Returning to Work After Maternity Leave
A supportive and flexible return-to-work approach helped ease the transition from maternity leave back into the workplace. Through open communication, gradual reintegration, and ongoing flexibility, this experience highlights how organisations can successfully support working parents, particularly within industries that are predominantly part-time and female.
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The issue
Returning to work after maternity leave marks a significant point of transition from sole care giving, to balancing the act of parenthood and employment. Adjusting to life with a newborn, new routines, and ongoing responsibilities at home, while reintroducing work, requires careful planning.
In an industry that is predominantly part-time employees and over 50% female, these challenges are not unique. With evolving sleep routines and the additional demands of breastfeeding, it has become essential to establish a sustainable balance between professional responsibilities and home life. Many employees are navigating these circumstances with their employees. Adopting supportive, flexible approaches that recognise both professional and caregiving responsibilities is the key to a successful return.
The solution
Approaches that support gradual returns to work, with casual check-ins throughout maternity leave to stay connected with the team, occasional visits to the workplace and regular updates via a group chat helps maintain these relationships.
A well-planned meeting on the first day back into the workplace helps sets clear expectations around hours, workload, and flexibility. Flexibility around hours, days worked, hybrid work environments, are shown to help with a smooth and manageable transition.
During this initial transition phase, workload is thoughtfully adjusted, with changes to expectations and key responsibilities managed in line with availability and manageability. This included changes to the number of Landcare groups managed, frequency of travel, workshop facilitation, and attending evening meetings only where necessary or switching to online. This allows for more predictable, home/office based work and reduced time away from family.
Regular check-ins every few weeks for the first 3 months and each month after that ensures the workload remains appropriate and supports the entire team also. These conversations create space to assess capacity, adjust expectations, and gradually increase responsibilities over time as circumstances change.
The impact
In a broader industry context, this type of supportive and collaborative re-entry is highly significant. A gentle and flexible transition allows working mothers to re-engage with their roles while still maintaining strong family connections. It reduces disruption to family dynamics and enables parents to contribute financially without compromising care.
This approach has a direct impact on staff retention. When employees feel valued, understood, and supported as both professionals and parents, they are far more likely to remain with an organisation. Flexible work environments that align with family life, rather than competing with it, create more sustainable and highly desirable roles for working parents.
There are also clear benefits for mental load and wellbeing. Establishing a work environment where expectations, workload, and hours are flexible and where regular check-ins are built in, helps ensure new parents feel supported during their transition back to work. This significantly reduces stress and overwhelm, as employees know they will receive support if needed and that the organisation is working with them, meeting them where they are at, rather than expecting them to immediately return at their previous capacity.
Open communication, planning, and consistent check-ins ensure workloads remain realistic and manageable. This prevents employees from taking on too much too soon and allows for gradual capacity building over time.
Key facts
- Gradual return to woke
- Regular check-ins and planning meetings
- Flexible work options and hrs