Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Employment lawMaternityLegal Guides

How to ensure employees’ smooth reintroduction to the workplace on their return from maternity leave

by Personnel Today 29 Dec 2008
by Personnel Today 29 Dec 2008




  • Bear in mind that returning to work after a long period of absence on maternity leave can be a daunting experience for an employee.
  • Remember that maintaining contact with an employee on maternity leave can help her to stay in touch with the workplace and ease her return to work.
  • Check that you have notified the employee of the date that her maternity leave will end and consider sending her a courtesy letter to remind her of her expected date of return from maternity leave.
  • Consider what changes need to be made to her workload if the employee is returning to work from maternity leave on reduced hours and what arrangements need to be made if she is going to be working with a jobshare partner.
  • Make sure that the employee’s workstation is ready for her return from maternity leave and that she has the materials necessary to do her job.
  • Arrange meetings to update the employee and discuss any training needs or necessary support for her to get back up to speed with her job.
  • Ensure that an employee who has returned to work from maternity leave is not treated less favourably because she has been out of the workplace for some time.
  • Carry out a risk assessment if an employee has returned to work from maternity leave within six months of the birth of her baby or is still breastfeeding.
  • Provide suitable facilities for a breastfeeding employee to rest, and remember that it is good practice to provide a clean, private room, access to a fridge and time off to express milk.

More resources from XpertHR on this topic include:



  • How to manage pregnant employees and handle maternity leave
  • How to respond to an employee’s notification that she is pregnant
  • How to deal with requests for time off for antenatal care
  • How to deal with maternity suspensions
  • How to deal with an employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth or whose baby dies after birth
  • How to deal with the holiday entitlement of an employee taking maternity leave
  • How to deal with keeping-in-touch days during maternity leave
  • How to stay in touch with employees on maternity leave
  • How to deal with maternity pay, salary sacrifice and childcare vouchers
  • How to take disciplinary action against an employee during pregnancy or maternity leave
  • How to deal with requests to return from maternity leave on a part-time basis
  • How to deal with the situation where an employee becomes pregnant again while on maternity leave



Xpert HR - Practical Guidance for all HR Professionals

Practical Guidance for all HR Professionals


Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Learn More



Pregnancy and maternity rights content on XpertHR



  • Pregnancy and maternity rights from the XpertHR employment law manual
  • Model policy on varying employees’ hours on return from maternity leave
  • Model policy on reintroduction into the workplace on return from maternity leave
  • Model policy on breastfeeding/expressing milk
  • Model letter to allow an employee to indicate that she wishes to return to work early from maternity leave
  • Model letter to an employee returning from maternity leave
  • Model letter inviting a new mother to a meeting to discuss removing or reducing health and safety risks
  • Model letter suspending a new mother on health and safety grounds
  • Model letter to an employee on maternity leave asking her to work a keeping-in-touch day
  • Model letter to an employee on maternity leave responding to her request to work a keeping-in-touch day
  • Model general policy statement on flexible working


External Links



  • Acas – Maternity guidance
  • Business Link – Maternity leave and pay
  • BERR guidance – Pregnancy and work: what you need to know as an employer




How XpertHR Works



  • Search
  • Get Practical Guidance
  • Personalise

Learn More

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Zavvi jobs at risk as retailer goes into administration
next post
How to manage pregnant employees and handle maternity leave

You may also like

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

CBI chair Soames accuses ministers of not listening...

16 May 2025

EHRC bows to pressure and extends gender consultation

15 May 2025

Contract cleaner loses EAT race discrimination appeal

14 May 2025

Construction workers win compensation claim against defunct employer

9 May 2025

Zero-hours workers’ rights to be extended from beyond...

8 May 2025

Employment tribunal backlog up 23% in a year

7 May 2025

Ministers urged to outlaw misuse of NDAs

7 May 2025

Employment Rights Bill must be tightened to protect...

1 May 2025

Lords criticise ‘opaque’, ‘on-the-hoof’ Employment Rights Bill

30 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+