Having a job you love as a military spouse is a feat unto itself. But just like washing machine breaks the day after your spouse leaves for deployment, chance are when you find a great job, it’ll be time to move or for your spouse to deploy. It stinks.
One spouse shared this scenario “I have a job that I love, but I need to leave it. My service member is about to deploy, and I have to be home to watch the kids after school. I asked my employer if I could leave early each day, but they said ‘no.’ I really thought they would understand, since they knew we were military from the start, but I guess not. How should I handle this?
Talk about a crummy situation.
But leaving your job may not be the only option. Is the deployment a surprise? Have your children been in after-school care previously and it's now unavailable? Did you talk with your employer when you were hired about potentially needing flex schedules during a deployment?
It's important to remember that employers are running a business. If an arrangement for a flex schedule during deployment or long trainings was agreed upon during the hiring process, your disappointment in your supervisor not understanding is understandable.
But if that hasn't been discussed before (even if they knew of your military affiliation), it's not surprising they didn't jump at the opportunity to make these allowances. If you leave earlier than they're accustomed to for an extended period of time, they have to pay someone to fill that gap.
If you've explored all avenues for procuring after-school care and are sure you need to leave the position, here’s one thing to keep in mind: Please give proper notice, no matter what. In most positions, that means two weeks.
Doing so not only helps your employer prepare for your departure, it protects you professionally when you're able to get back out there.
Whether or not you think you may list this employer as a reference in the future, you never know when another potential employer will call to verify employment or whether someone at the next place happens to know someone from this organization.
Set yourself up for success and don't burn any bridges by leaving abruptly.
If you think you'd like to stay, best of luck in finding additional child care so you can keep the job you love.
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