Parent Coaching
Return to work coaching
Coaching your new parents through parental leave and back to work successfully
Returning to work is a huge moment in any parent’s life. There will be all sorts of emotions, doubts and concerns which feel overwhelming and unsettling.
And while not all these thoughts will be negative, we know that this is a challenging time for parents. One survey of maternity returners found that:
- Only 18% of returners felt happy and confident going back to work
- 90% said no formal returner support was offered, despite
- 92% saying a dedicated returner programme could have been beneficial.
What's happening?
Your employees might be worrying about:
- The guilt they feel for leaving their baby with someone else while they go to work.
- Not being able to remember how to do their job as well as they did before after several months away and having completely lost their work confidence.
- The career progression they want alongside having a family.
And the result of this? Maybe they’re:
- Wishing they didn’t have to go back to work as they’re consumed by guilt.
- Not feeling confident and ready to work as quickly as they might have been.
- At risk of burnout as they haven’t figured out how best to balance their career and family in the way that works for them.
This all has an impact on them and your business.
Instead, we want your employees returning to work after parental leave:
- Without guilt for leaving their baby as they sure in themselves that the decision is best for them and their family.
- Knowing that the strengths and skills that they had pre-baby are still there, it might just take a bit of time to find them again – and that’s ok!
- Realising they’ve actually gained loads of new, transferrable skills since being on parental leave that they hadn’t considered. Think multi-tasking, dealing with challenging situations, resilience, empathy and more…
- Having had any conversations they potentially feel awkward about having around how they want to work going forward.
- Feeling excited and ready to get a bit of their pre-baby life back.
- Confident that they have a plan in place which they’ve discussed with their partner and manager about how to manage childcare pick ups, drop offs, unexpected sickness and so on.
- With clear boundaries set around their priorities and time so that they feel pulled in all directions and end up feeling burnt out, resentful and exhausted.
- Having had good communication with their manager so feeling in the loop and still very much part of the company.
How can coaching help?
External
Working through their thoughts with an ‘outsider’ can be a helpful process in unpicking what’s really going on, gaining new perspectives and looking forward to the future with an objective point of view.
Confidential
Coaching sessions are confidential and what’s discussed is not shared with anyone else in the organisation. This helps the employee feel comfortable discussing how they really feel about returning to work or any obstacles they are facing after being back at work which is vital to the success of coaching.
Forward looking
Coaching focuses on the future, so keeps employees looking at how they want to feel, what they want to be doing and how they can do that.
Action
Employees are encouraged to set themselves actions during each session so they have specific tasks that they can work on to move them forward and make progress.
Accountability
Each coaching session we look at how the employee got on with their actions. This is so they can reflect on what might be stopping them achieving them and whether they are still relevant to what they are aiming for.
Time
Unless we have a specific set time to work through these thoughts, it’s unlikely to happen. Committing to coaching means committing to taking action and making change.
Pregnancy, parental leave and those first few months of returning to work last for a relatively short time in an individual’s career. But it can feel a vulnerable time and how well new parents are supported during it can have a deep and long-lasting impact that will be remembered.
Investing in coaching gives your employees an important support framework and demonstrates they are valued by the company which can them return to work successfully, resulting in better retainment, engagement and productivity.
You can book a free call below to discuss further or send me an email to rose@youbeyondbaby.com.
This is for you if:
- You have employees going on parental leave and want to help them with the transition from parental leave to returning to work.
- You’re not 100% sure that your employees are telling you exactly how they feel and therefore providing the opportunity to work with a trained coach who is external, objective and confidential would be helpful to them.
- You want to support your female employees after having children.
How it works
Coaching sessions can take place before, during and after parental leave in any combination.
Each coaching session lasts an hour and can take place either online or in person (depending on location).
The minimum number of coaching sessions that can be booked for an employee is three sessions. The maximum number of sessions usually required is six.
Investment is from £650.
You can book a free call below to discuss further or send me an email to rose@youbeyondbaby.com.
About Rose
I worked in HR before having children, and my experience of this as well as maternity leave really inspired the direction of my business. Additionally, talking and listening to other parents and their stories of parental leave made me realise that there is a real need for better and greater quality support for parents during this time.
I started my Diploma in Professional Coaching Practice after I had my first baby and saw in myself and others the powerful impact coaching can have. This was the starting point for my business. I began to notice in the parents I spoke to that the support (or lack of) from managers had an important part to play in how they felt about returning to work and so developed the Manager Awareness Training.
I strongly believe that expectant and new parents can and should feel better about how they return to work and I think coaching and / or training (depending on the circumstance) can be hugely beneficial to this.
Testimonials
Alex