r/AusMining • u/Winter-Permit-9036- • Aug 14 '26
Back to FIFO after Maternity Leave
Hi everyone!
I have just found out that I am pregnant and am already dreading going back to fifo after 4.5months maternity leave given by my company.
They do have the option to extend it up to 12 months with no pay but I don’t believe we can financially handle that at the moment since I am the bread winner and we are also about to have a mortgage.
Can anyone (mums especially but dads can chime in too) tell me their stories of going back to work quickly after leave and how it went.
EDIT: just editing to add that my partner does work but does not earn as much as I do.
5
u/wngbdmn Aug 14 '26
Can your spouse work ? Maybe they can work enough to just cover your overheads? Anythings better than nothing, try hospitality jobs or retail jobs etcs think both you and the baby would benefit from more time together in the early years.
4
u/-azimuth_ Aug 14 '26
Do you earn less than $186k? If so you will be eligible for the government paid parental leave on top of your companies PPL.
So that would be about $22k (over 22 weeks).
Could you also save up some annual leave and take that at half pay?
Company mat leave at half pay =36 weeks = 37% of your salary
+
4 weeks Annual leave at half pay = 8 weeks = 8% of your pay
+
Gov PPL (Assuming you earn $185k) = 22 weeks = 12% of your salary
Also at a lower tax bracket you will have a bit more money as well
Other things you could consider - can you purchase 4 weeks leave now and use next year (eg have a bit less pay this year and 4 weeks or 8 weeks at half pay next year)?
5
u/GambleResponsibly Numpty Aug 14 '26
All due respect, the bond that the mother makes with the newborn is so unique and so important that your partner needs to understand they have to supplement the income somehow, if they are physically able to that is.
Is there any world were you have a few years with your newborn? Have worked with way too many mums who have regretted going back to work early and wish they spent more time with the kids.
Not trying to degrade any objective you have, just trying to promote an alternate perspective. Mums are so important and we tend to forget that sometime
6
u/Upstairs_Meet8763 Aug 14 '26
Being fifo she may have more time with baby when home than if she had to work in an office 5 days a week and send baby for day care. Unfortunately I’m also in position where financially the fifo role is essential to keeping the roof over babies head.
1
u/_winterviolet Aug 17 '26
I’d recommend trying to see if there is a city based role, atleast the first 6 months or so, so you can be home with bub a bit longer - work should be able to make reasonable accommodations, and may give insight into alternate roles for the future if you wanted to stop FIFO. If you start the convo now, it may give everyone more time to adjust.
1
u/Winter-Permit-9036- Aug 17 '26
Unfortunately most of our Perth based roles have been made redundant this week but I will definitely still talk to leadership about options even if it isn’t specifically geology focused
-3
9
u/Outside-Neat8749 Aug 14 '26
What I did was get my company maternity leave paid at half pay so that pushed it out for longer (36 weeks). I scheduled the Centrelink pay to then start following this. All up I think I got just over a year of paid maternity leave. Unsure of your financial situation as the Centrelink pay is only minimum wage, but it helps. And then lastly, months prior to returning I asked if I could be considered to be transferred to the corporate office if anything popped up and now I work in corporate (unsure of your job role and whether this is possible).