discussing post-maternity-leave options

Had an interesting conversation with my co-worker this week…

I work on a very small team. There are only 3 of us now - my boss (P) and my co-worker(S). P is an older guy (old enough to be my parent at least) and S is a woman a few years younger than me. I'm pretty close to S. We all go out to lunch a lot, and I like P, but due to his being the boss and just his general personality, I don't tell him as much as I tell S.

So S knows that I'd like to stay home with the baby but that I probably won't. She knows what I'm hoping to do for childcare, that I'd like to take off all Fridays and exactly what kind of flexibility I'm looking for. But P doesn't because it seems too early to have these discussions with him.

Well one day last week when I wasn't in the office, S and P go out to lunch together and as they are walking past the campus daycare the kids are out playing and P tells S that he thinks I won't come back after I have the baby! So S, always willing to walk that fine line between keeping secrets and steering the boss in the right direction, has a conversation with him that goes something like this...

S: um, I think she's planning on it.
P: oh really? has she talked about it?
S: some… but I think she'd probably want some flexibility with her schedule
P: oh, of course, that's not a problem.

So now he's been primed and is ready for a discussion about me working a few less hours a week and will probably be agreeable :) That's good to know. I also know a couple other things that make me feel better about my chances of arranging a good schedule 1) it took P a long time to fill the position; 2) P likes my work; 3) P hates change in the sense that he'd prefer to not have to 'break in' a new person for this job.

Anyway, I'll talk to P as soon as he's back in the country - but that's not until March 12th.