What if your top rep took off 16 weeks - and their work still had to get done while they were on leave? How would you plan for that? Where would you even start?

Too often revenue leaders are caught off guard and make well-intentioned, but disastrous, decisions about how to approach a rep going on maternity leave. Furthermore, there is often strong organizational pressure not to pay an AE commission on maternity leave; "Sellers already make enough," a founder will cry.

Unless you've been through this experience as a new parent or a revenue leader, there's a strong chance that you have no idea where to start (or maybe even think this is an issue!). We don't claim to have all the answers, but we're bringing decades of sales leadership experience with Allison Whalen (Co-Founder & CEO of Parentaly) and Milena Kaul (Senior Dir., Sales at SalesLoft) to start the conversation.

Key Themes -

The status quo in maternity leave in sales and why it's a problem

How other non-sales and non-commission based roles plan for and support maternity leave for their colleagues

Where to start your planning, for sellers and revenue leaders

Key Takeaways -

Maternity leave can be a good retention tool, and a great recruiting tool - when it's done correctly!

Oftentimes maternity or parental leave is framed from the negative vantage point of disruption, but it can be a powerful opportunity for businesses to identify weaknesses, to see where the business is too dependent on the parent leaving, and finally to accelerate the managerial development of other reps on the team as they step in to fill the gaps.

Have a plan for both coverage and return. You'll need to put a lot of thought into opps in flight and how commission gets split when your rep leaves, and when they return, they'll need to ramp back up to full speed.

Additional Resources -

Read this article: Parental leave is bad for sales reps. How do we fix this? - by Allison Whalen