Short-term leave can disrupt company productivity, make extra work for teams and spawn insecurity for the
This is the mission of Mother Cover, a platform that provides contract and interim professionals — typically from manager up to executive levels — to fill in for people on
The company was founded by Beth Wanner following her own experience with an unsupportive employer. After years of questioning whether motherhood would negatively impact her
"Being an executive, I've been on the other side when somebody shares that they're pregnant," Wanner says. "You say, 'Congratulations,' and then the door shuts, and everyone says, 'Oh, no.' I shared my story on LinkedIn, and was taken aback when I heard from hundreds of other women who had either experienced something similar, or been laid off while pregnant, while on maternity leave, or shortly returning back from maternity leave."
Along with helping employees avoid this kind of vulnerability, Mother Cover assists on the company side by putting an experienced leader in place to keep projects and goals moving as usual until the person out on leave returns.
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Making short-term leave safe
Short-term leave can be used for a number of reasons, including illness or injury, recovery from surgery, mental health needs, bereavement, jury duty and more. By filling the gap with a qualified professional, employers eliminate the concern that while someone is out for any of these reasons, productivity will falter. Employees gain peace of mind knowing that their job is safe, and their teammates don't have to pick up extra slack. It's also a flexible work option for leadership talent.
"We have a roster of pre-vetted senior leaders, usually 10 years plus in their career, who are interested in fractional and contract work," she says. "It provides them flexibility to support their family in the way that they want. The idea is, how do we marry those who enjoy that type of work with companies who have leaves to fill, and provide that continuity so they don't have to fear that there's going to be a major disruption in their work."
Mother Cover works with companies from the time they find out someone is going out on leave until they are back and ready to resume their job duties. Contracts are customized and can be anywhere from a few months to over a year depending on benefits, and employees can ease out and back in as they and their employer see fit.
"We design a process for them that includes a transition period, usually recommending at least two weeks of overlap to ramp up a leave partner for them and to help create that transition plan," Wanner says. "We focus on having senior leaders that can step in and keep that momentum going without overburdening their team. It could be 10 hours all the way up to full time depending on the company's needs and budget. We also provide re-onboarding support."
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For the employee on leave, Mother Cover also provides guidance and support throughout the transitions, helping them figure out things like good communication strategies as they depart and then get back into a work routine. Employees have shared they felt like they had a true partner alongside them and the experience increased loyalty toward their employer, Wanner says.
"We help keep that continuity going so that the [person on leave] feels like they didn't leave at all, there wasn't a pause in the work and their team wasn't overburdened," Wanner says. "Additionally, their leaders feel like the company moved forward. It just relieves that burden on all sides."
Read more about constructing smart leave benefits:
How benefit leaders can support the post-partum return to work Why it's OK that fewer companies are offering unlimited PTO For benefit managers, the time to reinvent PTO is now Employees are refusing to use their PTO in new 'holiday hoarding' trend How to make the leave process better for expectant moms
