Parental leave checklist: A step-by-step guide for managers

Preparing for and bringing home a child can be an incredibly exciting, profound, and joyful experience. It can also be overwhelming, challenging, and lonely, especially for working parents. To help alleviate some of this stress, parental leave gives new parents important time away from their workplace to recover and bond with their families.

While paid leave is guaranteed in 178 countries worldwide, it is not guaranteed in the United States, making the U.S. ranked last among the 36 OCED countries for its family leave laws and support for pregnant employees.

However, numerous studies show that paid parental leave delivers overwhelmingly positive outcomes, not only for employees and their families but for employers too. Companies that offer 12 weeks of paid maternity leave see 70% less turnover. Paid family leave can also decrease infant, neonatal, and under-five mortality rates and is associated with better maternal mental health. And businesses benefit too—companies that support working parents see higher employee retention and productivity, as well as higher return-to-work rates after parental leave too.

Global employers have made significant strides in their women's and family benefits offerings, and 48% of them plan to expand fertility coverage this year. However, shifting office culture often lags behind company policy, and many new parents still lack the support they need on a daily basis from their managers, colleagues, and HR.

HR leaders and manager play a crucial role in creating supportive environments for working parents by implementing and encouraging supportive family leave policies. By fostering a culture of empathy and inclusivity, HR leaders and management can help reduce the stress and challenges associated with balancing work and family responsibilities. They can also advocate for fair treatment and career development for parents, ensuring that parenthood doesn't become a barrier to professional growth.

By equipping people leaders with the proper training and tools, beginning with Maven’s parental leave checklist for managers, companies can support parents and ensure a smooth transition while also increasing employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention.

Parental leave checklist for managers

Managers play a critical role in supporting employees through the challenging and beautiful transition to parenthood. In this checklist, we'll walk you through every step of the parental leave journey with actionable insights for how to best support new and expecting parents on your team. Below, we’ll refer to your direct report as “your colleague”. If you’re unsure about how to handle something, talk to your HR partner for their expert guidance.

Upon first hearing the news

Congratulate and listen

How you respond to the news that your colleague is expecting is absolutely critical. Offer your congratulations! Start by listening to your employee and creating space for them to share. Then, ask questions about how you can best support them through this transition. You don't need to figure out any details yet—just showing your excitement and encouragement is the best place to start.

Direct them to HR

Encourage your colleague to review company-provided benefits materials and join employee resource groups for parents if available. As their manager, you can also talk directly with HR to get a detailed and up-to-date overview of what resources are available to your colleague as a new or expecting parent. Beyond physcial health, emotional and financial suport are also important. Although non-birthing parents may have different needs than pregnant employees, it's still essential to offer support and resources to all expecting parents.

Communicate

Have your colleague send you a communications plan for how they would like to announce their news and offer your assistance. Create space for them to make the announcement to the team and organization more broadly, whether that's in a team or department meeting or an email update. Remember: it’s their news to share, so it's important to follow their wishes.

Define timeline and leave plan

Work with your colleague and HR to determine an expected leave time, set tentative leave dates, and outline your colleague’s proposed return to work following their parental leave, plus any flexibility or other needs prior to leave.

Three months before leave: Prep period

Develop coverage plan

Work with your colleague to prepare a detailed list of key projects and tasks that need to be managed or monitored while they're on leave. Based on overall team priorities, this coverage plan should evolve in the months and weeks leading up to their leave, detailing clear next steps and points of contact.

Outline responsibilities with team

Set up a team meeting to clearly outline and communicate the coverage plan, including who will take on key tasks and projects. As much as possible, make sure the essential tasks are spread out among teammates.

Ensure smooth handoffs

Have your colleague prepare written guides, introduce external vendors, and have one-on-one training meetings, as needed, with anyone taking on portions of their work. Allow time for smooth handoffs to happen, facilitating introductions and task sharing in the weeks before an employee's expected leave. Additionally, encourage documentation to avoid unanswered questions, and lend support to your team when asked.

Prep communications plan

In order to set clear expectations, work with your colleague to define how they would like to be communicated with regarding any important internal news or updates while on leave. These touchpoints can look like a quick check-in call, email updates, or more informal or sporadic communication. Share the plan with HR to ensure consistency in communication.

One month before leave: Transition period

Embed flexibility for leave

Agree to a clear start date of leave (flexible, in case the baby arrives early), put it on the team calendar, and discuss your colleague’s needs for flexibility or remote working (dependent on company policies).

Preview upcoming strategic plan

Meet with your colleague to walk through your team’s strategic plan and calendar. Share any guidance or insights for upcoming months from company leadership to provide transparency in advance of their leave, and solidify the communication plan to share any developments while they are out. Create space for your colleague to ask questions.

Discuss professional goals

Based on your colleague’s wishes, offer the opportunity to have a performance review to highlight their successes and learnings since their last review process. Before their leave, it's a good opportunity to reiterate their career goals at the company and make sure there is a clear return-to-work plan in place already. Since working parents—especially working mothers–often face discrimination and professional setbacks when choosing to start a family, this pre-leave review process can provide valuable insight and lay the groundwork for an enthusiastic return to work.

During leave

Offer congratulations

Send a congratulatory note when the baby arrives. Ask their permission before sharing the news with the full team, and encourage them to send their congratulations too.

Follow colleague’s preferred communications plan

Continue to check in based on their wishes, on your agreed-upon cadence, and via your agreed-upon outreach method.

Be proactive

Reach out directly with any major news or announcements that will be made external or new hiring plans/internal restructurings that directly impact your colleague. It's important to be proactive when following the communications plan here to ensure your colleague doesn't feel completely out of the loop when they return.

Employ the 2/3rds rule

Touch base two-thirds of the way through leave to determine or confirm your colleague’s return-to-work date, as well as offer work schedule flexibility and accommodations if possible.

One month prior to return

Check workspace setup

Work with HR to prep lactation room(s) if needed. Ensure your colleague’s desk, IT needs, office supplies, and any belongings are prepared in their designated workspace so they can have a smooth transition back to work.

Suggest check-in call

If your colleague wishes, have a 30-minute check-in call two weeks prior to return. This call is a great time to share any key team updates, preview your colleague’s key projects and goals for their first month back, and share a calendar of any planned all-staff or team events.

Connect with HR

Once again, connect your colleague with HR directly to plan for in-office needs, as well as to reserve time via shared calendar for lactation room(s) if pumping.

Prepare welcome

As aligned with company policies, make team plans for a welcome back card or lunch to welcome your colleague back from parental leave warmly.

The return

Set the tone

Send an email reminding your team or department to check in with your colleague on their first day back. This is also a good time to remind teammates to respect the returning employee's calendar and to make them feel welcomed back.

Catch them up

When they return to work, host a 30-minute meeting with your colleague to check in, share internal updates, answer their questions, and address any concerns they might have. Keep this line of communication open.

Check in

Touch base regularly to ensure the transition schedule and plan is working and ask about your colleague’s needs.

Designing women's and family health benefits to further support new parents

While this parental leave checklist is a good place to start, there are other important ways to support new or expecting parents in your workforce, especially as they return to work. Provide virtual maternity and postpartum support through access to on-call OB-GYNs, doulas, lactation consultants, midwives, and career coaches to provide support in moments of need.

Mental health support, counseling, and career coaching are also important pillars of supporting working parents specifically. Breast milk shipping services like Maven Milk make it possible for new parents to continue breastfeeding while they return to work.

This holistic, multi-pronged support is also good for business. Since implementing Maven, 90% of new parents have returned to work after leave, compared to the national average of 57%.

How you can make a difference with Maven

Maven is the leading women's and family health company, connecting working parents and parents-to-be with the resources they need to thrive on their path to and through parenthood. Through our solution, parents can access on-demand healthcare, 24/7 specialist support, clinically-vetted content, and community groups and forums of their peers. 

To find out how Maven can help modernize your company's maternity benefits package, request a demo today.