A Guide for Managers on Managing Maternity Leave. It’s Not Just about HR Policies.
Have the important conversations
Helping managers to effectively manage staff going on and returning from maternity leave, for improved retention of female talent.
There’s no doubt about it. Managing team members going on or coming back from maternity leave has it’s challenges.
The work still has to get done so who’s going to pick up the slack? Some managers find it hard to know what to say and leave it to HR to manage the ‘process’. Some managers are afraid of saying the wrong thing. Or are worried that the mum-to-be will start asking for a three- or four-day week if you ‘go there’. Worse still, she might get emotional!
Invest on the important conversations.
These are human and totally understandable reactions. The problem though in saying nothing or not having the essential open and honest conversations, is that it leaves a gulf in communications and can lead to misunderstandings.
Managers who have attended our Programmes typically have lots of questions around what to say, and what not to say. They want to be informed and want to know the key messages and communication points to cover with team members. Their intent to be supportive is there. Some have questions around the difficult and sensitive conversations – how to support team members who are on the IVF path or who have miscarried. I appreciate that these Managers show up and bring these really human questions and concerns. Uncomfortable and sensitive conversations can easily be left sitting in a void.
Not just a HR Process
It’s important to recognise that managing maternity leave is about more than policy and procedure. Inclusive management and leadership calls on managers to go beyond the tactical. This is about Talent Management. This is about retaining and developing your female talent and taking a long-term perspective beyond any potential or perceived ‘inconvenience’.
I regularly hear from expectant mums that they feel like an after-thought on their return. Or they don’t feel valued and seen in the run up to Maternity Leave. Managers are understandably focused on the work. Mums are also concerned about the their role being covered well, and planning effectively and in a timely manner for the handover. One of the biggest stressors in the run up to Maternity Leave is frequently the lack of visibility on who to handover to with cover and planning by the business left too late.
The other, too often unmentioned stressor, is the potential impact on Mum’s career. Just because her family is expanding doesn’t mean that she is no longer ambitious or driven or growth focused. She is probably just figuring how to make it all work.
Unconscious Bias
Leaders and People Managers are slowly paying increased awareness to unconscious bias in the workplace. An awareness of underlying, unsupported attitudes and stereotypes about people that influence decisions and behaviours is a good thing.
I still hear, more often than I like ‘sure why would I give her that work/opportunity, she’ll be going off on Baby 2 any day soon’. Think about it. When have you heard that or thought it. I work with mums to show up and lean in before and after Maternity Leave - to not unintentionally put themselves under the radar. Managers, you ahve a role to play here too.
As aware as managers need to be of unconscious bias, beware also of the unintentional positive bias.
In our Back to Work Programmes, we regularly hear of examples where managers are clearly well-intentioned and are trying to be supportive. Managers often think that they’re doing a pregnant or recent returner staff member a favour by telling her to ‘take it easy’ in the run-up to or post maternity leave. Or perhaps they take her out of the picture, not considering her for a project because of her imminent departure. Or a promotion comes up while she’s off and you presume she won’t want to go for it (with a young family and all).
On return from maternity leave, managers can be slow to assign new mums a piece of strategic work on the assumption that she won’t have as much time as before the baby. Or you suspect it won’t be long before she’s planning number two. We frequently hear these stories through the hundreds of women who’ve been on our Career Parents Programmes.
This may be well intentioned from where a manager is sitting. But, from the female’s side, this can unfortunately feel like being written-off, overlooked, sidelined or being put under the radar. There’s a perception that any previous good work and reputation isn’t being taken into account any more. No credit in the bank so-to-speak.
When things change and problems arise, this can usually be traced back to the unsaid within the psychological contract (unwritten mutual beliefs, assumptions and expectations) between employers and employees.
So, as a manager who values their female talent and parents in the team, what can you do to manage a maternity leave more effectively?
Ensure that you are up to date with the latest policies on leave and any other guidelines that the business provides for people managers.
Schedule a performance review with your staff member one month before the maternity leave kicks in. Make sure it happens, even if off-cycle and focus on capturing her achievements and contributions to the company as well as discussing developmental and career objectives after Maternity Leave.
Discuss the team and organisation over the next twelve months – strategic change, growth plans, potential restructuring. This enables the opportunity for an open discussion around career expectations and aspirations for when she returns to work. Don’t assume she won’t have any.
Ask her how and about what she would like to communicate during the leave. For example, is it via a non work-related email? Does she want to hear about team events, promotion opportunities or new roles on offer? Increasingly, some (not all) female leaders want to stay in touch with the business as it can reduce anxieties about the return to work. This is a personal choice though.
Meet with her one month before the leave is over to smooth the transition back to work.
Consider the re-boarding experience. Will the laptop require updates? Can you arrange some re-boarding meetings with colleagues and stakeholders. Mums often say that it feels like everyone expects them to jump right back in, as if they were never away. While they want to do the same, the fact is, they are returning from extended leave and can feel like a new joiner if there has been much change during that period. Consider how you on-board new joiners and what elements would be helpful for a returner.
Take the long-term view and support your employee throughout by being a good ally, advocate or sponsor before, during and after her leave.
And don’t forget the Dads. With extended Paternity Leave, there are important conversations for this generation of dads that are in transition too.
Far too often, these important conversations don’t happen. I’ve spoken before about how expectant mothers can go under the radar, starting before they go on maternity leave. Read more about the triple Impact of maternity leave and how mums can go under the radar consciously or unconsciously here.
Don’t make assumptions
As a manager, take some time to be clear about where your female talent stands. Enquire about their career aspirations after maternity leave. Don’t assume anything, e.g. that a new mum won’t be interested in a promotion.
Some women may well be happier doing the job they have, but others may remain more career and forward focused. Either way, having the conversation means that you’ll be informed and the psychological contract (the unsaid and assumptions) will have been addressed. The added benefit is that your female talent will feel valued, feel seen and feel included. Which will all contribute to a successful and effective return and performance.
Having coached managers through our Back to Work and Inclusive Leadership Programmes, time and again our participants tell us how hard they find this aspect of leadership. The sessions are an opportunity to address concerns and bring perspective to challenges.
To provide the full picture, we also share the issues that we hear firsthand from mums returning to work. It can be surprising for some managers to learn that the majority of mums are excited about returning to professional life and are fully committed to it. When it comes to their guilt, it’s generally not about leaving the baby but rather about leaving colleagues in the lurch, because they need to be out the door at a certain time. Read more about busting the myths around maternity leave.
It’s about challenging the way you think. Are you perhaps unconsciously putting female talent under the radar? Are you making the most of your talent? Are you allowing and enabling your talent to show up fully?
We’re seeing more and more managers being super supportive and having these critical conversations. They recognise the issues and individual needs of new mums and embracing flexible working conditions, for example. All of this is significant progress in the context of inclusive leadership.
If organisations are serious about aiming for the 30% female leadership target, or shifting the culture of the organisation in the context of diversity and inclusion, it’s vital that managers and leaders focus on retaining the best people. Yes, maternity leave is a challenge but with a conscious and inclusive leadership lens, managing the challenge becomes more accessible.
The bottom line: don’t assume anything about your expectant employee’s career ambitions. Be supportive. Have that important conversation and keep communicating! Learn how to be an advocate, a sponsor, a mentor and an ally to ensure that your female talent doesn’t go under the radar.
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Clearbird’s suite of Back to Work from Maternity Leave, New Parents and Inclusive Leadership Programmes support diversity and inclusion thinking and strategy.
We help females returning to the workplace to feel empowered, re-focused, confident and re-energised. We support new dads/parents who are also thinking about what this new phase means for them and enable this important conversation to take place. We support, guide and challenge managers in successfully managing these key life transition points – with an eye on retaining and developing female talent.
If organisationally and societally, we’re serious about Feeding the Female Leadership Pipeline and retaining and growing our female talent, supporting parents in this life transition to manage the mid-career phase is critical to every organisation’s diversity and inclusion agenda.
Our sessions are incredibly effective in bridging the communication gap, bringing a wider perspective and providing practical strategies to enable the important and honest conversations.
Contact us to find out more about our Group Coaching Programmes for parents and managers and 1:1 Maternity Coaching Services.
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