managing others.
In Drew’s case, her practice had doubled in size during her absence.
“I came back to a very different office – it had increased from 8 to 20 – and it was initially hard to understand the level of some of my new colleagues’ roles. I asked if my annual review could be brought forward by a few months. Having been at the practice for several years I felt comfortable asking questions about what the path might be to become a Senior Architect.”
Clearly, with a supportive practice and a considerate culture towards their hours, no architect should feel their career is hampered by a protracted break and new commitments.
Thanks to Maral Tulip, Associate, xsite architecture; Louise Drew, Senior Architect, Medical Architecture; Francesca Harrison, Senior Architect, Ryder Architecture; and Nathan Sanders, Architect, P+HS Architects.
This feature is one of a series that supports architects in building career resilience. The series helps architects at all professional levels with advice on career progression, advancement, promotion and learning.
The RIBA is interested in hearing from members about their own career challenges and successes. Please send us your own experiences, feedback and ideas.
Find out more:
- Why flexible working is essential to equality in architecture
- Gender pay gap case study: Angela Dapper, Grimshaw Architects
- Gender pay gap case study: Grace Choi, EDI Champion, RIBA North East
- Find and learn from a career champion
- Learn the soft skills of leadership
- The RIBA CPD programme
- RIBA Academy: the RIBA's learning portal offers a plethora of different courses and learning experiences
