My employee has told me that they are pregnant – what do I do now?

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As an employer, you will likely see your employees go through many stages of their lives, depending on how long they work for you.

From having a baby to getting married to going through family difficulties and requiring additional support, it’s your duty and responsibility as an employer to take care of your staff and provide them with the correct level of professional care and support.

If your employee has just announced that they are pregnant, there are a few steps you’ll need to carry out in order to accommodate their needs. Take a look at our guide below for advice on what to do if your employee has just told you that they’re pregnant.

Congratulate them on their news

First of all, it’s imperative to congratulate your employee on their happy news. Regardless of how you feel about children, or if you’re worried about the impact that someone going on maternity leave will have on your business, it’s important that you let the employee know that you’re happy for them and that you’re there to support them in a professional manner.

Know your roles and responsibilities as an employer

As an employer, you have numerous legal and statutory rights that you must comply with, including providing the correct amount of maternity leave for your employee and ensuring that they are well looked after in the workplace.

In terms of maternity leave, employees are entitled to 52 weeks, with an absolute minimum of 2 weeks required for health and safety reasons. It’s also your duty to discuss maternity leave pay with your employee and ensure that they know their rights as an employee at the business even while they’re on maternity leave.

You should also ask for an expected date from which the employee wishes to begin their maternity leave. You do not have to receive confirmation of when the employee wishes to return to work right away, but it is ideal to get a rough idea of their proposed return date so that you can plan accordingly.

Prepare to find someone for maternity cover

As an employer, having a pregnant employee might throw a spanner in the works for you at first, especially if the pregnant employee is an integral part of the team; you might not be prepared to operate without them for up to one year

However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the correct measures are in place for these kinds of eventualities. You will need to put the necessary measures in place to ensure that you can find cover for the duration of their maternity leave and be prepared to train a temporary new hire for the maternity cover or to guide an existing member of staff who can take on the role.

Assess the health and safety of the workplace and make necessary adjustments where required

Your next step should be to assess your current place of work to see whether any necessary safety measures should be added to accommodate your pregnant employee.

Of course, you should always strive for a safe and suitable working environment, but you may need to add or change some things within the workplace to help them during their pregnancy. As an employer, you can ask your employee if they need any adjustments making throughout the workplace to make it a more safe and comfortable working environment as a pregnant person.

Make your employee aware of their rights while pregnant in the workplace

You need to ensure that your employee is aware of all their rights with regards to their pregnancy, including their right to take time off work to attend antenatal appointments and relevant hospital appointments. They are not required to request annual leave for these types of appointments and as an employer or manager, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that they’re aware of this.

Ensure your employees know when they should notify you of their pregnancy

Employees are required to notify you of their pregnancy at least fifteen weeks before their due date. This is so you have sufficient time to plan cover for their maternity leave to prepare a written response to their submission of a MAT B1 form confirming their pregnancy.

Discuss the expected level of communication during their maternity leave

Before your employee goes on maternity leave, it’s imperative that you discuss the level of communication that you can expect from them while they’re off. Many employees would rather have no communication at all with their place of work while they’re on maternity leave so they can thoroughly enjoy spending time with their new baby, whereas others like to be kept in the loop and informed of relevant business events such as promotions, redundancies and new recruitments.

It’s up to you and the employee to determine the right level of communication that you can both expect during the maternity leave.

Keep in touch days

As well as discussing the level of communication that can be expected throughout the duration of maternity leave, you should also have a conversation about easing them back into work once their maternity leave is finished.

These are often referred to as keep in touch days which give the employee the opportunity to come into the workplace before they officially come back to work so that they can get reaccustomed to working again and so that they can be updated on any changes that have been made to the business.

Ensure that the employee knows about their rights to annual leave

Another thing that you must ensure that your employee is aware of is that employees on maternity leave are entitled to carry their annual leave over to the following year. However, from an employer point of view, it might be a good idea to encourage them to use their annual leave before they go on maternity leave so that they’re not taking lots of time off work when they come back after.

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