Chief of Staff Leave Policy Matters

Chiefs of Staff are overwhelmingly female but many can't have a baby while on the job. It's a big hidden risk to CEOs and to their business.

Our quick research shows that >75% of Chiefs of Staff don't have a strong contingency plan in place to step out and then step back in. This generates two issues: employee retention and business continuity. Read on to find out why.

Serious Consequences

As a result of poor leave policies & contingency planning, Chiefs of Staff (who are often mid-career professionals) are delaying starting a family until later in their career. They might start to feel resentment against their job since it's postponing their life plans.

Some quit their stressful Chief of Staff job altogether to go on maternity leave without a proper replacement, leaving their principal high and dry. That's a nightmare scenario for any CEO or top executive - getting stuck with a wrong-fit Chief of Staff with bad chemistry.

The business will suffer as a result. There will be a gap in world-class Chief of Staff coverage, and the leader will start to feel the acute effects of not having the right support team. An unsupported leader will make poorer decisions and execute work at a slower pace.

Leave Best Practices

Best practice would be to identify a few star performers who could step into the Chief of Staff role on an interim basis. Proper entrances and exits would be defined in the case of maternity/paternity leave, medical leave or other professional leave.

Even better would be maintaining Chief of Staff playbook that describes the full set of roles & responsibilities, standard processes and technology to pass along to the next Chief of Staff. The outgoing Chief of Staff can train the incoming one.

Finally, the basis of all of this is communication. Proper communication for all parties is absolutely necessary, and handled in a confidential and respectful manner.

So my advice to leaders is this: Complete Chief of Staff leave policy & contingency planning to reduce the risk to your business, retain your star performer and help them to start their family.

PS I’m curious to hear what you think. Answer the question below:

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for next week’s edition.