maternity leave replacement made easy: 8 steps.

In 2022, the percentage of employed mothers aged 20 to 49 with a child under one on maternity leave varied from 69 percent in British Columbia to 78 percent in Nova Scotia. With mothers taking between 27 and 52 weeks of parental leave on average and fathers taking around five weeks, businesses must plan ahead to hire a maternity leave replacement.

common challenges in maternity leave replacement hiring

Hiring temporary workers to cover long-term leave can be tricky. Here are some common hurdles businesses face when hiring maternity or paternity leave replacements:

• Understanding what type of support they really need
• Planning ahead to keep from making rushed decisions
• Attracting replacements with the right skill sets
• Hiring candidates willing to make the necessary time commitment
• Ensuring a seamless hand-off when the time comes for someone to take leave

a step-by-step process to hire a maternity leave replacement

Follow our practical guide to streamline your hiring process and ensure a successful outcome for your maternity or paternity leave replacement.

1. plan ahead

We get it: hiring takes time, resources and energy you may not have right now. It's tempting to put off the decision until the time is almost upon you. But pregnancy and childbirth are unpredictable. A pregnant employee could go into labour earlier than their due date or have complications or other concerns that cause them to leave earlier than expected.

The earlier you start the hiring process, the less pressure there is on everyone. You can take time to work with HR partners and the person going on leave to ensure a seamless transition. You also have time to carefully consider the temp worker you choose to reduce the risk of a bad hire.

2. determine the skills you need

Take time to truly consider the skills you need. Discuss the role with the departing employee to grasp their current responsibilities, which may have evolved since their hiring. Also, consult with their manager, colleagues and stakeholders to clarify the position's key requirements.

List soft skills, core skills that can't be overlooked and nice-to-haves. For example, if you're replacing an administrative staff member in charge of project documentation, skills you might require include:

• Project management knowledge
• Stellar written and oral communication skills
• Ability to manage details, timelines and other factors
• Knowledge of or experience with document management software
• Knowledge management experience

Ideally, your mat leave replacement would have direct experience with your document or project management platforms. But that’s not always possible, so you might list that as a nice-to-have, knowing you could quickly train someone with the right experience.

3. create a job description

Even if you have an existing job description, revisit it before hiring a temporary replacement. Consider whether the responsibilities have changed or if you want to adjust the requirements for a short-term hire. In some cases, you may want to shuffle a few responsibilities to a permanent employee instead of the temp replacement.

Whether you update an existing job description or write one from scratch for hiring a temporary worker, include a detailed list of the role's responsibilities and why a candidate might want to join your company temporarily.

4. source candidates

Post the job opening internally and externally, including online. You can also work with a recruiting partner such as Randstad to draw from an existing database of talent.

Internal candidates can be particularly valuable since they already understand your company culture and processes. External candidates, on the other hand, can bring in fresh perspectives and specialized expertise. Weighing both options can help you find the best fit for the temporary role.

5. narrow down candidates

Use HR technology, such as applicant tracking systems, to automatically filter resumes and applications to find people who may be qualified. Then, review those documents to narrow the field further to talent who are qualified and fit with the culture of your company.

6. conduct interviews

Schedule interviews with candidates on the shortlist. Conducting interviews remotely is common today, so make sure you understand how to handle remote interviews effectively.

If you're working with Randstad, you can be as involved as you want in this process. We partner with you to provide the level of HR and recruiting support you need. This can range from only providing shortlists of candidates to conducting all the interviews for you and sending you pre-qualified candidate profiles.

7. make a hiring decision

Once you have all the information, make a decision on who to hire. You probably want to do this several weeks to several months before the person goes on leave. Ideally, schedule some overlap between your employee going on maternity leave and their replacement’s start date. This allows for seamless knowledge transfer and ensures no balls get dropped during the transition period.

8. onboard and provide training

Planning ahead and making the final hiring decision before someone goes on leave gives you time for onboarding and training that involves the person going on leave. This gives them the chance to update their replacement on tasks and projects on the go and ensure everything goes smoothly. Even the most qualified candidates need orientation and training to fit into your team and learn your company’s systems and processes.

let an HR partner take the task from your shoulders

An HR partner such as Randstad can take over some or all of this work for you, providing peace of mind for everyone involved. Check out our guide on how to use an HR partner to hire temporary workers to find out more about how we can help you find a maternity leave replacement.