How to create an exceptional coverage plan for your parental leave
Below is a peek at today’s paid subscriber-only post. Subscribe today and get access to this issue—and every issue. How to create an exceptional coverage plan for your parental leaveA step-by-step guide and plug-and-play template for going on leave with peace of mind👋 Hey, I’m Lenny and welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 of my weekly newsletter. Each week I tackle reader questions about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career. This week’s very on-topic special paternity-leave guest post comes from Tamara Hinckley. Tamara is a product leader at Pinterest, and in her awesome newsletter, Half Moon Hustle, writes about women’s health, motherhood, and everything else that stresses out ambitious women. You can find Tamara on LinkedIn, and for more, definitely check out her newsletter. Enjoy! Imagine that you’re snuggling with your precious newborn while he or she is napping in your arms. Suddenly your phone rings, waking the baby. It’s your manager, asking you a question about a project at work. Don’t let this be you! If you or your partner is expecting a baby and you plan to take extended leave (more than a few weeks), you’ll need to put together a thorough coverage plan. A solid coverage plan will help you:
When I was pregnant with my first child, I was grateful that my company offered a generous parental leave. I knew I needed to write a coverage plan, but I didn’t know where to start. When I realized there were no templates available, I did a lot of research and created my own. Since taking leave myself, I’ve helped many people prepare for their own parental leave, including direct reports, peers, and other coworkers. Now people use my coverage plan as a reference across the company, referring to it as the “gold standard” in the product organization. Here’s a step-by-step playbook for creating an exceptional coverage plan for your parental leave. 1. Start early and socialize oftenYour coverage plan will require a lot of input, so start working on it at least a few months before you plan to be out. Then start socializing it early and aim to finish at least a month before the due date. Follow this suggested timeline to raise awareness and solicit feedback:
Your communication strategy is critical for getting key stakeholders on board with the plan. Once you’ve finalized your coverage, don’t forget to tell people about the details to maximize impact. 2. Determine your parental leave timelineTo start, contact HR to understand your company’s leave policy and what you are eligible for. If you’re the first person taking parental leave at your company, here is a great resource to help you advocate for the time you deserve. In the U.S., the Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for pregnancy and bonding with a new child. Ranges vary widely based on industry (Netflix offers up to 52 weeks!) but typically average 16 weeks for secondary caregivers and 20 weeks for birthing parents. Once you understand your options, you can determine your timeline. Here are some questions to consider:
Ultimately, when deciding on your timeline, I encourage you to optimize for what is best for your family and then be super-clear about the dates you’ll be gone (see “Timeline” here). 3. Outline a coverage planThis section is the heart of your coverage document (see “Coverage plan” here). It should cover your primary responsibilities and who will serve as your proxy for each. Here are two ways to approach this: Option 1: Bottom-up approach (works best for individual contributors)
Option 2: Top-down approach (works best for managers)
As you plan for coverage, consider in detail what needs to get done to deliver on the major outcomes you want to drive. Then identify one person for each project or focus area who is willing and able to cover in your absence. By breaking up your work into smaller chunks, you can distribute your responsibilities across multiple people without overwhelming any one person. Plus, you’ll give multiple people the opportunity to receive credit for the additional work they’ll take on, while maintaining continuity for your projects (a win-win for the business!). 4. Support your teamIf you’re a people manager, your job is to support and unblock your team. That’s hard to do if you’re not there, but it is possible if you get creative. Consider the additional set of responsibilities that will require coverage, and incorporate them into the “People management” section here, if applicable. For example:
As a manager, you’ll need to take some extra steps to set your team up for success while you’re gone. Find someone (ideally their skip level) who can serve as a mentor for each direct report. If relevant, create a system for how to continue hiring new team members, ideally without your involvement. 5. Don’t share your contact information broadlyNow that you’ve identified coverage for yourself and your team, you can be strategic about who you share your contact information with. You get to decide who can get in touch with you, how, and for what reasons (see “Contact information” here). Tempted to be very available? It’s a trap! You don’t know what kind of experience you will have as a parent or what your child/family will need. You might require an extra stay in the hospital for yourself/partner or your baby. You may experience postpartum depression (which impacts both men and women) and not be in the right state of mind to make business decisions. Plan for very limited or no availability, especially for the first few weeks. When you are exhausted with a screaming baby in your hands, you’ll be glad you have one less thing to worry about. Here are two options for how to present your availability:... Subscribe to Lenny's Newsletter to read the rest.Become a paying subscriber of Lenny's Newsletter to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you:
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