Telling clients about pregnancy

[gibbylod]

I know we've discussed the timeframe for telling your boss about your pregnancy but what about telling clients...

I work as a freelance translator from home. So, my clients never actually see me except on very rare occasions. With my first pregnancy, I happened to meet with my main client face-to-face at around 18 weeks so I told them at that time and discussed how I would handle work for them after the birth. This time though I will not see them before the birth plus I will probably have to take more time off than last time since I'll have 2 kids to take care of.

So, my question is this: What is the latest I can wait before you think I should let my clients know about the pregnancy?
 

[6fsn]

How long does it take to get a replacement translator? I'd probably go that plus 2 wks to give them plenty of time to find a fill in.

[gibbylod]

They have several other translators already so that wouldn't really be an issue for them I think.

[charlotteandwilbur]

How far out do they assign you work? If they typically give you 2 months before a deadline, for example, I would probably tell them 3-4 months ahead of time that you will be going on leave and unable to accept assignments from X date to Y date.

If possible, I wouldn't make it a separate conversation-- just part of a conversation when you are handing in work or receiving a new assignment.

[gibbylod]

I normally get work 0-3 days in advance. So I don't think that gives me a good idea of when to tell them. : /

[charlotteandwilbur]

Oh, wow. Not much turnaround time! I would still say you are good with 3 months notice.

[Deleted]

I would probably send out a general announcement to clients when you're around 30 weeks, then. If you have a website, I'd put up a "I will not be accepting new work as of (date) and plan to resume work on (date)".

[gibbylod]

Thanks! That helps!... Now I have to figure out how much time I should give myself before returning to work   I have no idea how it's going to work with a baby and a toddler! I would love to give myself a full year but I would probably lose all of my clients by then.

Anyone have any experience with working from home with 2 kids? I'd love to hear your input!

[Deleted]

I freelance too. I told clients I have a personal relationship with earlier, maybe around 20 weeks. With the rest I sent out a general announcement around 27-30 weeks with details of my maternity leave plans.

[Deleted]

There is zero chance I could do work during waking hours with two kids and no childcare.

The only thing that would work was a few hours after bedtime (say, 7-10 pm) and that only really becomes practical when sleep stops sucking. I wouldn't try it before 5-6 months. If you feel you need to work before that, I would keep it to what you can do on the weekend (when DH can do childcare). Slight possibility of nap times aligning for a while, but I wouldn't book work on that.

[zarapipe]

Do you want to work as long as possible? I would worry since there are other people they could choose from they might just make the switch now to another translator. I wouldn't think they would do it to discriminate against you but maybe they would think they are doing you a favor or something but not having you work as much. I would say 36 weeks or so.

[hocus2]

Mar 9, 2015 11:56:32 GMT -5 gibbylod said:

Thanks! That helps!... Now I have to figure out how much time I should give myself before returning to work   I have no idea how it's going to work with a baby and a toddler! I would love to give myself a full year but I would probably lose all of my clients by then.

Anyone have any experience with working from home with 2 kids? I'd love to hear your input!

 I WAH and my children have always had care. My old older one we had a nanny start at 12 weeks and she said with us until both kids went to daycare at 3.5 and 2. Clearly you are able to get work done now with 1 kid at home but I suspect that you'll get about half that done now. I think also some of this will depend on your set up  and your kids. I have never been able to do real work with a young child around. My 5 year old is just getting old enough that play for long periods in my office without needed a lot of attention. My son is not there yet and probably won't be for some time. Additionally he is the sort of kid that just can't stay at home all the time.

My nanny always took the kids out of the house from 10 to 12 or so. Then they both went down for a long naps at 1. There was usually an hour every morning where my nanny did house work like my son took a nap and my older one watched TV. Between the AM nap and the afternoon nap you might get about 4 hours in of work. You could check email and do routine tasks while the kids are awake so that might give you about 5 or so hours a day to get stuff done.

[redpenmama]

I freelance as well (writer/editor) and only mentioned it to those clients that would be impacted by the pregnancy. So, the vast majority did not know because I do not meet them face to face. With projects that fell around my due date, I let the clients know well in advance.

As for working with two, I intended to outsource projects for three months with two editors who help me out during crunch times. I was lucky in that DS was a baby who slept a lot, so I started working about a month after he was born. DD was in preschool two days a week, and since DS was always napping, I would work during those downtimes. By the time he was 3 months, we were in a good groove, and I was working as normal.

I went from working about 30 hours a week with no child care/1 kid to about 23-25 with no child care/2 kids. So, I did have to back off some, but the no child care thing is key in my situation.

[anna7602]

I didn't tell anyone and just paced myself accordingly so I would wrap up things in advance of my due date or not have anything due right at my due date. I had DS in early August and didn't have any deadlines until late September/early October. Anything else, I turned down or referred to others, my normal overflow system even while not pregnant if I'm already busy.

I did happen to see some clients when I was about 24 weeks pregnant, so I told them. But it didn't impact the work I was doing for them at the time, which involved a book tour that I was perfectly capable of doing while pregnant.

ETA: I have always had childcare to work. I can take care of some light editing here and there during naps or in the evening, but anything more intensive requires dedicated blocks of time. This time around, I had childcare lined up by the time DS was 8 weeks old for a half day or day here or there and added more hours as time went on.

[kershnic]

I don't freelance so not much advice there, but I'm in school and home with my kids during the day right now. I have twins which is a little different than kids a year or two apart, since they're both new walkers who have no sense of self preservation and no verbal skills or emotional control, but there is no possible way I can read or write for school when they're awake without another adult present to watch them.

[gibbylod]

Mar 9, 2015 12:03:18 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

Mar 9, 2015 11:56:32 GMT -5 gibbylod said:

Thanks! That helps!... Now I have to figure out how much time I should give myself before returning to work   I have no idea how it's going to work with a baby and a toddler! I would love to give myself a full year but I would probably lose all of my clients by then.

Anyone have any experience with working from home with 2 kids? I'd love to hear your input!

 I WAH and my children have always had care. My old older one we had a nanny start at 12 weeks and she said with us until both kids went to daycare at 3.5 and 2. Clearly you are able to get work done now with 1 kid at home but I suspect that you'll get about half that done now. I think also some of this will depend on your set up  and your kids. I have never been able to do real work with a young child around. My 5 year old is just getting old enough that play for long periods in my office without needed a lot of attention. My son is not there yet and probably won't be for some time. Additionally he is the sort of kid that just can't stay at home all the time.

My nanny always took the kids out of the house from 10 to 12 or so. Then they both went down for a long naps at 1. There was usually an hour every morning where my nanny did house work like my son took a nap and my older one watched TV. Between the AM nap and the afternoon nap you might get about 4 hours in of work. You could check email and do routine tasks while the kids are awake so that might give you about 5 or so hours a day to get stuff done.

I also have help now with DD so I can get some work done in the mornings. However, I waited till she was about 7 months, mobile, and no longer allowed me to work while she played. I went back to work after just 3 weeks and it was hell (no sleep, trying to work with breaks to nurse/soothe, etc), so I know for sure I want more time than that. Also, I'm not sure my nanny will be capable of taking care of 2. We'll see how it goes I guess.

Thank you for sharing your experience.