Leave of Absence 101: Keep Calm and Prepare for a Key Employee’s Leave

Your VP of Marketing just informed the company that she is pregnant and will be taking a leave in a few short months for an undisclosed amount of time aka a leave of absence.

Right in the middle of a huge product launch. 

She is the only one who does what she does. 

What do you do aside from pointing them in Human Resources’ direction?

What you DON’T do is pressure her into returning prematurely or having her work off the books while she’s caring for her newborn. That’s a speeding train to the land of Disgruntled and Disengaged. 

Historically, startup businesses have been able to mostly avoid dealing with a key employee taking a leave of absence. Only 28% of startups have a female founder which means most startup executive teams are made up of men who take less leaves of absences than women. Probably because like, they’re not the ones growing humans inside of them and aren’t in any way disabled. More importantly, adults looking to start families in the near future avoid working for startups and opt for the more stable large corporations with richer benefits and paid leaves. But like most things in 2020 – it’s changing.

In case you’ve been hibernating all of 2020, the world has shifted to a more remote work environment and adults are yearning for flexibility and autonomy – two major components in startup culture. So if you combine Flexibility, Autonomy, and Remote Work where couples are spending more time together – you get babies. 

This isn’t a post about the birds and the bees though, you’ll need to talk to your parents about that. 

But this means that startups will no longer be immune to leave of absence management and need to figure out what to do when a key employee needs to take a leave for pregnancy, medical leave of their own, or care for a family member among other things.

So, what is a Leave of Absence?

A leave of absence is defined as permission for an employee to be away from work for a period of time. It might be voluntary, involuntary, paid, or unpaid. 

We want to focus on voluntary LOAs that cover special circumstances occurring in the employee’s life, such as Family Medical Leave (FMLA). 

The Family and Medical Leave Act is a federal law that is utilized when an employee needs to take time off work because of family responsibilities such as caring for a newborn child. The law requires employers with over 50 employees and for employees who’ve worked at least 1,250 hours over a 12 month period to allow 12 unpaid work weeks of time off (doesn’t have to be consecutive). That is the minimum federal mandate. 

However, organizations can provide a program that is richer in paid benefits and a longer leave maximum – this is completely up to the organization as long as it meets minimum requirements. Some LOA circumstances will allow the employee to file for short-term disability benefits to supplement their loss income.

In order to hold on to your key and best employees, you’ll want to offer at least 12 weeks of unpaid leave whether you meet the 50 employees threshold or not.

A Key Employee Requested a Leave of Absence, Now What? 

• Address the employee’s request promptly and with empathy. It’s easy to automatically go into panic-mode and ask questions about how the work will be done when they’re gone – just wait and worry about that later. Get the request in writing with as much details as possible like when the leave will start and collect any necessary medical documentation to support the leave. 

• Schedule a strategy session. Determine which tasks and projects can be closed out before the leave is effective and work together to delegate future tasks to other team members. Decide if a temporary hire or consultant is needed in the interim to take on leftover responsibilities that cannot be delegated to the current team. Make sure the leaving employee has a hand in deciding who will take over. 

• Create a training schedule for interim staff. Set milestones and due dates for training to be completed for current or onboarding staff or consultants. 

• Throw a party. If the leave is something to celebrate, have a party because parties are fun and they’ll go on their leave feeling loved, appreciated, and valued. You want to do as much as possible to motivate them to want to come back. 

• Communicate from time to time. Don’t talk about all the things that have gone wrong since they’ve been gone. Check in with the employee who is going through a life event and see how they’re doing. Keep them engaged without pressuring them to return. But also know when they plan to return and stay updated should anything change. 

The goal is to make the employee feel safe and not guilty for having to take a break because of life. 

The more you’re prepared for this, the stronger your organization will be. Just like you want your employees to grow as the company grows – it has to be mutual.

When an organization can mature and take on the various life events of their employees, the more likely the employees will stay as they continue to develop professionally. 

There’s nothing more assuring to an employee than an organization having their backs through each chapter of their lives. This is a step towards a lasting, healthy company culture.

You’ll get through it, I promise. 

For further LOA assistance, email info@gamedayhr.com to set up a consultation or fill out a contact form.

It’s Gameday, Every Day.