If you want your staff to feel confident coming back into work after maternity leave, gently remind them of their value by inviting them into the workplace several times during their time away. Just like you might offer a new member of staff the opportunity to attend a team meeting or a social event (remember those?) before their first day of employment, you’ll be helping your longstanding staff make a confident comeback if they use their Keeping in Touch (KIT) or Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT) days.

Recently, we surveyed 100 women and found that only 30% had taken their KIT days, often citing childcare issues as the barrier. So we thought it high time we bang the drum for KIT days and demonstrate how and why they should be used for everyone’s benefit.

Why should people take KIT days during maternity leave?

Your employee’s home life has been turned upside down and inside out, whether they are coming back after baby number one, two or four. So if you enable them to limber up and prepare everyone around them for their return to work before their official start date, you’ll be doing everyone a favour. And if I may put it fairly bluntly: that readjusting time has to happen at some point, so why not start the process during the government-supported KIT days?

Having contact with their line manager, their team and the wider organisation helps your employee ease back into the ‘mind space’ of work ahead of their full return. Ideas can start to percolate, so that when they are fully back with the team, they are raring to go and full of creative energy.

But KIT days aren’t just about the employee. Yes, it’s essential for them to not only soak up the atmosphere and remember their work confidence, but it’s also about the child settling into nursery, their life partner getting used to a new balance of responsibility at home, and colleagues adjusting to a new team structure.

KIT days advice for line managers

Start the discussions now 

I can’t say this often enough – plan early! When you know a member of staff will be going on maternity leave, start your discussions around KIT days. It might seem way ahead of time, but you’ll need to agree on how many KIT days will be taken, when and what they might be used for. Is it better than the days are taken as a chunk at the end of their leave, or dotted through the time away?

What to use a KIT day for

You can use a KIT day for anything you feel will be of use, but agree it mutually between line manager and employee before the day. Here are some ideas to consider.

• Meetings: Team, planning, budget, project scoping, annual strategy, conference
• Coaching: The Talent Keeper Specialists offer specialist return to work coaching to help returnees work through concerns, rebuild confidence and develop a practical action plan
• Administrative: sifting email, sorting new laptops or phones
• Team: meeting or recruiting new members
• Away day
• Training
• Client events
• Conducting performance reviews (along with cover)
• Planning: discussing flexible working, re-shaping role, mapping out deliverables for the first 4-6 weeks back

What not to use a KIT day for

KIT days are not meant to be used for delivery. That is, you should not treat it as business as usual and give the employee a huge task which will take longer than one day to complete. A KIT day cannot be relied on or anchored to: it’s a transitional tool to help someone refocus on work, soak up the atmosphere, add ideas to a meeting or to provide information on their specialist subject.

Businesses don’t have to offer all 10 KIT days

KIT days are voluntary for the business as well as the employee. If as a business you can’t afford to top up to the full day rate for the full 10 days, have a conversation with your employee. You could ask them how the days will be used, but be careful not to appear accusatory. Simply be affirming and ask how you can help and what value it will add to the employee to be there for those 10 days. Offer to help set out what she will do on the days to make the most of her time in the office. Of course, it is much easier if this discussion has been had before she goes on leave.

KIT days advice for employees

How should I use my time on KIT days?

This is all about the blend – what do you need to do to make yourself feel as comfortable as possible on day one of your return? If it would make sense to you to schedule back to back meetings with your 1:1 reports and senior leaders, do it. If you’d rather attend a team meeting, then sit quietly in a corner while you work through your emails, do that.

Hear Rachel talk about how to get through those early months back at work on our brilliant new podcast for returners

How not to get sucked into work on a KIT day

We recently hosted a webinar for the Victoria and Westminster Business Improvement District and a comment from one of the attendees really struck me. She said she had avoided attending KIT days during her maternity leave so that she didn’t get ‘sucked back in’ to work. This kind of rarely voiced concern about KIT days is more likely to be true in smaller organisations, rather than larger ones with well practiced policies and knowledge about KIT days.

Be proactive. Before you attend your KIT day, set out with your line manager exactly what you intend to spend the day doing. Head off any unreasonable requests for work by reminding your line manager that you spoke about the value of KIT days before your leave started. Be aware that most line managers will try and fill a void with work, so prepare your plan early. If an ask is made of you that extends beyond the work day, remind the line manager that you had already agreed that the KIT days would be treated as standalone events.

Book free now: Hear Annie Abelman, founder of Mentor Mums talk about How to Make an Impact, Tuesday March 23rd, 8pm

How to tell your line manager you would like all 10 KIT days

It might be that you want to be involved in your team’s appraisals, or you’d like to attend a team strategy session. Give your reasons as to why you would like to be present for your KIT days and proactively ask for their support. Communication is key and as before, it really helps if this has been agreed in advance of your leave.

Managing childcare on KIT days

If finding childcare for one-off days is complicated, or you are exclusively breastfeeding, talk openly with your line manager and explain that you would like to bring your baby to a meeting. You could ask your partner or a friend to come with you and sit with your baby while you sift emails, or even wait outside in a cafe while you attend a strategy meeting. It can all be overcome, although it doesn’t always feel like it!

A quick legal download

KIT / SPLIT days are a tool to allow an employee to have contact with employers while on leave under a legal framework. An employee can take 10 KIT or 20 SPLIT days during their maternity or parental leave without bringing their statutory maternity / paternity leave to an end. It is not obligatory for companies to offer KIT days or for parents to take them. KIT days can not be taken in the two weeks immediately after the birth or during accrued holiday time at the end of the leave. More here.

Got a question about KIT days? E-mail jc@talentkeepers.co.uk or find us on Twitter and Instagram @talentkeepersuk.

Listen up: Comeback Coach is my new wobbly-bottomed podcast about kick-ass comebacks! It’s an inspiring, accessible look inside the lives of mothers who have overcome the stress and apprehension that goes with taking long leave and replaced it with motivation, engagement and confidence on their return. Share it with your employees and join us!

Naomi Bagdonas proved a seriously fascinating listen whilst chopping cauliflower and sweet potato for a delicious dinner last week. She teaches a course at Stanford called Humour: Serious Business and is the co-author of a new book, Humour Seriously.

I’m a big pan of podcasts, especially episodes with author guests keen to promote their new book. You get the best bits distilled into 25-40 minutes – and you can sort supper at the same time – but if you’ve only got 3 minutes to discover how laughter could help you and your team, read the best bits below.

The serious benefits of laughter at work

Here’s the main headline: Laughter makes us more primed for connection, creative, resourceful and resilient to stress. To quote Naomi, “Laughter has unparalleled effects on our neurochemistry and behaviour.”

Laughter connects us with our co-workers

• When we laugh with someone we connect in a really powerful way. Neurochemically laughing together gives you more bang for your buck when it comes to interpersonal connection than just about anything else. That’s due to the release of oxytocin when we laugh which makes us more bonded and trusting of the person we are with.
  
• Laughter helps to solidify relationships over time. If we recall a time we laughed together we will later report being 23% more satisfied with that relationship than if we recall a positive moment we shared together.

Laughter enhances our creativity

• Laughter makes us feel more psychologically safe to share risky or unconventional ideas. When we laugh our brain supresses the release of cortisol (or fight/flight hormone). When cortisol is high it’s more difficult to access higher order thinking.
  
• In one study participants were asked to watch comedy clips before trying to solve a creativity challenge. They were more than twice as likely to get the challenge right compared with participants who hadn’t been primed with comedy.
  
• When we laugh our brains are more primed to see connections we had previously missed.

Humour can enhance our status

Brad Bitterly, Maurice Schweitzer and Alison Woods from Harvard & Wharton Business Schools explored how humour impacts others’ perceptions of our competence, status and confidence. If you make a joke and someone else laughs that person will view you as more of all three. They also found that there are benefits if you fail and no one laughs. So long as the joke is viewed as appropriate, people’s perceptions of your confidence will increase. And there’ll be no negative impact on people’s perception of your status.

Laughter increases our pain tolerance

• Studies show that laughter increases pain tolerance.
  
• Watching a funny film at the very beginning of labour can pave the way to a better birth as laughter helps to release Oxytocin (a tip from Ella Mills on the Deliciously Ella podcast with Naomi Bagdonas, author of Humour Seriously).

5 ways to use humour to connect with your team

1. Leave a voice memo for a colleague recalling a funny moment you shared together.
   
2. Pepper team meetings with recollections of funny team moments (probably best to give this some thought ahead of time).
   
3. Kick off teams meeting with a comedy clip (this could be a roving responsibility).
   
4. Ask your people to come to the next team meeting ready to share a funny happening (this may well prime then to find life funnier – and couldn’t we all do with more of that right now).
   
5. My personal favourite for it’s sheer cringeworthy-but-so-worth-it-ness is asking the team to just laugh. Ask your colleagues for hard, forced, ridiculous laughter for a minute. Invite them to cackle, howl, giggle or guffaw for 60 seconds with the aim of raising the roof. I’ve done it myself and it works – by the end you will be genuinely laughing.

What’s keeping your colleagues feeling connected?

How’s fun happening in your organisation? Which teams are showing up as most connected in your engagement pulse surveys, and do you know why? We’d love to hear how you get on if you try any of our suggestions.

Our mission is to keep colleagues feeling confident, connected and cared for when they take extended leave from work. This being so, remember to include your colleagues who are away on maternity, adoption, shared parental sick leave and sabbatical in the fun you’re having.

We are on a mission to keep people feeling confident, connected and cared for when they take extended leave from work. This includes men as well as women, and reasons beyond maternity such as sickness, sabbatical and shared parental leave.

Our Comeback Community™ employee experience is designed to help people navigate real and perceived barriers to returning to work and onward progression; boost confidence and fuel professional impact when they’re back at work. We want to minimise brain drain and maximise talent.

9 NEEDS OF LEAVE FRAMEWORK

Our content is designed around our 9 Needs of Leave framework which support three positive states: feeling confident, feeling connected and feeling cared for.

1. To feel a sense of BELONGING
2. To feel UNDERSTOOD
3. To feel a sense of PURPOSE
4. To feel EQUIPPED
5. To feel SECURE
6. To feel ACCOMMODATED
7. To feel COMPETENT
8. To feel VALUED
9. To feel SUCCESSFUL

ORGANISATIONAL BENEFITS & RISKS MANAGED

When employees feel confident, connected and cared for throughout their leave of absence:

• Increased retention[i]
• Higher engagement[ii]
• Performance boosted
• Narrowed gender pay gap
• Employer brand enhanced

MATERNITY LEAVE, CAREER PROGRESSION & NARROWING THE GENDER PAY GAP

Women who are on, or returned from maternity leave in the last couple of years, are a key priority for many of our clients, because:

• Women and men experience a ‘large divergence’ in their career paths in the years following childbirth, according to a study[i] following more than 3,500 new parents. Only 27.8 percent of women are in full-time work or self-employed three years after childbirth, compared to 90 percent of new fathers.
  
• 26 percent of men have been promoted or moved to a better job in the five years following childbirth, the figure is just 13 percent for women.
  
• For new mothers – but not fathers – staying with the same employer is associated with a lower risk of downward occupational mobility but also with lower chances of progression.
  
  

INCREASING A SENSE OF BELONGING

40% of people on maternity, furlough and other types of long leave from work feel as though they don’t belong.[i] Here are some practical ways to boost belonging, before, during and after leave:

BEFORE LEAVE

• Talk about looking forward to your colleague coming back before they leave and which of their strengths/skills/experiences you’ll miss the most.
  
• Agree how and when work will be handed over. Don’t sideline or leave your colleague out of the loop on projects they’ve been working on because you think they won’t be interested.
  
• Discuss keeping in touch preferences including KIT/SPLIT days if the leave is related to becoming a parent.
  
  

DURING LEAVE

• Share praise or recognition whilst they are away for things they have contributed to – client feedback, internal stakeholder comments, a successful launch of a process/initiative she was involved in etc.
  
• Make invitations to team gatherings – such as away days, lunches and planning days – and flag development activities your team member has expressed interest in.
  
• Send a handwritten card to remind your colleague they’re in your thoughts and you’re looking forward to them being back in the team.

AFTER LEAVE

• Position their time away as positive for the team because they bring fresh eyes to old and new challenges.
• Actively seek their input and encourage them to question what and how things are being done in the team.
• Make glowing introductions between your returning team member and new joiners, describing some of their strengths and successes.

Got a gender pay gap to close or engagement scores to improve?

Come and talk to us. It’s easy to be in touch and tell us about your objectives. Simply e-mail hello@talentkeepers.co.uk or call +44 (0)1727 856169.

We’re ready when you are.

[i] Poll of 100 people July 2020. See our report Take Care.

[i] *University of Bristol & university of Essex research 2019 which drew upon data from Understanding Society – the largest longitudinal household panel study of its kind. Researchers observed 2,281 new mothers over three years and 1,199 new mothers over five years after giving birth, between 2009/10 and 2016/17.

[i] Research from a city law firm, Clifford Chance, which has been offering maternity coaching since 2006 reports an increase in retention in the two years since maternity coaching was introduced compared to the preceding six years (Freeman, 2008). More specifically this study reports a significant decrease in the number of maternity returners exiting the company within the first 12 months of their return (down from 22% to 10%) and in the 12-24 month period after their return (down from 8% to 1%).

[ii] A study of 80,000 employee’s responses on a Gallup Q12 employee engagement survey (Trinka, 2005) discovered only four of the 12 questions differentiated the best work groups:

1. There is someone at work who encourages my development(in our 2011 survey of recent returners, 27% believed their manager doesn’t)
2. In the last seven days I have received recognition or praise for doing good work (40% hadn’t)
3. In the last six months someone has talked to me about my development (40% hadn’t)
4. This last year I have had opportunities to learn and grow (47% hadn’t)

“I’m worried about a maternity returner and the younger members of the team who aren’t getting exposed to the informal chat around the office. You just can’t develop the same links with people and get those bits of knowledge that help you do your job when you’re working from home 100% of the time. It’s not so bad for those of us who are established in the organisation and our particular role. In fact working from home has been really good in many respects.”

If that sounds familiar, read on.

Colleagues most in need of connection

There’s no doubt that whilst we’re leading remotely we need to be proactive at helping others pick up the information they’d otherwise absorb by office osmosis. One way of doing this is to invite colleagues who are particularly at risk of missing out to have short agenda-free catch-up chats (15-20 minutes) with you.

• New members of the team (who’d been in role < 12 months before March 2020)
• Members of the team for whom this is only their first or second role
• People living alone
• Colleagues returning from maternity, shared parental leave, adoption, sickness or any other type of long leave.

Go woodland walking with colleagues – remotely or in-person

We’ve been recommending woodland walk and talk with colleagues who live within a distance you’re prepared to travel, or remotely. By remotely we mean both walking in woodland close to your respective homes and talking on the phone with headphones – because holding a phone detracts from the experience of nature and hampers the ability to gesticulate.

Make it an awe walk

The benefits of walking, and in particular in green spaces, has been known for some time but new research by Trinity College Dublin and the University of California, San Francisco[1] has illuminated the many benefits that come from deliberately setting out to be amazed by the nature around us.

Focusing on the nature you can both see can be a helpful way to break the ice, because let’s face it this isn’t the sort of thing you’d probably usually do with your colleagues.

Benefits of awe walking

In the study, participants took a weekly 15 minute awe walk for eight weeks. A control group took the same 15 minute walks but weren’t asked to pay attention to the wonder of nature. The results are very uplifting. Compared to the control group, the awe-walkers:

• Reported increased positive emotions
• Experienced less distress in their everyday life
• Displayed more ‘pro-social’ emotions such as gratitude and compassion

A curious additional finding came from the analysis of selfies both groups took on their walks. Both groups were asked to take snaps at the beginning, middle and end of their walks. The awe-walkers increasingly made themselves smaller in their shots as the study went on, focusing on the scenery around them. Their smiles also grew wider. This suggests awe walking helps us get out of our own heads, which can often be a very helpful thing.

Make it a team thing

Instead of 1:1 walking why not arrange a regular team awe walk where the conversation can ebb and flow as it would in the office? It might not be practical if there is a large geographic spread in the team but it’s worth a thought.

What do you think?

If you do it, let us know how you get on. We’d love to see your photos. E-mail jc@talentkeepers.co.uk or find us on Twitter and Instagram @talentkeepersuk.

Want more like this? Get our Many Happy Returns Report

We spoke to 10 Chief People Officers about how they’re continuing to create a sense of belonging and how they’re responding to the challenges faced by Covid-19. Click to get access to their thoughts in our Many Happy Returns? Report.

[1] Study by researchers at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center (MAC) and the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) – a partnership between UCSF and Trinity College Dublin to improve brain health worldwide. Published in the journal Emotion.