Parental leave is becoming more prevalent in the US, with more employers providing paid time off so workers can bond with a new child.
While this is a welcome development for employees with families, it also creates additional complexities for managers, who have to figure out how work will get done when team members are absent for months at a time.
Announcing a parental leave can be a “love ‘em or leave ‘em moment” for workers, so it’s critical for employers to respond the right way, said Sarah Olin, CEO and co-founder of LUMO, a parental leave consultancy.
“The single biggest determinant around leaves is culture, not policy,” she said. “If your culture isn’t strong, if your managers aren’t skilled, it’s going to be a hard time for everyone, and you’re ultimately going to lose people.”
To help foster a culture where workers feel comfortable taking leave, HR teams should consider the following strategies to ensure things run smoothly when colleagues are out, experts told HR Brew.
Hiring a backfill. Many companies would like to hire a temporary contractor to fill in for an employee while they’re on leave, but don’t have the budget to do so, said Allison Whalen, CEO and co-founder of Parentaly, a program that helps managers and workers navigate parental leave.
If a business does have the budget to hire an external backfill, this approach may work better for some roles than others, she said. “If you’re a recruiter, that's something that is fairly easy to bring in an outsider backfill,” she said. Sales teams, on the other hand, are typically hesitant to bring in external replacements because it takes them longer to ramp up and learn about the business.
Having colleagues fill in for one another. Oftentimes, employers will evaluate which projects need to continue and which need to be put on pause when a worker takes leave, Whalen said. They may then split up the remaining work among colleagues.
There are pros and cons HR should consider for each type of coverage scenario, she noted. If an employee’s manager fills in for them, they bring “strategic oversight” to the role, but are likely busy with other things, and “may not treat this with the right level of attention,” she said. Meanwhile, a peer will understand the job, but carries “the highest risk of resentment because this is not exciting to them.”
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An employee going on leave can also ask a direct report to fill in for them as a “stretch opportunity,” which may allow them “to push their boundaries, to do something they’re really excited about,” said Whalen. The downside, though, may be that this worker isn’t skilled or senior enough to take on some aspects of the role.
Whatever plan a manager lands on, Whalen suggested that it’s ideal if the employee going on leave is “the main driver of creating the coverage plan.” By bringing the employee into the planning process, you’re “[giving] them agency in their career,” as well as involving the person who is “closest to the details of their day-to-day work.”
Re-arranging hiring plans. HR teams can be proactive about hiring if they expect employees to go on leave, Whalen said. Assuming 10% of their workforce will be on a leave of absence, they can staff up in anticipation of that, with the expectation they may need to adjust hiring goals during certain periods.
LUMO has advised a small retail store in Charlotte with 40 full-time employees that overhires to help cover for colleagues on leave, Olin said. “They have more employees than they would typically need because they have so many working moms.” Taking this factor into consideration when hiring ensures the store is covered when short-term needs arise as well, such as when an employee is dealing with a sick kid.
“SWAT” teams. Some large organizations have a bench of well-trained employees that can pop in and out of assignments as needed, said Elena Arecco Bridgmon, LUMO’s co-founder with Olin, and chief operating officer.
“When I worked in financial services, we had a SWAT recruiting team that would staff up and down for the ebbs and flows of hiring,” Arecco Bridgmon explained.
Internal assignments. HR can consider posting a temporary assignment to be filled by an internal employee in another department while a worker is taking parental leave. Companies like Indeed and UrbanSitter have tried this approach, hiring “internal interns” to fill in, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2023.
This option means HR may still have to shuffle around staff to ensure coverage for the person who is hired for the internal assignment, but it gives workers the opportunity to try out a role in a different function, Whalen said.