This article details how you can help plan a successful parental leave transition for your staff.
Ensure you are Educated
- Make sure you are across the details of your Organisations Parental Leave Policy and Practices, what are the logistics / requirements / processes to be completed, what support is available to Parental leavers.
Start the Conversation
- Talk to your employee about their planned parental leave and decide how you or the employee will notify others in the team, your customers, suppliers etc.
- Provide a copy of your company’s parental leave policy to your employee and confirm their paid and unpaid leave entitlements.
Be Supportive
- Identify any immediate job responsibilities that might need rescheduling, outsourcing or handing over to someone else due to the pregnancy.
- Consider reducing / ceasing work related travel
- Consider providing work from home access during the employee’s pregnancy and during parental leave if required, agreeable and feasible.
- Flexibility for medical appointments
- Ask what support they need from you / team
Plan the Transition
- Meet with your employee to discuss the transition to leave. Plan what will need to be arranged and what responsibilities will need to be handed over.
- If your employee needs to gradually reduce their work commitments/ hours prior to going on parental leave, discuss flexible work arrangements to meet both the employer and employee’s needs.
- Discuss a tentative date for parental leave to commence.
- With your employee, confirm who will be responsible for elements of their role whilst they are on leave and book time in advance to handover activities.
- Plan a career conversation with your employee prior to going on parental leave to discuss their future career goals and explore initial return to work options.
- Discuss with your employee how they would like to be communicated with whilst on leave. What information would they like to be kept in the loop with and how often?