12. May 2026

How to Support a Team Member Returning From Maternity Leave...

If you're reading this, you probably want to get this right.

Most managers do. The challenge isn't motivation, it's that almost no one has ever shown you how. Maternity leave return is one of the most important transitions in a working relationship, and it's almost entirely absent from management training.

So here's a practical guide. Not theory. Not HR policy language. Just the things that actually matter, in the order they actually matter.

Why the first 90 days are everything...

The return window; roughly the first 90 days back is when most decisions to leave are made. Not immediately after the first difficult week, usually. Most people give it time. But by the end of three months, the pattern has been set.

As the manager, you have more influence over that pattern than anyone else in the organisation.
More than HR. More than the skip-level. More than the maternity policy.

There are three things managers consistently underestimate about this period:

How disorienting return can feel. Even for highly confident, senior, experienced people. Maternity leave changes the relationship with work in ways that are hard to articulate and easy to misjudge.
How much has often changed while the person was away. Team structure, priorities, systems, informal dynamics, unwritten rules. What feels obvious to you has to be relearned by them.
How much the absence of a proper, early conversation creates misalignment that becomes very hard to undo later.

Before they come back...

The work starts before day one. There are four things worth doing in the weeks before your team member returns:

Have a pre-return conversation and make it human first. Not a briefing on what's changed. A genuine check-in. How are you feeling? What are you most concerned about? What would make the first week easier? You'll learn more in twenty minutes than any formal process will tell you.
Understand what flexibility has been formally agreed and be clear in your own mind about how you'll manage it in practice. Vague flexibility creates anxiety for everyone. Clarity; even if the answer is imperfect, is almost always better.
Brief the rest of the team appropriately. Not a big announcement, but enough that the return doesn't feel awkward. People take their cues from the manager. If you treat it as normal and positive, they will too.
Review the role. Has anything material changed? Are there new responsibilities, a restructured team, different priorities? Don't let them find out on day one. They deserve to know before they walk back in.

The first conversation back - what to include and what to avoid...

This is the most important moment. Get it right and you set a tone that carries the next three months. Get it wrong or skip it entirely and you create a gap that fills with assumption on both sides.

What it should include:

A genuine welcome back. Not performative, not rushed. Two minutes of being human before you talk about anything work-related.
A simple ask: how are you feeling? And then actually listening to the answer.
Clarity on current priorities and what the first 30 days look like. Not everything at once. The most important things, clearly stated.
An agreed check-in rhythm. Weekly for the first month is sensible. Don't leave it to chance or 'when needed'.

What to avoid:

Launching straight into what's changed and what needs doing. Give them a day to breathe.
Referencing their absence in relation to workload even unintentionally. 'We've had a lot going on while you were away' lands badly however it's meant.
Making assumptions about their availability, ambition, or appetite for stretch. Ask rather than assume.

Clarity is not the same as pressure...

This is the area most managers struggle with most.

The fear of appearing unsupportive leads to a lack of clarity. A lack of clarity creates more anxiety for the returning employee, not less. They're already recalibrating. Ambiguity makes that harder, not easier.

Setting clear expectations is not applying pressure. It's giving someone the information they need to perform. Empathy and clarity are not opposites the most supportive thing you can do is be honest about what good looks like and give the person a fair chance to deliver it.

The ongoing check-in. Don't let it drop

Return support shouldn't stop after the first week. The check-in rhythm you agree on day one should be maintained through the full 90 days and if something feels off, raise it early rather than waiting for a formal review.

Three questions worth asking at every check-in:

How are you finding the workload?
Is there anything you need from me that you're not getting?
Is there anything we agreed that isn't working in practice?

You don't need to have the perfect answers. You need to create the space for the right conversations to happen. Most of the problems that lead to good people leaving are solvable but only if they surface early enough to be addressed.

Want a framework rather than just good intentions?

We work with managers directly to build practical capability around supporting returning employees. The first conversation is always free. Book at www.thegrowthmentor.co.uk or email hello@thegrowthmentor.co.uk