These quotes are from NHS Lothian staff who responded to the Women’s Network Maternity and Parental Leave survey 2024. You can read more about the results of the survey in the Maternity and Parental Leave Report.
Preparing for leave
“My manager fully expected me to take leave, however she had never managed an employee on maternity leave before so wasn’t confident with the policies.”
“It would be beneficial for management to take an e-learning course as they did not know any information and I had to find everything on the intranet for myself and for them.”
“My second maternity leave my manager was a man – he didn’t seem to have the same information for me or same supportive attitude.”
“Had to search maternity policies myself. Manager was unable to provide me with relevant info.”
“I felt supported but also felt there was a lot of unknowns (despite this being by second mat leave). No one really discussed with me my plans.”
“Wellbeing and working accommodations whilst being pregnant could’ve been vastly improved, I had little to no support from management.”
“Manager’s attitude to women taking time off to have children was awful – we need to feel like we are supported and that we aren’t nuisances who put extra pressure/strain on the team when we need time off.”
“The support prior to maternity could have been better trying to work while heavily pregnant in a busy ward was hard.”
“I was moved to the hospital where all my appointments took place, this was less stressful and easier for me to make the appointments.”
“More consideration for abilities during pregnancy & checking in on mental health”
“My line manager supported me to attend appointments with consultant, midwife, and mental health services.”
“I was experiencing quite significant morning sickness and was advised that this would be classed as sick leave. I was also told that I would need to take AL for my antenatal appointments.”
“Would have been useful to have been made aware that all IT would need reset on return so need to arrange a day prior to restarting to organise this (or arrange for it to happen immediately on day of return so as not to return and have no IT for days).”
“Planning a leaving date and reducing down my caseload gradually.”
“Taking on more nonclinical tasks to wind down responsibilities worked.”
“Completing the trimester forms was helpful to make sure there was no new health issues which could impact my work.”
“Reminders to complete forms prior to important dates would have been useful.”
“I processed all of my maternity paperwork myself with little support.”
“I had the workplace risk assessment completed once but some of the actions were never completed (a stand for my laptop to address pain in shoulders) so it felt as if this risk assessment was just a paper exercise.”
“I felt that there were no discussions about who would take over my normal job duties and it felt stressful having to organise this myself.”
“Full support from my manager helped.”
“Supportive department (anaesthetics)”
“Was looked after well at a time of extreme stress”
“My team were very supportive, couldn’t have asked for better.”
“I felt well supported in my reduction of duties as my maternity leave approached.”
“My managers changed during mat leave that was the only slight issue, but I still felt well informed and very welcome.”
“The maternity leave letter is great however; I think a bit more information regarding family friendly policy etc prior to return would be good.”
“Continuing conversations to ensure I knew what I was entitled to, how maternity leave worked if I went into labour before set leave, taking appointments.”
During leave
“I had so much anxiety coming back to work…”
“Very anxious. I prepared for my return about getting in touch with my manager.”
“Extremely stressed and unsure if I would cope.”
“Apprehensive about how I was going to afford/make childcare work…”
“Lost, unsupported, alone, unsure of how I was supposed to juggle nursery runs and working…”
“I was looking forward to returning to work but apprehensive about the juggle of childcare and working life…”
“I felt I had to make the effort to approach my manager instead of them prompting me…”
“Felt very anxious returning to work as had no contact with management…”
“My manager had advised me prior to me starting leave that I could move bases to closer to my home… Then she tells me I am moving to an office further away…”
“I prepared by popping into the department to see people and organise my new working pattern.”
“My manager helped me with a shift pattern that suits me.”
“I felt happy to be returning to work. Supportive admin team to help me calculate AL and hours.”
“The situation was confusing, unfair and there was no communication. I had to call for answers rather than be provided with them.”
“I felt that I was not kept up to date with any major changes other than what I heard from close friends at work.”
“By biggest challenge by far was not having TRAK access for over 3 weeks on my return.”
“The amount of time spent to regain access is time consuming.”
“I was diagnosed with post-partum anxiety, and this was not taken into account upon my return.”
“The process for applying for flexible working changed in terms of the paperwork.”
“My line manager was extremely flexible and understanding.”
“I felt supported that my work and family life balance was important to my manager.”
“Difficult to understand how much you will get paid when on maternity leave.”
“Whilst on leave, my role name and job location changed although it was the same work.”
“I was contacted part way through my leave to ask how much I planned to reduce my contract by on return.”
“Contact with occupational health and phased return in the absence of any guidance for my manager or I on returning to work after neonatal death.”
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to return to my role due to my reduction in hours request being declined.”
Keeping in Touch (KIT) Days
“Prepared by kit days and by making sure home life as organised as possible to allow less chaos on return to work!!”
“(what worked well)…KIT days to phase back, flexible use of annual leave to work part time”.
“I used some KIT days to prepare and spoke lots to my manager to help with that”.
“The KIT days made settling in a lot easier”.
“Really benefited from the KIT days, i used 9 of them and it really helped me transition back into work in a gradual way and really felt i had control over how i used these days to help me to practice different situations with my daughter ie getting her to her grandparents house before an early shift”.
“As I had done KIT days the week before i was back, my official day of returning felt less daunting. I made sure i had a busy day planned and arranged to do a joint appointment with a colleague, attend our team meeting and did a client home visit. it was good to have varied things in my diary but not so much that it felt overwhelming”.
“Doing a KIT day to allow me to get set up again with IT – doing this on the first day back would have been too stressful”.
“KIT days to get my diary/IT and clinic set up were helpful”.
“Using KIT days to update all mandatory training, etc meant when I returned I just had to focus on work.”
“Had 2 KIT days week before commencing to new work setting to familiar[ise] myself with team, gain access to systems before officially starting”.
“Because I did most keeping in touch days I felt well informed and it wasn’t such a drastic change.”
“Anxious. Keeping in touch with colleagues did help”.
“I look forward to returning and seeing friends again i used keeping in touch days to ease myself back in”.
“I was anxious to return as was still breastfeeding and had some questions around this area, I had asked to do keeping in touch days to which they were refused due to budget. I feel these days would have eased my return”.
“Would have liked to have been encouraged to use KIT days rather than them being dismissed.”
“Felt very anxious returning to work as had no contact with management and was never offered any KIT days”.
“I tried to book in KIT days but did not hear back from my manager to allow these to be booked in before my maternity leave ended and my annual leave started before returning to work”.
“Keeping in Touch days are very much optional but I think it should be stressed that even doing one in order to arrange IT access would be really beneficial”.
“I never had any KIT days as we did not feel this was required as there was not enough change within our practice to warrant one.”
“Because I used most KIT days and more towards the end of my leave it didn’t feel too different on day one”.
“having used KIT days I had access to systems I require for my job and this helped with transition so I could “hit the ground running”.
“I felt quite positive about returning. The kit days allowed me to ease really slowly back in, i felt in control about the process as my manager emphasised that these were my days to use in a way that would help me. I used these days to do a mixture of learn pro training at home, and other online courses and then did some days at my base, attending team meetings and getting my IT back up and running. Having the chance to attend some in person training was really good too. overall i had a really positive experience of returning and now I’ve been back for 6 weeks and really enjoying my work”.
“It really felt like my manager listened to what i needed and allowed me to use my kit days in a way that worked for me”.
“Was not advised about KIT day or when to keep in touch”.
“Being a rotational Band 5, would be helpful to know who is my go to after maternity leave, no communication re KIT days or what it is for unless i enquire about this”.
“We never discussed keeping in touch and how that would look or how often might feel appropriate or given any guidance on what that would mean for my pay etc”.
“I was on lighter duties but wasn’t informed before mat leave about annual leave while on mat leave/additional leave I could have done or keeping in touch shifts, no information was given”.
“i felt anxious about returning as i know there was staff changes and struggled to get keeping in touch days to suit me. meaning i only got one day of a few hours”.
“My keeping in touch days helped in approaching the thought of returning back permanently however I was instructed to work as normal on these days rather than treating them like a “keeping in touch” day. It took several months for me to feel comfortable and settled again within the team”.
“Challenging experiences during leave though as that I felt that I was not kept up to date with any major changes other than what I heard from close friends at work this wasn’t communicated to me by managers. I think that maybe a few months before returning my manager could have been more proactive in contacting me and arranging keeping in touch meetings”
Returning from leave
“Phased return to responsibilities as well as hours.”
“Came back on a phased return using annual leave which worked well for me.”
“My role is hybrid and has allowed me to have a better work-life balance.”
“The opportunity to use the Flexible Working Policy to amend my starting and finishing times.”
“Clinical supervisor checked in regularly with how I was managing juggling work and kids.”
“2 weeks of no on-calls, supportive department.”
“Collaboration around placement location.”
“Support to breastfeed/express milk.”
“Been aware of a place to express my milk in privacy.”
“I was the most senior in years experienced but felt belittled by newly rotated colleagues.”
“My manager wasn’t very supportive.”
“No contact from CD, made up my own schedule, no additional support.”
“No plan, little communication and I was left to get on with things on my own.”
“I could not do any work as my access was not working correctly.”
“No IT. All access cancelled. Not great.”
“Had no access to systems and swipe pass had been deactivated, so caused issues.”
“Clinically overwhelmed; much reassurance from team that ‘I’d soon get the hang of things’ rather than actually offering to discuss and go through scenarios.”
“Thrown in at the deep end – clinic and visits. No time to find my feet.”
“Very relaxed and more social. I had time to catch up with my team members.”
“Was with another colleague all day so felt supported and welcomed back.”
“Devastated to discover that my email had been deleted.”
“I cannot remember, there is a lot from this time that I cannot recall. I had to tell people who did not know that my baby was dead.”
“I was left to get on with it with no support. However, this did mean I could manage my own time.”
“Would have been nice to meet to set out a plan and expectations.”
“I feel on reflection I would have liked to do a phased return.”
“I needed a run down on what had happened/changed during my leave which never occurred.”
“More information and training regarding changes in the workplace.”
“Could not access Trak or emails for a few days which wasn’t ideal.”
“In the first 1-2 weeks I was seeing patients and running clinics without any IT access which is ridiculous.”
“More support from management. Phased return.”
“Would be better if communication with managers & compassionate/empathetic discussions to feel I matter and will be looked after upon my return.”
“A supportive manager and good teammates make all the difference.”
“More information for line managers on how to support and engage with people starting/during/finishing leave.”
Video (TBC)
