It is not good practice for one person to hold all the knowledge for completing essential tasks.
However, if this is the case, one effective method of handling this situation is to ask the person to perform a knowledge transfer prior to going out for maternity leave. A knowledge transfer is a method of sharing information, abilities, skills and resources across different areas in your organization.
This information can be recorded in the form of a manual or Quick Sheets as well so that anyone on the team has access to this information.
I have one scenario I wonder about what happens in this case
In human resource management, a team has been settled and worked on a project and in the middle of the process. The project should keep moving on to finish by deadline. One of team member is having maternity leave for 3 months. She is the only one who knows how to deal with her work. In this case, what the team does? Can the team hire a new person to replace her or do other team members learn how to cover her work?
Based on the information provided, I assume that the person going on maternity leave has a crucial skill set that none of the others on the project team possess.
If that is the case, I would suggest that existing team members are trained in the skills needed to support the completion of the project. However, if not feasible to redistribute tasks among existing team members, the project lead has several options to pursue. I would suggest that the project lead examine their risk management plan, which is a roadmap for handling those situations that could derail a project. Perhaps someone else within the organization has the proper skill set and availability to assist with the project. If that does not pan out, hiring a consultant who can fill the specialized knowledge void long enough to complete the project may be necessary. If neither of those options is feasible, the project lead would need to search for and hire a person external to the organization who has the requisite skill set to see the project to its conclusion (Base36, 2022).
To prevent this situation in the future, I would also suggest that the organization seek to provide training to a few existing employees so that the temporary loss of one employee does not serve to derail an entire project.
What other suggestions would you have for the project lead that is faced with this scenario?
References
Base36. (2022). How to handle a key team member leaving at a critical project point. http://www.base36.com/2013/02/how-to-handle-a-key-team-member-leaving-at-a-critical-project-point/
I think cases like this should’ve been planned earlier. Usually maternity leaves are expected by the time it happens. However, in the case that this was not expected. The team should know how to deal with her work. Even if one single person can’t do it solely, her responsibilities can be split among a couple people. Moreover, the team member that is leaving can also leave a guide to make it easier for the team to transition. If the project budget allows it, then hiring a temp worker would be a good option to avoid overworking the rest of the team members.
@vcf3 Checking the risk management plan is an initial step, as stated by the previous reader. I would think that in the light of being proactive, her leave would somehow have been calculated into the timeline as a need to secure backup if she is not there. In essence, this is not the case; it is best to go ahead and hire a new individual.
I agree with many of the responses in the forum above. Depending on the size and resources available to the company, this could also play a large role in the way the team is able to handle the situation. If the company is smaller, it may not be feasible to hire someone temporarily and pay to train them for months before they leave and would have fewer employees to pull from other teams because of the size of the company. Bigger companies could have more leeway in terms of the ability to hire contract employees, and more employees, in general, to pull from other teams to make sure the project will be completed on time. I think a good way to handle this could be to hire a temporary fill-in for 6 months and train them before someone leaves for maternity leave. In the same light, however, I feel that to spend 3 months training someone to have them work for only 3 months may not be as beneficial as it could be but would keep other employees from becoming burnt out or overloaded. This could be the best way to ensure the project is completed on time, and that in itself could pay for the temporary contracted employee.
Prior to the team member leaving for maternity leave, they should train someone that has workable knowledge of the projects objectives. If there is someone within the organization with that knowledge, they can be trained. If not, there may need to be outsourcing to ensure the work is completed thoroughly and properly as the team member will likely not return before the completion of the project.
It would seem that if you have a member of the project team going to maternity leave there should be time to have a plan set in place. This can be solved with a contract person hired to temporarily fill the position with enough time budgeted to include an overlap period to onboard and offboard the contractor to that particular role. It would also seem that this should be included in the risk management side of the project. There can always be an issue that arises when a person holding a position on the team may need to be replaced. At least with maternity leave you can be made aware and devise a plan of action. There are also unforeseen circumstances that can arise at any time due to unexpected and expected life events. Let's not forget any member of the project can also opt to leave the project or company all together. Risk management is there to plan for any circumstances that can come into play.
In my opinion, delivering a successful project should never rely on an individual, especially if there's a whole team involved with the project. In this specific case, if the planning phase was executed properly I'd say for those short 3 months the team should use their skills and try to understand as best as they can from their coworker whose going on maternity leave how to perform her work and go from there.
I thin that in a case like this, the first step would be to see if anyone else from the team can step up to her position and take on her roles and responsibilities. In this new absence, someone else from the company could be assigned this project. If this solution would not be viable, then maybe hiring a contractor/consultant to complete the project role would be most beneficial. While this is occurring, the company should look into hiring another individual with similar skills as a full time employee. The hiring process could take multiple weeks which could potentially delay the project.
In this scenario, it is important to ensure that good documentation is maintained in order to be able to explain one's role to another. It should never be the case that only one person knows how to work a certain role, because since this was the case, the only way to ensure that the next person going into that role would understand how to complete the tasks. It should be the responsibility to know what each person does on the project team and what their tasks look like in order to be able to ensure that when personnel changes, adequate training can be provided. With the team member going on maternity leave, a potential way to ensure a seamless transition would be to bring in the new team member prior to the individual going on leave. This way, the new member would be able to shadow the other team member and learn what their role entails and what the day-to-day consists of. If the notice that the member is not long enough to be able to bring someone else on, other members across the team should try to learn what their role consists of. The project manager should also be involved in this to ensure that when a new member is eventually brought in, the manager will be able to train the new member.
Hello,
In the scenario where a team member goes on maternity leave for three months during a project as the only person who knows how to handle their specific role, the team has a few options to keep the project moving forward. One option is to hire a temporary replacement for the duration of the maternity leave. This would require finding someone with the necessary skills and knowledge to fill the position, which may take some time and resources to accomplish. Another option is for the remaining team members to cover the tasks of the team member on leave. This would require identifying which tasks need to be taken care of and assigning them to team members who have the skills and knowledge to handle them. The team may need to provide training or support to these team members to ensure they can successfully complete the tasks, which could temporarily reduce the overall productivity of the team. The chosen course of action will depend on various factors, such as the complexity and criticality of the tasks, the availability of internal resources to cover the work, and the budget available to hire a temporary replacement.
