This is a big week for me. It’s my first week back to work after taking maternity leave following the birth of my daughter, Lila, now two months old. It’s definitely been a challenging transition, but also a welcome change from constantly thinking about diaper changes and sleep schedules.Making the transition from full-time mom back to working mom got me thinking about the challenge many organizations face welcoming back workers who have taken an extended leave of absence. Your workers may take an extended break for any number of reasons – maternity, paternity or adoption leave, time off to care for a sick family member or a personal sabbatical. Those first few days and weeks back at work can be a critical time, and can even affect ongoing productivity and commitment to your organization.Like so many employee communications issues, the key to re-engaging an employee following an extended leave lies squarely with the immediate supervisor. There are a number of things managers can do to help ease the transition and ramp up productivity:

• Schedule some time with the employee during their first day back to brief them on what happened while they were away and to reiterate their important role on the team. This can help minimize the employee’s concerns about their place on the team, particularly if a lot has changed while they were out.
• Anticipate that an employee just returned from leave will likely be distracted by the reason for their leave – whether it’s a new baby back at home or a sick family member that’s still recovering. Rather than avoiding the topic, managers should ask their employee how they’re doing – giving them an opportunity to share stories can be quite comforting and help them more easily switch gears to focus on work.
• Plan ahead and get the employee involved in an important project. Keeping an employee focused and busy is perhaps the best way to help them re-engage.
• Consider setting up a mentoring relationship. For example, a new mom just returning to work might benefit from an informal mentoring relationship with another working mom who has experience balancing work and family.
• Be flexible. New moms and others returning from a leave of absence may ask for a flexible work schedule, particularly in their first few weeks back at work. Encourage managers to try to create work arrangements that are comfortable for the employee and effective for the broader team.

My brilliant team has done an excellent job of helping me jump back into things, so now I’m off to tackle some more client challenges!