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— Keeping In Touch (KIT) GuidelinesFor Parents
—RMIT Keep In Touch Guidelines for the Primary Carer
Congratulations! This is such an important time in your life and at RMIT we are committed to supporting you during your parental leave.
We offer the following helpful tips and options for you as a means of staying connected to RMIT during your leave.
Regardless of how much or little contact you may want with RMIT during your parental leave we advise you to leave your personal email address and mobile phone number with your manager or a colleague. This means they can contact you if they believe there is information of relevance they wish to pass onto you or to check in with how you and your child are getting on.
Although you may be unsure of how much, if any, contact to have with RMIT during your parental leave we advise you to think about it prior to going on leave. Let your manager know your preferences regarding the method of contact and frequency so at least they can reach out to you if required.
Please note that RMIT has no expectation that you should keep in touch until approximately 3 months prior to your return (with formal contact that should be made at least 8 weeks prior to your return date), we just want to ensure you have the opportunities to do so should you wish.
However, the more notice the staff member can provide the better their manager and others can ensure arrangements for are in place for a smooth transition. Formal notice in writing needs to be confirmed at least eight weeks prior to return for professional and academic staff and 12 weeks for vocational education staff.
Topics you may wish to stay informed of:
§ Organisational Changes
§ Management / Team Changes
§ Property Moves
§ Promotional Opportunities
§ Grant Opportunities
§ Keep In Touch Days
§ Professional Development Opportunities
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§ Visiting the workplace and/or attendingmeetings, functions e.g. morningteas, farewells and celebrations.
§ Keeping in contact with yourmanager whilst on parental leave forinstance around opportunities forcontinuation of career development.
§ Accessing professional developmentopportunities through RMIT’sprofessional development programwhile on parental leave. (Time toattend professional developmentcan be added to the staff member’sparental leave. Attendance ofprofessional development whileon parental leave needs to bediscussed with the manager).
§ Accessing ‘paid’ ‘keep in touchdays’ during your ‘unpaid’portion of parental leave.
Check the developMe portal for upcoming Keep In Touch Events
Staying Connected
RMIT encourages staff, managers and colleagues to stay connected and maintain communication while away on long-term parental/carer leave by:
§ Communicating your preferencearound the level of contactthat will suite your needs.
§ Continuing to access your emailaccount, as you may want yourmanager and colleagues to keepyou informed of relevant changesor inform you of important meetingsand developments through emailor by phone or face to face.
§ If you currently have a laptop ortablet then you can discuss withyour manager if you are allowedto keep it as a means of staying intouch with RMIT and your team.
§ You should retain your staff passand access to the areas you haveprior to going on parental leave.
Keep in Touch Days
You are entitled to have up to 10 days of Keep In Touch days within the unpaid parental leave period to undertake work related activity, attend events / restructure meetings / seminars / workshops / meetings with colleagues and management / integrating back into the team days.
These dates need to be pre-approved and agreed with your manager to support your transition back to RMIT and may be taken at any time during your unpaid parental leave portion of parental leave.
Up to 10 ‘keeping in touch days’ may be worked and remuneration for the hours worked will be made where your supervisor advises HR Payroll via email of the days/hours worked.
Please note: Keeping in touch days do not break the continuity of the period of your unpaid parental leave and therefore does not alter the end date of your unpaid parental leave.
If you are undertaking keep in touch related activities during paid parental leave, additional paid leave credits will be added to your paid maternity leave provision. This will be made where your supervisor advises HR Payroll via e-mail of days/hours worked.
RMIT Employee Assistance Program for Primary Carers and Families
Being a parent, partner and/or carer can be a fulfilling and challenging at times, with many life changes occurring. You and your immediate family members can access free confidential, professional counselling and support through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
You may seek assistance to deal with a broad range of work and life issues regarding relationship difficulties, marriage and family problems, emotional stress, depression, conflict, grief and loss. EAP may also help with day to day coping strategies of being a parent, or having time reflect on return to work/life strategies.
EAP is child friendly so if you do need to bring your child (especially in the first 12 months) feel free to contact reception to let them know.
RMIT has selected Counselling Appraisal Consultants (CAC), an independent body, to administer the counselling service. The program maintains total confidentiality and your privacy.
Call CAC on 1300 786 860 or email them at [email protected] to make an appointment. For urgent after hours counselling, please call on 0431 119 909.
Keep in Touch Events, Opportunities to Visit, Mentoring, Keep in Touch Voucher, connecting with new RMIT parents
RMIT will provide opportunities to participate in Keep in Touch related events via DevelopME, also ensure you keep informed of the range of public and internal events that you may want to participate in, including professional development.
Informal Mentoring
While Boost Mentoring for Women is a great way to keep in touch especially reaching out to mentors who have specific experience on a range of topics, it is also useful to seek out informal mentoring with colleagues who you think will have useful advice about juggling family and career needs.
Keep in Touch Voucher
We understand often it is sometimes difficult to attend events so all staff on long term parental leave are able to access $25.00 voucher for a cafe on your campus to use within your time away to connect with your manager and colleagues at times and days convenient for you.
Keeping in touch with colleagues who are also on parental leave in your area
Do you want to connect with RMIT Colleagues who are also on long-term parental leave. Process to connect with colleagues can be facilitated by HR, contact HR Assist about what to do to keep in touch.
Advice available while you are away
Refer to the Parental Leave Instruction for understanding further your entitlements and related guidelines on Keep in Touch for Managers and RMIT Parental Leave Checklist.
If you have any feedback related to this draft pack of materials please contact [email protected] or you want to identify or access additional resources or support, please contact HR Assist.
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