In my earlier post 12 essential steps to plan your return to paid work with confidence, Step 6 advised you to Make the Most of your KIT or Keeping In Touch days. KIT days are not applicable if you are returning to paid work after a career break, but if you are on maternity leave, KIT days are an essential part of your plan to return to work with confidence.
What is a KIT day
A KIT day is a Keeping In Touch day. Employees can work up to 10 days during maternity, adoption or additional paternity leave. These days are called ‘keeping in touch’ days or KIT days. KIT days are optional. Your employer cannot insist upon them, nor can you. In other words, both the employee and the employer need to agree to them.
The type of work and the pay you receive should be agreed before you go into work. Your right to maternity, adoption or additional paternity leave and pay is not affected by taking KIT days. The regulations do not state how much you should be paid for KIT days. Be sure to have that in writing from your employer when you plan your KIT days.
You are not required to work a full day – you could work part of a day or even just a couple of hours, and that would count as a KIT day. More information is here.
How to make the most of KIT days
KIT days are an incredibly valuable way of ensuring that you are not ‘out of sight, out of mind’ during your maternity leave. You can keep in touch with your team, your colleagues and even your clients. You can use KIT days for any type of work.
You can spread the days out one per month (remembering the maximum of 10 days). You can take 2 or 3 days in one week. You could take 2 KIT days per week for 5 weeks just before your official start day. Think ahead and make a plan and discuss this with your employer.
Other ways you can use your KIT days:
- Attending staff or team meetings
- Attending client meetings
- Training days (useful if you have mandatory training requirements)
- Settle back into work (including the commute)
- Try out new childcare arrangements
- Emergency cover for your employer / team
Plan your KIT days in advance
It makes good sense to plan your KIT days in advance.
- The dates (and hours) need to be agreed with your employer
- Think about who else needs to be informed e.g. your team, colleagues, manager or clients
- Agree in advance what work will be expected of you on the day
- Ensure you have confirmation of what you will be paid (so that expectations are clear for you and your employer)
- If you need to access IT systems e.g. email do you need to reset your passwords in advance?
In summary
Although KIT days are optional, they are a valuable and effective method to keep in touch with your workplace, ensuring that you are not forgotten. You will feel more confident, more self-assured, less worried about going back after maternity leave if you make effective use of your KIT days. Leave a comment below – what are your plans for your KIT days?
The other steps to go back to work with confidence
Catch up on the other posts in this Returning to Work series.
- Understand your values – read post
- Identify your skills and strengths – read post
- The all-important LinkedIn profile – read post
- Seven tips for your CV – read post
- Childcare options when you go back to work – read post
Never too soon to start planning
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, or you’re feeling stuck and don’t know what to do, don’t stay that way – let’s have a conversation about what’s working, what’s not working and if that’s confidence related.
A simple conversation with me might be all you need. Book your free Career Confidence call today. I’ll help as much as I can in the conversation, and if you want to take it further we can talk about that too. No pressure. I promise.
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