If you were quite senior and shortly off on ML and I was your boss...

[NitramAtTheKrap]

What could I say/do to make your ML and transition back to work easier?

I am going to meet with someone shortly in this position and want to offer them support, having been there myself. They are not in my management line, but I am more senior and have been elected/volunteered to do some sort of support/mentoring with them.

I obviously have my experience to use (which wasn't great, hence my interest in this) but I don't know of this is specific to me.

Any ideas?

Ensure they make informed about what they would like be made aware of when off? Some people nothing others may want to be kept in the loop? In the same way ensure know about KIT dats.

I guess the best thing you can do is assist in as smooth a handover to whoever is covering as possible

Ensure they are invited to any team group events such as Christmas lunches, it's a really good way to feel connected.

Send a group congratulations card / present when the baby is born

Don't say loudly in the middle of an open plan office:

"Of course the reason you don't understand what I am asking you to do is because you have baby brain."

Said by a director who has children of her own.

To answer your question more helpfully, offer the possibility of working from home some of the time during the pregnancy.

Ask the person if they want to be kept updated with changes in the company - people leaving , anything that could affect their future - company change overs etc. think its really good your company is doing this . I had the shittiest care / concern from a massive company pre mat leave ( no assesment, back up and did 24 hrs on my feet at 5 mths - it was exceptional but they could have sent somebody to help).. There were loads of changes in the company whilst on ML and nobody gave a shit about telling me .

Definitely find out what level she wants to be kept informed. But also allow her to be flexible. Someone in my business wanted to attend board meetings on kit days and then felt unable to due to PND. Some want no contact at all and I'm happy to get monthly email updates.

She may also want reassurance that people more senior than her (directly or otherwise) are confident of the cover/handover that's in place. My main concern was that I was leaving my colleagues/business 'in the lurch'. My MD was incredible at both telling me how much the business will miss my contribution, but that the dept wouldn't fall over (because my colleagues and cover are sufficient in the medium term).

Offer to help structure the handover on the basis of your experience? A valuable tip given to me (well, I haven't gone back yet) was to write handover notes not just for your colleagues/cover but for your future returning self, to mitigate for a long break.

It's likely that she will suffer a drop in confidence when she returns from ML especially if she has taken the full year. If there are any big changes or a lot of small ones due to legislation or new processes being implemented, I'd arrange training days for her on her return to get her up to speed more quickly.

(I've heard a friend who is a senior lawyer do this for one of her staff who was struggling on her return and it really helped.)

Thanks everyone, all good stuff. My mat leaves were both badly handled in my opinion, so having been promoted and watching other talented women go off I feel some sense of duty to make it better.

Just be supportive. My boss (male) has really been trying but twice now he's said to me that I 'might change my mind about work when I'm off and not want to come back'.....I think it's his way of trying to show empathy but it makes me feel like he doesn't want me back! Plus I can't afford not to! So assuming she's coming back would be a good start....

I'm in that position, but I'm the one going on ML. My actual boss ( not in this country) hasn't even had one meaningful conversation with me re what is even going to happen when I'm off - er in less than 2 months. I'm just dealing with it myself hoping it won't go pear shaped!

From a personal perspective it would be great to have someone like you to be a sounding board re plans (before, during and after)help facilitate and additional discussions or conversations that need to be had with people re the leave, be able to help put things into perspective (ie like the assurance everything is going to be ok as referred to above), and if appropriate offer up some experience for someone who has been there and done it.

At this stage I think that at least for me having someone who I can have a proper conversation about things without judgement to the whole process would be great.

I agree with Heatherbell, it's a good start to ask her what she wants to do re a plan for duration of her mat leave and then re-entry plan, then take her seriously.

When I went on mat leave almost every senior bloke in the office that I spoke to about my return said something like "you don't know what you'll feel like, you might want more time off". It sounded very much like a pat on the head and a dismissal to my paranoid pregnant ears.

You could also come up with a plan for how someone would get in touch from the office if there is news to share. It should be something non-intrusive but also stay within the bounds of the law as companies are quite restricted about how they may contact someone on mat leave.