The Dive
Imagine coming back to a leadership role after welcoming a child. You’re managing interrupted sleep, a new childcare arrangement, and the logistics of getting everyone where they need to be.
At work, priorities have changed. Your team made decisions while you were away. People are waiting for you to take those decisions back.
You know how to do your job. You need to understand what happened to it while you were gone.
“Welcome back. Let us know what you need” leaves you to figure that out, along with how much help you can ask for without someone questioning whether you’re still up for the work.
Leaders have a responsibility here.
We decide when coverage ends, how quickly responsibilities transfer back, and whether the first week is full of catch-up conversations or delivery deadlines. Those choices shape the return for the parent and everyone depending on them.
If every decision lands back on one person’s desk before they’ve had time to get current, the team waits. If the people providing coverage have no clear end date or recognition, they carry the uncertainty. If the returning employee has to negotiate every accommodation separately, support depends on how comfortable they are asking.
All of that can be planned.
We also need to stop making assumptions about who needs help. Fathers and other caregivers belong in the conversation. So do parents who are eager to take on a big assignment. Ask what they need to do the work well. Let them speak for their own ambition.
The Save
Here’s where I’d start:
Plan the return when you plan the leave. Identify who owns the work, who can make decisions, and how responsibilities will transfer back. Keep coverage in place through the transition instead of ending it on the return date.
Make the first 30 days explicit. Agree on priorities, adjusted deliverables, and what success looks like. A gradual return to office days may help where the role allows it. Put a check-in on the calendar so the arrangement can change as you learn what works.
Give someone the context job. Assign a leave buddy to capture important shifts and explain them when the employee returns. What changed? Why? What needs attention now? Nobody should have to read three months of messages to find out which project no longer matters.
Offer specific, practical support. Discuss working hours, childcare handoffs, and time for dependent illness or appointments. Ask whether help with meals, household tasks, finding care, or navigating benefits would be useful. Give parents choices they can actually use.
Check the money. Decide how parental leave affects commissions and bonuses, and how colleagues covering the work will be recognized. Nobody should discover the financial consequences of the arrangement after they’ve committed to it.
Managers need to know how to have these conversations and what they’re authorized to offer. Otherwise, a thoughtful policy still leaves each employee starting from scratch.
And keep looking beyond the first few months. School closures, teenagers, and aging parents bring their own demands. The need for clear expectations and workable flexibility continues.
You’ve invested in someone’s judgment, relationships, and knowledge of the business. Put some thought into helping them bring those strengths back to work.
Your Turn
If you’ve returned to work after parental leave, what did someone do that made the return easier—or what do you wish they’d done?
Reply and tell me. I’d love to hear the practical things that made a difference.
Talk soon,
Anita
This is Issue 16 of Live Wire, a weekly jolt of candid thinking for CEOs, founders, and people leaders who know culture isn't a side project, it's how a business performs. I'm building this alongside my upcoming book: Everyone Sells.