Tips For Utilising Your KIT Days Whilst On Maternity Leave

Not all that long ago, the Work and Families Act was praised as being very beneficial to mums-to-be when it was brought out during 2007. Nearly a year away from work could be had, with statutory maternity pay for nine full months. Families across the country applauded the idea that they would have the privilege of giving more of their own time and personal attention to the essential responsibility of preparing, caring for and then looking after the young one during this crucial time. Maternity leave is looked upon as a fundamental human right in today's evolved society, even though this break can bring difficulties to both employer and employee when it comes to their ongoing working relationship together. While employers have no choice but to accept that pregnancy may happen at any time, and are required to follow the law to the letter, they have to also be ready - on a moments notice, to hire on temporary employees as the situation dictates to cover for any woman who goes on maternity leave. Of course a fair level of disruption will occur, but most people just take this as a matter of fact.

For the mum on maternity leave a new clause entitles her to "keep in touch" by taking advantage of 10 legislatively allocated days, allowing her to attend work and receive payment accordingly. This element of the legislation was introduced by Parliament to try and smooth over the disruption and the disconnection that could otherwise occur between employer and employee over this lengthy period of time.

Mum can take advantage of keeping in touch days from several different perspectives. She can certainly keep up with the latest trends at work. While it is of course possible to research at home and to receive notifications, e-mails and so on while on leave, often there is no replacement for actually being at your place of employment, interacting with other staff and, for example, actually seeing how a new procedure plays out. By "keeping in touch" strategically this way, especially as time approaches to go back to work, the employee is more likely to be able to hit the ground running.

Mum may have been involved with a particularly challenging project when baby called. In this case, keeping in touch days can be used to help her follow-through on this project and to use her valued skills. Otherwise, the business may suffer or in certain circumstances, mum may be at somewhat of a career disadvantage when she returns simply due to the fact that she had not been available to work on a pivotal project. In this case, she may simply be "behind" in terms of time spent progressing.

Keeping in touch also will allow mum to interact with her temporary replacement and that could potentially help to smooth over any issues or problems that may arise without this type of informal supervision.

Each "keeping in touch" day is also paid by the employer and does not affect the amount of maternity leave pay that she may have. This can be a little boost, financially, when it is much needed.

Make no mistake about it, sometimes an extended period away from work can be very challenging and you may need to seek out professional coaching to help you understand how to handle it. Online life coaching, specifically online life coaching for women, is a service dedicated to helping us understand how to cope with every distinct phase of our personal life and business careers.

Article Source: http://articlewagon.com

Amanda Alexander is Director of Coaching Mums and a highly acclaimed ICF-accredited coach who delivers professional coaching programmes to working mums who yearn for success, balance and fulfilment. Are you a juggling mom? Download our free eBook for working moms that will give you 5 simple and instant ways to balance your life right now at=> www.coachingmums.com

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