Five tips on how to prepare for maternity leave
You’re counting down the days ‘til the baby arrives, painting the nursery, and buying the clothes and the carseat but have you thought about preparing for maternity leave at work yet? In my experience, your parental leave can feel very far away until it isn’t and you’re manically googling how to prepare for maternity leave.
If this is you and you’re feeling unprepared, let this guide help you navigate the handover process. As a quick sidenote, if you're still in the office and looking for maternity wear for work, have a look at our up to date guide to the best maternity brands in the UK.
Without further ado, here are our top tips on how to prepare for maternity leave. All compiled with the help of a few new mothers who embarked on maternity leave preparation with some preparation regrets.
1. Start preparing early
Trust me when I say it's never too early to start preparing for maternity leave. From the minute you find out you're pregnant, start making handover notes and lists of things you do. This is how to prepare for maternity leave in a stress-free way.
You think you have forty weeks to prepare, you don't. And if your baby comes early, you'll be glad you started prepping those handover notes months ago.
A few months before going on maternity leave, I was asked to prepare a task list of everything I did and how long these tasks took. I had no idea how many plates I kept spinning, let alone how much time it took to spin them.
2. Keep a running list of everything you do
Start a spreadsheet with all tasks, links, people involved and time taken to do them. As per the previous point, it will prevent you from forgetting significant tasks which you do without a second thought.
Create the spreadsheet in a way that you could hand it over to someone in a hurry, i.e. keep it neat and tidy. If you're suddenly put on bed rest, you'll thank your past self for giving your manager and maternity leave cover such a thorough handover.
3. Create thorough instruction manuals
As and when new tasks come up, start writing up detailed instructions of how to do each step - as if written for dummies. Use screenshots, arrows and links to keep the handover instructions easy to follow.
This may seem like you're expecting your maternity leave cover to be the village idiot, but you never know who might be expected to do your job.
When I was preparing for maternity leave I created the most detailed handover instructions, we're talking "click here", "find this icon", "click there" etc.. And I'm so glad I did because my manager was left covering my work after my temporary replacement didn't materialise. Without the instruction manuals, he would have been lost.
4. Create one single folder that includes everything and use hyperlinks to link to all the files in this folder
This may sound obvious to some but I'm not known for my organisation skills so if you're more of a "Type B" employee then this one's for you.
Prior to starting maternity leave you can easily share everything with your manager just by giving access to this folder.
Take time to keep the folder organised, i.e. clear folder names, clear file names. By this, I mean, don't save everything on your desktop or put everything in folders willy nilly. Have a think about the folder structure and file names and stick to this system.
Having this single folder will pay dividends in your instruction manuals. In each set of instructions, you'll be able to link all files and folders so everything can be found easily. This is one of the most helpful things you can do before going on leave.
5. Write down all your login details in a safe place for your KIT days or return to work
You may use these login details or passwords several times a day without thinking about them. But once you're out of the business for a few months looking after you're baby, these passwords will become a distant memory.
Keep passwords and login details safe in one place for when you return to work. But also create a handover sheet with all logins and passwords then password protect it with something you'll never forget. This sheet can then be shared with your manager and maternity cover.
Do you have any tips on how to prepare for maternity leave? Leave them in the comments below.
