About Me
Hi, I'm Rose, your parental leave champion
Helping your company, managers and returners navigate parental leave and beyond with confidence
I’ve been supporting wonderful humans for eight years, firstly as an HR professional and now as a Coach. I work with family-friendly companies who understand the importance and benefits of helping their managers and their employees through parental leave and returning to work.
It’s not just returning to work, it’s returning to work well...
When I returned to work after having my first baby, I felt differently to how I expected I would feel. I dreaded it and I carried this heavy weight on me during my last few weeks or even months of maternity leave as my return to work approached. But rather than taking the time to understand, constructively talk through and take action on my doubts and fears, I just let them fester in my head.
I didn’t look at what was really underlying my worries and how I could work through them.
I didn’t have the difficult conversations about the things keeping me up at night.
I didn’t feel prepared and ready or my return.
I felt very alone.
So while I did go back to work after my first child, I wouldn’t say I returned to work well.
It’s important for the parent and the business
Parental leave is a relatively short time in an individual’s career, but it’s a pivotal one. It’s a time of change for both employer and employee and it can bring challenges.
But supporting parents well at this time to make going back to work as successful as possible, can reap rewards for both the employee and the business. And this is why it’s so important to ensure that:
- Managers are trained and confident in supporting their team members before, during and after parental leave.
- Employees have an external and confidential space to work through any emotional, practical and career concerns they are facing.
How could it be?
Taking the time and investing in supporting managers and returners with this can result in so many benefits.
For the company this could be:
- Improved retention, particularly female employees
- Helping with your diversity, equity and inclusion
- Increased engagement, loyalty and productivity from returners
- Reducing recruitment costs (time and money)
- Promoting a positive workplace culture
- Building brand reputation
Providing training for managers can help them:
- Gain confidence around their abilities to manage parental leave well
- To have good and helpful communication with employees during parental leave and on the return to work
- Maintain strong relationships with their team.
Offering coaching, group support and having well trained managers, helps returners:
- Feel valued and understood by the company and manager
- Have a safe space to work through and tackle any challenges they are facing when it comes to their return to work
- Prepare for their return to work so they come back engaged, motivated and feeling ready
- Set career goals and a plan to achieve them
- Put healthy boundaries in place so they don’t suffer with overwhelm and burnout as they find their feet with the working parent juggle
Relevant qualifications and training
I have an International Coaching Federation accredited Diploma in Professional Coaching Practice and Certificate in Career Coaching.
I am also a Mental Health First Aider and have a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resources Management (CIPD Level 7).
