Out of office....for two months

Today would be the last working day for me at office. I'll be working from home until the day I give birth starting next Tuesday.

Even better, the GM will not be in town next week. So, I'm pretty sure everything will be just fine. The temporary lady is superb. She is even more qualified than I am and has a steel for a spine - a necessary requirement in my job. I've talked and talked to everyone concerned about my leave plan. The thing is, I was taking my maternity leave as normal as a holiday break. However, I was soon to understand that it was not that easy, considering my position in the organisation and the hybrid organisation I'm in.

As soon as I broke the news, internationally, all manners of emails started flying. A representative from SOX department was sent over to talk to me in person about my leave plan. Gosh! I didn't even think of a plan yet at that time. In fact, I was still in denial over the whole baby things. Thankfully, the auditor was only interested in one thing, namely the sacred SOX procedure that I've already put nicely in place. As long as everyone continued to follow the guideline, I could not see any problem at all. But still, I swear to him that I'll look for somebody who is well versed with SOX to stand in for me (though dalam hati....kat mana le aku nak carik nih).

Next, I endured conference call after conference call discussing my leave. By then, i was already fully prepared with a detailed plan. My GM was in favour to get someone from HQ to stand in for me. That was the most ridiculous thing I've heard so far. Not to mention highly expensive.

The maternity leave was discussed again during June finance meeting, in detail. Thank God the controller did not suggest to meet the candidates in person because, errr, in truth, I haven't interviewed anyone yet. But I was pretty sure the agent will have lotsa candidates lined up in no time.

I was wrong again. Yes, there were many highly qualified candidates. I did a lot of phone interviews to screen out those that could not speak fluent English. No two ways about it. Temporary or not, you'll need to talk. A lot. In English. Period. I however, could not find any candidates with SOX background. So I setlled with a few who had internal and external audit experience. To simplify the matter, I arranged for interview during the period my boss was not in the country so that the authority to hire were mine. Sonang cerita.

I think I made a good choice. The lady was more than capable. Took her less than one week to get familiar. She started in early August so that I could have a full month to show her the rope. She'll be supported by Singapore and Australia FC too. So there! I'm on my way to enjoy my 2 months break from all things financial.