How To Manage Maternity And Paternity In The Workplace

19/02/2010

By Chris Parke, Managing Director, Talking Talent

Retaining talented people is critical to long-term business success, not to mention the costs of replacing these key employees if they leave. When these individuals go on maternity or paternity leave, many managers overlook the importance of ensuring this transition into becoming a working parent is as smooth as possible. If managed well, maternity and paternity leave can increase employee engagement and performance, and can present opportunities for the extended team to develop and grow. But, if managed badly it can lead to the loss of key talent or unhappy and disengaged...

...staff. In the worst case scenario, employers could face a grievance case or legal action. The sheer volume of management time needed to make things right again results in indirect costs to the company that could have easily been avoided if time was invested from the start.

In the case of maternity, managers face the prospect of losing a key resource for up to 12 months, whilst for paternity it is currently two weeks (although this looks to change in 2011, with the introduction of shared parental leave - where fathers will potentially be able to take up to six months paternity leave). This can be daunting and can present many issues around the complexities of employment law and company policy. Managers will experience the impact on the extended teams, clients and other stakeholders, and the process needs to be well thought through and proactively managed.


Managing maternity in the workplace

1. Communication, communication, communication

Research shows that communication plays an central role in how the maternity and paternity leave is experienced by the individual. It is essential to create strong lines of communication from the very beginning, not only with the leaver, but between all stakeholders. Managers... continued on page two >

 

 

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