Growing talent confidence & engagement from career to parental leave and beyond
Employee & KIT Events | Maternity & Parental Leave & Progression Coaching | Employee Experience | Tailored, Flexible Parental Leave Support Programmes | Scotland, UK & Online
Welcome to Talent On Leave
Led by Lynn White, Talent On Leave offers specialist maternity and parental leave events, coaching and programmes that are tailored to your company and your people. We started out almost 10 years ago after seeing firsthand how, despite even the best intentions and policies, maternity and parental leave could really trip up careers and companies.
And not because people suddenly lack ambition when they become parents or because organisations don’t recognise it. But because nobody was joining the dots and creating the conditions to help keep it alive.
And whilst we can’t engineer all the discomfort out of maternity and parental leave experiences, we can definitely show you just how big an opportunity it is, and how to harness them.
Beyond coaching
Talent On Leave doesn’t just coach from the sidelines or offer one size fits all services. Companies, people and leave experiences are all too nuanced for that.
We partner closely with organisations as an embedded extension of their people, talent and leadership teams or employee networks, joining the dots between individual experience and organisational reality.
That means it’s not just supporting talent before, during and beyond leave with price per person packs, but providing flexible, tailored ideas and services that also feed insight back into the business.
From gap to growth
Even in organisations with strong policies and well-intentioned leaders, parental leave often unfolds in ways no one planned or wants, and it’s costing budgets and careers.
Good intentions turning into clumsy conversations, sticky dynamics and ending up in disengagement or resignation.
Reduced wellbeing, performance and ambition
Progression planning disrupted
People place parental leave as the source of all the challenge. No wonder. We’ve all been conditioned to see it as a hassle, a gap, a big risk area. So most of us, whether employer, manager or employee, feel defensive from the off. Then there’s the high expectations and mixed realities of maternity and parental leave, both personally and professionally. And before you know it, everyone has lost direction and is just winging it or clinging to the policy as well they can.
But when we reframe it, and see it as the secondment it actually is, it becomes a powerful start point for the next career chapter, and everybody wins.
The art of the possible
When we think differently, we experience differently. Here’s the difference that clients tell us our positive approach and experience have been making in their businesses:
Parental leave becoming an opportunity to reset and something people feel more able to talk about openly and plan for well
Individuals discovering things about themselves that help them work even more effectively than they felt they did pre-leave.
Managers feeling less pressure to be the expert, and more confident asking good questions
Individuals asking thoughtful questions that shape their leave and return in a more intentional way
Fewer people quietly ruling themselves out of progression because it all feels like too much
Working parents feeling more able to speak up, share honestly, and influence what happens next
Individuals discovering things about themselves that help them work even more effectively than they felt they did pre-leave.
Better handovers and team dynamics at off-boarding and re-boarding
And the means to achieve it
Clients often tell us they choose us over larger providers because of how we work: collaborative, flexible, and grounded in their reality.
Whether we’re delivering group or 1:1 coaching, Keeping In Touch (KIT) events, internal comms support, panel conversations or feedback sessions, it’s the pragmatic and energising approach that’s often commented on.
We take huge delight in helping to make what can feel like a complex space, simpler and more empowering without minimising all of the hugely varied and truly felt experiences of every individual.
Are we right for you?
If you’re looking for a quick fix, a platform solution, or a one-size-fits-all, we’re probably not.
We’re often described as a fractional lead for parental leave experiences, someone who can step in, join the dots, and help things move forward with clarity and care.
And while the kind of support we offer can sound like it comes at a premium, we’ve chosen to stay intentionally boutique so we can offer a high level of service, without unnecessary complexity.
Much of our work has grown through word of mouth, particularly within the Scottish business community, where what works tends to be shared. The local context certainly helps with in-person events and meetings but we’re not limited by our geography, supporting clients with offices and talent across the world.
Notes from the field
