Home / Postpartum / Parental Leave 5 tricks to quietly find out your company’s maternity leave policies Not ready to share your baby news? Here’s how to find out what you need to know. By Motherly December 30, 2016 Rectangle Inside this article Ask a trusted mom friend at work. Check out List Your Leave. Search Fairygodboss. March to HR. Search your company’s website or internal resources. Sometimes a girl’s gotta do a little reconnaissance work to dig up some of the crucial details about maternity leave before she’s ready to go public. (We’ve been there.) Here are 5 ways to get the details on maternity leave at your company before you announce your baby news: 1. Ask a trusted mom friend at work. A photo posted by founded by january harshe (@takebackpostpartum) on Nov 10, 2016 at 4:16pm PST Not sure what your company’s maternity leave policy entails? Ask a new-mom friend you can trust to spill all the details. She’ll know exactly how to help you maximize your days with baby—and how much she was able to negotiate beyond the “standard” days off. (Pro tip: Just because you’re granted eight weeks of leave, for example, doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate for another two months of work-from-home. You’ve got to ask.) 2. Check out List Your Leave. A photo posted by List Your Leave (@listyourleave) on Oct 12, 2016 at 5:42am PDT The free maternity and paternity leave database is like Yelp for family leave policies. Anonymously find and share your company’s leave details, in turn helping other parents-to-be negotiate their leaves. And if your company’s policy involves unpaid leave, you can calculate the income you’ll lose so you can budget accordingly. 3. Search Fairygodboss. A photo posted by Fairygodboss (@fairygodboss) on Aug 30, 2016 at 5:45am PDT Find job openings and company reviews by women, focused on issues that matter to moms. The site crowdsources details on salaries and bonuses, and provides insight on benefits like childcare, health care, flextime and maternity leave. Where does your company fall? 4. March to HR. A photo posted by Expectful (@expectful) on Oct 27, 2016 at 6:04am PDT If your company is big enough to have a human resources department, it is the official resource for the organization’s maternity leave policies. And while it’s supposed to be confidential, we all know how Toby Flenderson handled things. ? Also keep in mind HR’s approach is often very by-the-book, and your boss might be more (or less) willing to accommodate leave than the “official” policies outline. (If she seems less willing, that’s something to take up with HR.) Just be aware that if you head to HR that you’ll get the official word, as well as guidance on next steps to take. 5. Search your company’s website or internal resources. A photo posted by Expectful (@expectful) on Oct 26, 2016 at 5:36am PDT Sometimes companies list pesky details like HOW MANY WEEKS DO I GET WITH MY BABY on their intra-office websites. You might be able to avoid coming forward for a few more weeks if you can scope out details in advance. Check your work handbooks—you’re having a baby! Related Stories News Sweden now pays grandparents to take parental leave. America, it’s time to catch up. Parental Leave Almost 50% of parents heading back to work after parental leave found it harder than expected, survey finds News U.S. moms lose an average of $9,500 thanks to unpaid maternity leave Inside this article Ask a trusted mom friend at work. Check out List Your Leave. Search Fairygodboss. March to HR. Search your company’s website or internal resources. The latest Career & Money 1.2 million parents forced to miss work every month because affordable childcare isn’t available Work & Motherhood Catch-22: No job, no childcare; no childcare, no job Motherly Stories How moms and daughters can close the investing gender gap together Parental Leave Almost 50% of parents heading back to work after parental leave found it harder than expected, survey finds