During leave

You might want to drop a line to your maternity cover, other colleagues and/or line manager to signal your interest in what's happening and how projects are progressing. There may be developments you'd be interested to mull over from a distance or start weaving together with ideas you might be having. Equally, you might not feel this way, and that's OK too!

KIT days are a great way to get a feel for what's happening with colleagues, clients and projects ahead of your formal return. There's no prescribed format for them, although many people use them to be involved in specific events or decisions, for example, using a KIT day to attend a planning meeting, away day or training session. If you're a line manager, you might want to have informal one-to-ones with your team or be involved in performance reviews and recruiting new team members. These are all good uses of KIT days and help you get a sense of the priorities you'll be returning to.