From Sweatpants to Suits: Returning to the Office After a Layoff Is No Picnic

From Wall Street Journal | Oct 27, 2009 By Rachel Emma Silverman

Associated Press

Returning to the office can be an adjustment.

In today's WSJ, my colleague Dana Mattioli examines the challenges of returning to work after a layoff.

Although many people are initially thrilled to be gainfully employed
after months of searching for work, the transition from being at home
with the family to cubicle-dwelling can be a tough one. As we've discussed before,
despite the financial and emotional challenges of long-term
unemployment, many out-of-work professionals have actually found
themselves enjoying the free time. From family bonding and reconnecting
with old friends to spending more time at the gym, some of the
quality-of-life benefits accompanying unemployment have become a silver
lining, Ms. Mattioli writes.

What's more, newly-returning workers say they have had trouble
adjusting to the more rigid hours of a traditional work day, the
commute, and less time to see family and friends. So much so that many
of the workers Ms. Mattioli interviewed admitted that they actually
missed aspects of their time off.

For parents in particular, the shift back to the office can be
jarring. One Juggle reader wrote me recently about her experience. A
single mother who had been unemployed for many months, she said that
the layoff "accidentally dumped me into the best job I've ever had -
raising my two children." Now she has landed a great full-time job, but
she is dreading the commute, the time away from her kids and the
stress. She is scrambling to find afterschool child care for her kids,
in their early teens, who are too young to drive or be left home alone.
One of her kids has even said repeatedly how much he loves having her
at home - but her family also needs the income from her new job. "I now
dread working outside the home, and away from my family," she writes.

There are a few things newly re-employed professionals can do to make their adjustment into the workplace easier, according to today's article.
In situations where a parent has been home, talk to the rest of the
family about going back to work and mention that you'll now need them
to pitch in with housework. Before your start date, get back into the
workday routine by waking up at the time you'll need to once work
starts. And don't forget the lessons learned from your time off: that
there's more to life than the rat race.

The challenges of returning to work after a break, especially a parental leave, has been a well-discussed topic
on the blog. Readers, have any of you faced a tough adjustment
returning to work after an extended time off or layoff? What did you
miss most about your time off? What steps did you take to help ease the
transition for you and your family?