Companies Get Creative When Employees Go on Parental Leave

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When employees go on parental leave, companies often face a difficult question: What do you do with the workload those employees leave behind? Typically, companies will divvy up the work among other team members, or hire an outside contractor. But now some companies are starting to think of the workload as an opportunity, rather than a burden—a way to strengthen the quality of their workforce.

In some cases, for instance, companies are creating internal internships, giving an existing employee a chance to temporarily step into the role of the person going on leave to learn new skills or see what it is like to work in a different department. In other cases, they are covering parental leaves with so-called returnships, hiring people who are seeking to return to the workforce after taking career breaks to raise children.

Participants say it is a win-win all around. New parents can go on leave knowing their work will get done; interns and returners gain valuable experience to add to their résumés; and employers don’t have to put projects on hold.

“Organizations are realizing that having a broader, more intentional approach to coverage is critical for business success," says Leslie Forde, founder and CEO of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, a consulting firm that helps employers create caregiver-friendly workplaces. “They realize that they need a deeper bench of talent." Experiential training Employers are changing how they handle parental leave for several reasons.

First, many companies now offer paid leave to all new parents—not just those who give birth—creating more gaps at work that need to be filled. An annual survey of human-resources professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management, for example, found that the