Tips for Planning Your Maternity Leave

Why don’t any of the commercials for pregnancy tests ever show a woman holding that little urine stick with the “plus sign equals positive” resulting in quaking fear at the thought of, now what? How is she going to manage her career, being a mother, and the inevitable … telling her boss she is pregnant? Will the company crumble if she takes three months off and slows down a bit?

You don’t have to rush right in and blurt the news to your boss and team, but you should think it through and have a plan. If you planned your pregnancy and maternity leave six months ago, while you were thinking about starting a family, good for you. However, if the conversation between yourself and that little stick wasn’t planned, here are some things to consider before baby-brain takes over.

Positively Plan
Your boss probably wants to be happy for you when you announce your impending parenthood; however, your boss’ first obligation is to the company. It’s inevitable that your boss will want to know your post-baby plans. You may not have decided yet whether you will return to your job after your baby is born, but if you are still deciding, you should let your boss know. Outline a plan to cover your position in your absence. Your boss will likely appreciate the care you are taking to ease the transition for both of you.

Plan Ahead
Now that you know you’re pregnant.  Start planning for your leave.

• • • Document Everything – start putting together a “how-to” folder for everything you do on a daily basis and anything that’s specific to the quarter you will be out.  Let’s face it, no day is ever the same, so this will likely take several weeks to compile.  This will be very helpful for your boss and your colleagues and will reduce stress and the inevitable panic call while you’re out.
    • Create a Coverage Plan – Before you share the good news to your colleagues and boss, think through a good coverage plan.
      • What activities can be taken care of before you leave?
      • What activities can be put on hold for a few months?
      • Divide the rest of the activities across multiple team members.
      • Share your plan with your boss first for feedback and approval and then with your colleagues for additional feedback.

When to Share the News
You are under no obligation to tell your employer immediately, and many women do wait until they have safely passed the first trimester. But if you begin to show early or the smell of coffee when you walk into the office in the morning leads to an immediate nauseated dash towards the ladies room, it behooves you to tell your boss sooner rather than later.  Although FMLA requires that you give at least 30 days notice that you will be taking an unpaid leave, if you plan to keep your job, you do not want to appear to be hiding your pregnancy and plans. Good news travels fast, so sharing the news with your best friend at the office could lead to your boss finding out through the office grapevine.

If your job requires you to work with potentially hazardous chemicals or to lift heavy objects that might have negative affects to your baby, have the conversation with your boss as soon as you have created your pregnancy plan.

Whom to Tell
Of course, you will excitedly tell you family and friends the news before it’s time to tell your boss. Remember though that telling your best friend at work before you tell your boss could have repercussions. In the event that your happy news is not so happily received at the office, know that you may have more rights than you know.

Know Your Rights
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may guarantee you some rights depending on where you work and the role you have in the company. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Factsheet, “Only eligible employees are entitled to take FMLA leave. An eligible employee is one who:

• • • Works for a covered employer
    • Has worked for the employer for at least 12 months
    • Has at least 1,250 hours of service for the employer during the 12 month period immediately preceding the leave and
    • Works at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles”

If you are an eligible employee, you may take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the birth of your child or placement of a child with you for adoption or foster care.

Be sure to check your state laws as well and to consult your company handbook. Depending on your company’s policies, you could have more or less time available to you for leave, and if you work directly with customers, there may be protocol for how you will alert them of your pregnancy and leave time. If you do not have a copy of the employee handbook, you can ask HR to provide you with one without divulging what specific information you need.

Happy Time, Not Career Suicide
Thankfully many companies are not only happy to work with their pregnant employees, but an increasing number are assisting with on-site childcare, assistance with childcare expenses and flexible or telecommuting options. Depending on the age or the size of the company, you might be the first pregnant employee they have had. Make suggestions as to how you can work together to make your pregnancy, leave and return to the office a seamless and stress-less process for all.

Let’s Celebrate
As women, we should celebrate the companies that understand the value of retaining working mothers and therefore have policies to help them be both full-time employee and full-time mom. Some companies offer exciting opportunities to new mothers in order to keep intelligent and productive women in their workforce.

Accenture, the outsourcing, technology service and management consulting company offers a sixteen weeks total maternity leave time with 8 weeks paid. More exciting, however, is their new Maternity Support Program that coaches female executives through the transition to working-motherhood.

Banking giant, Bank of America, supports women through their returning talent workshops that help former stay-at-home mothers to return to work by guiding them through the preparation and interview process. Their better than average 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and the ability to telecommute for many jobs make them a winner for women.

Technology company, HP, led by President and CEO Meg Whitman, offers working mothers the ability to telecommute, flexible scheduling and compressed schedules. The company also offers a concierge program to assist employees in finding childcare and offer back up and sick child care, both of which help reduce new-parent stress.

In addition to the things you should do at work when you find out you are pregnant, there are also some things you should not do. Don’t stress. You will have plenty of time to train someone to manage your responsibilities while you are on leave. Worry never solves anything. Don’t inform your boss in the middle of tax season or some other crunch time. Above all, do not forget to enjoy this exciting time in your life.