Company 'return from maternity leave' program

[OneMoreChapter]

Hi,
I'm part of a women's business group at work and want to put forward a plan to develop a program that supports women returning from maternity leave. It's 11 years since my last maternity leave but I remember very clearly the anxiety, loss of confidence and general overwhelm. I'd be really grateful if anyone could share anything that their company did to make the transition back to work easier, or anything they could have done differently, that we could look to incorporate.
Thanks in advance!

We had a buddy system for a while - new returners buddying up with people who had been back after ML a few years. Think it started pre-ML as well.

Just back after my second maternity leave.

I think just a general understanding that it can take a while to get up to speed again and so it's helpful not to be dumped straight in with a full load. I'm a lecturer and my school has a policy that women come back with a reduced teaching load if at all possible.

Also, flexible working policies help working parents in general. And a recognition that when women are returning to work, families are settling into whole new routines which may take a bit of tweaking.

Suitable pumping facilities if the mother wishes to pump, and make sure this is publicised so women know it's an option if they want.

My husband took a month of shared parental leave when I went back both times which really helped me as I wasn't worried about settling a baby into childcare for the first few weeks back. I think employers encouraging fathers to take this up, whether when babies are born or when the mother returns to work, would be massively positive. Even better, give fathers generous leave - for example, 6 months that can be taken flexibly, ideally past the baby's first birthday.

In my last job I mentored women returning from Mat Leave, mainly because our practices and IT systems change on what seems like a weekly basis.

This sounds like a fab idea. I went on mat leave just before covid and when I came back my whole job had changed due to covid and virtually no one was in the office any more and I had no idea what I was doing!

Having said that, they are so laid back about childcare arrangements and juggling your hours around to meet those commitments - that has definitely helped as I didn’t need to worry about having to nip off early or work from home with a baby if needed

We offer women on mat leave the opportunity to come in to the office for a day several times during their leave to actually work and catch up with the person covering their job during that time. They get paid for it and it helps Keep In Touch (KIT days).

@Talipesmum

We had a buddy system for a while - new returners buddying up with people who had been back after ML a few years. Think it started pre-ML as well.

Thanks @Talipesmum, this is good to hear - peer mentoring or a buddy system is definitely on our list but it hadn't occurred to me to start it pre-ML.

You say 'for a while' which suggests it isn't in place any more. Is that because it wasn't successful?

@MindyStClaire I am looking at how we can do a phased return or reduced hours to start, which might help. I also definitely want to push for recognition that fathers are part of this process too, and should be encouraged/supported to take parental/paternity leave.

My company (big 4 accounting) offers a one to one call with an external consultant before returning to work, to discuss the issues this might raise and how you might address them (e.g. balancing the load with partner, loss of confidence). They then offer a course with the same external provider on returning, which was a once a month group session with other returning parents to provide a safe space to discuss issues - each session was structured around a particular topic. I found that really helpful/ supportive, but unfortunately I missed the last few sessions when they went online after covid, ironically because I had no one to mind DD and stop her trying to break my laptop!

They do a pre- mat leave course as well around how to manage client and colleague relationships before going on mat leave, how to make sure you can leave things in a good state so you’re able to finish up feeling as chilled and prepared as possible. That was less relevant to me as I don’t have client relationships to manage in my role.

My own team (flexible working and female heavy, so lots of post mat leave returners) also pulled together a sort of crib sheet of things people need to know and do when they return from mat leave, to help their managers get them up and running again- this was really helpful with the practical stuff like catching up with training, and IT issues.

My work has a parental buddy/mentor system aimed at those going on leave/returning. I haven’t any experience of what it actually entails, I’m afraid, as it’s come in since I took maternity leave.

We also have an informal Working Families Network which aims to keep parents in touch and up to date, and to feed back useful info to HR and the board.

@CaptainWentworth

My company (big 4 accounting) offers a one to one call with an external consultant before returning to work, to discuss the issues this might raise and how you might address them (e.g. balancing the load with partner, loss of confidence). They then offer a course with the same external provider on returning, which was a once a month group session with other returning parents to provide a safe space to discuss issues - each session was structured around a particular topic. I found that really helpful/ supportive, but unfortunately I missed the last few sessions when they went online after covid, ironically because I had no one to mind DD and stop her trying to break my laptop!

They do a pre- mat leave course as well around how to manage client and colleague relationships before going on mat leave, how to make sure you can leave things in a good state so you’re able to finish up feeling as chilled and prepared as possible. That was less relevant to me as I don’t have client relationships to manage in my role.

My own team (flexible working and female heavy, so lots of post mat leave returners) also pulled together a sort of crib sheet of things people need to know and do when they return from mat leave, to help their managers get them up and running again- this was really helpful with the practical stuff like catching up with training, and IT issues.

That sounds great @CaptainWentworth! I doubt we will get a budget that would cover anywhere near that despite being a pretty large global company but it is something to consider. I am trying to get some figures around staff retention after maternity leave. Depending on what they reveal, I might be able to get some leverage through that for something external and more structured.

This is the company we use, if that’s any help.
www.howdoyoudoit.com/

I kind of like that it’s external as there’s no worries about anything you discuss getting back to other people you work with. Not that it would matter, I’m sure, but it feels very safe.

Also on the more informal stuff we do in our team, we have one person who has responsibility for helping returners ease back in, going through the crib sheet I mentioned with them, and sort of keep reminding them that there’s no expectation to come back and hit the ground running - they can ease back in a bit and take things at their own pace.

A maternity leave buddy system is a great idea- but there are a few pitfalls to avoid (in my opinion)

• If the idea is that women about to go on maternity leave are buddied with women who returned from maternity leave not too long ago, make sure that both women are actually given time in their working day for any buddy meetings etc. Otherwise it becomes just another chore to tick off the list when both are already busy (one preparing things for leave, the other presumably juggling work and parenting).
• Make sure that women acting as buddies get some official recognition for it, otherwise it's just another thankless task for female staff that men don't have to do
• Make sure that it's backed up by proper support from the business for pregnant staff and returning mothers, rather than seen as an alternative to other support

My previous workplace put a buddy system in place with no other support. Buddies and pregnant staff were expected to have meetings and complete reports etc but were still expected to have the same normal workload as everyone else, so it just meant stressed, busy female staff had to work even longer hours. Added to which, acting as a buddy was regarded as a bit of a waste of time (I was informally advised by my boss not to mention it on a promotion application!) by the 'higher ups'. Unsurprisingly, overwhelming feedback was that the system was not useful- which the company interpreted as 'women returning from maternity leave don't think they need additional support'.

I agree, it needs to start pre-mat leave - information on childcare options and payment schemes, name down for popular nurseries nearby or on site, flexible working requests for part time working or different hours agreed before you go off.

Then phased ramp up to full capacity on return - time set aside for catching up on mandatory training etc, reminders of parental leave / dependents leave / emergency A/L requests (in a supportive way) in case you need to collect child from nursery urgently or to cover their illness. Extra 121s and line manager support. Possible cross over with Maternity Cover person to hand back over?

I came back to two new managers entirely unknown to me, reviewing the agreements I already had in writing about hours and days and changing my job description too. Immensely stressful, led to my first ever panic attack. This sounds wonderful and a great idea, thumbs up!

(Not sure how to quote)
Re the buddy system “for a while” - tbh my kids are 11 and 13 now so I’ve kind of moved out of the buddy sphere, it’s so long since I’ve been off on ML, though I do other mentoring. They may well still do it. We also have “working parent” sessions where mums and dads go along to chat - discussion topics on various tables, free coffee etc.
And we had “here’s how to organise yourself for maternity leave” sessions.
These days lots of the dads are taking paternity leave too - usually a few months worth - so the visibility of this is being raised too.

God that's so frustrating about the buddy system @wingsofsteel.

@wingsofsteel

A maternity leave buddy system is a great idea- but there are a few pitfalls to avoid (in my opinion)

• If the idea is that women about to go on maternity leave are buddied with women who returned from maternity leave not too long ago, make sure that both women are actually given time in their working day for any buddy meetings etc. Otherwise it becomes just another chore to tick off the list when both are already busy (one preparing things for leave, the other presumably juggling work and parenting).
• Make sure that women acting as buddies get some official recognition for it, otherwise it's just another thankless task for female staff that men don't have to do
• Make sure that it's backed up by proper support from the business for pregnant staff and returning mothers, rather than seen as an alternative to other support

My previous workplace put a buddy system in place with no other support. Buddies and pregnant staff were expected to have meetings and complete reports etc but were still expected to have the same normal workload as everyone else, so it just meant stressed, busy female staff had to work even longer hours. Added to which, acting as a buddy was regarded as a bit of a waste of time (I was informally advised by my boss not to mention it on a promotion application!) by the 'higher ups'. Unsurprisingly, overwhelming feedback was that the system was not useful- which the company interpreted as 'women returning from maternity leave don't think they need additional support'.

Thank you, this is incredibly helpful and you are absolutely right - it helps nobody if this just becomes 'another' thing that women do for free and with little recognition.

If I am really honest, I think programs such as what I am trying to put in place will only go so far and do so much without bigger cultural changes both within my company and society as a whole. We have a 'women in leadership' target which as far as I can see hasn't addressed the issue of motherhood at all yet so I am hoping this will be the start of wider recognition of the barriers women face in the workplace.

Thanks so much to everyone who has responded, it's encouraging to see many of you can see the value in this (as long as it's done the right way).

Make sure they get invited to social events ike the Christmas party throughout their maternity leave.

Such a good idea. I had complete lack of confidence/imposter syndrome. My work didn’t do anything to integrate me back in but I think it’s important that there is some sort on re-on boarding. I kept in touch with my manager monthly and we would have a 121 whilst I was off which I asked for but even with this and speaking regularly with my team I still felt this way almost like it took a longer time to gain respect back from other stakeholders

My work offer all those returning from mat leave coaching from an external coach (6 sessions).

@CaptainWentworth I think I work at the same company as you do. I personally found the sessions a bit of a waste of time

Perhaps it was just my group but it just descended into a bitchfest so I gave up after a couple of sessions.

I was lucky to be supported massively by my team and also Partner at work so maybe I didn't have as much to bitch about.

What I found useful though for my return to work was having a number of Partners who really took a keen interest in supporting my career and mentoring me. They allowed me to choose the clients I wanted and also dictate the conditions I worked in. I was pretty much wfh full time even before Covid hit with the odd travel to client site

@CaptainWentworth we work/Ed at the same place. I found that course very useful. My main take away was not to apologise for having a family.

I always feel that there needs to be something for the dads around the 9/12 month stage. I used to run a baby group and I've lost count of the mums who said there was no way their partner could go part time. 9/10 they could have gone part time, they just won't. I think a chat around the time mum is going back explaining their options would be really helpful

@CaptainWentworth one thing I forgot. A really bad thing that happened for me was returning to an office and seeing no one I knew. Not one person had reached out to see how I was or welcome me back

My work have done nothing and are awful with communication. I'm supposed to go back 1st July and no agreed shifts yet and they ignore my messages when I send them. My little has started nursery and now I have a massive worry I won't actually have the money to pay for nursery! Been seriously considering emailing saying I'm not returning (probably won't even notice if I didn't send any emails and just never turned up) and finding a new job!

The company I worked for after DD1 used a company called Talking Talent to run a programme for returners - it was both group work and some one to one coaching. It was excellent.

Up to ten paid 'keep in touch' days during maternity leave. They could be taken as half days.

These were taken when I wanted to (not at the behest of management). Some people used them to attend occasional team meetings to keep in touch with the team and what was going on or you could, for example, do half a paid day doing your online regulatory tests at home. The extra money also helped to eek out the overall mat leave period. Some used them to do a phased return.

I think being flexible to phased returns generally is good...starting back full time straight away doesn't work for everyone when returning. It can be good to build up to full time (or whatever will be normal working hours) over a few weeks.

10% additional salary as a 'returners' bonus for the 12 months after coming back. This encouraged women to return and also helped with the extra costs of childcare and such like.

As per PP they have a 'buddy' system where you are buddied with people who have returned previously to share advice and tips.

They run special recruitment events aimed at people returning to work after a gap in their career due to caring responsibilities which includes specialist coaching. You can see details here:

www.allianz.co.uk/about-allianz/careers-at-allianz/returners.html

The details of the KIT days are here:

www.allianz.co.uk/content/dam/onemarketing/azuk/allianzcouk/about-us/docs/pdfs/hr/maternity-standards.pdf

Some details of other things done by another part of the business here:

employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/november-2017/allianz-global-corporate-speciality-uk-introduce-benefits-parents-carers/