Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: Pregnancy and preparing for maternity leave

About the author: Liz Morris was director of consultancy and training at Working Families, which helps employers to create profitable family-friendly and flexible organisations.

Contributing author: Vicki Robinson, deputy director of the Miscarriage Association.

Overview

This series of Leading practice guides discusses the steps that employers could take to follow good practice when supporting employees who are pregnant, who are on maternity leave, and who have returned to work from maternity leave. In this guide, we focus on the actions that can be taken once an employee has announced they are pregnant to ensure they feel supported and prepared for their maternity leave. This is the fourth guide in our series:

• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: The business case
• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: Maternity policies and enhanced benefits
• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: Training for line managers and employees
• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: The return to work from maternity leave
• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: The maternity process overview
• Supporting pregnant employees and new mothers: Unexpected circumstances