This is a subject that affects many of us, and it is the same concerns that always come up. It is important as a manager to support your employee. It can be as easy as having procedures in place. The next steps will be a good starting point.
Make the initial conversation positive.
Congratulate your employee and find out when the baby will be born. If you create a positive communication channel from the beginning, your employee will feel more comfortable to share their future plans with you. This will give you the opportunity to plan ahead.
As an employer, you have legal and statutory requirements that you have to comply with.
When the employee is due to start their maternity leave, they have rights in how much time they are entitled to. Pregnant employees are entitled to take 52 weeks for their maternity leave. 2 weeks is the minimum amount that must be taken for health and safety reasons. See gov.uk for current rates and entitlements.
Review your company risk assessment in terms of work.
Are there any adjustments you need to make? Is there anything you can put in place to help them during their pregnancy? It is good to review the risk assessment each trimester to ensure it is still relevant.
Pregnant employees are entitled to take time off for ante-natal appointments, managers have a legal responsibility to authorise this.
Annual leave does not need to be used for these appointments.
Employees must notify you that they are pregnant fifteen weeks before their due date.
They should provide you with a MAT B1 form, confirming the expected week the baby is born. This gives you an opportunity to start to plan cover and formalise a written response.
Before maternity leave starts, agree with the employee how much communication there will be between you during their leave.
There are certain things that you will need to speak to these employees about, including redundancies, recruitment and promotion opportunities. It is also good practice to include them any company wide communications. Pregnant employees can share maternity leave with their partners, so make sure this is part of your communication.
Staff on maternity leave can carry their annual leave over to the following year even if your company policy says otherwise.
A good idea is to suggest that this is used before they start their maternity leave to save loads of annual leave needing to be take when they return to work. Always confirm everything in writing.
Keep in touch (KIT) days give employees the opportunity to come in and work in your business, getting paid their normal rate of pay.
It is good to communicate this with the employee before they start their maternity leave and confirm in writing. KIT days are usually put in place just before the employee comes back to work, allowing them to get back into a routine and settle back into the company.
If you have any questions on maternity leave, please get in touch.