Is your employee expecting a child?
If you are a business owner or human resource professional, you will need to build parental leave planning into your business. Each role in a small or medium-sized organization is extremely important, and the absence of one employee can create waves throughout the office. It can be a big transition for your business when an employee leaves—even if it’s only temporary—especially when it’s your first time encountering parental leave.
Being prepared in advance will keep your employees’ worries at ease and your business running smoothly. Here are five insider tips for preparing for your employee’s parental leave:
1. Brush up on maternity and parental leave laws in your area
Whether it’s your employee that is expecting, their partner or they are adopting a new bundle of joy, it’s important that employers fully grasp how parental leave benefits work in your area so that you can best help your expecting employee when they have questions.
2. Check over your parental leave policy
Has it been a while since one of your employees took parental leave? If it has, your parental leave policy will most likely need updating. Time to dust off your policy and make sure it complies with current laws.
These policies can include benefits top-ups, accommodations, or how much notice you require from employees—just to name a few.
Provide employees with the option of flexible work hours or working remotely, especially if they are pregnant and need to make frequent doctor’s visits in the lead-up to their due date.
3. Meet with your employee
In this one-on-one meeting, you should explain to your employee his/her options, inform them of your company policy, and answer any questions they may have. At this point, you should have a clearer picture of the employee’s leave period and any accommodations they will need.
Once the accommodations have been approved, you can begin planning out how to implement them for the employee.
4. Create a transition plan
In some instances, it may be possible to share an employee’s tasks and projects between different team members. If this is not an option available to you, you may need to hire someone on a contractual basis to take over the employee’s role while they’re away.
Make sure that your employee creates a record of all the important information that is relevant to the role so that their replacement can take over the responsibilities quickly and efficiently.
5. Give your employee a well-meaning sendoff!
Show your employee how much you care by planning for this exciting occasion. You may want to get the whole team involved and schedule a baby shower or office party. A little goes a long way!
Are you looking to fill a position due to parental leave? Omada Search is a boutique headhunting firm dedicated to helping businesses acquire exceptional talent. If you would like to discuss your staffing needs, contact us at (980) 225-6767 or connect with us online!.
