67: Lacey Kempinski on the Importance of Planning for Leave
Lacey Kempinski is a former in-house fundraiser, turned Mom, turned consultant. After more than a decade of in-house fundraising, Motherhood changed the trajectory of Lacey’s career. In 2018, when she was due back to work after her second parental leave, Lacey took a leap and founded Balanced Good.
She’s on a mission to better support parents and organizations in the non-profit sector. Balanced Good provides parental leave coverage – from the day-to-day hands-on work to big picture transition planning – Balanced Good believes that a supported transition to parenthood will benefit both our sector and the parents working in it.
Lacey has a bold vision that all parental leaves are viewed as a celebrated life milestone and not a feared employment gap.
She loves continuing to immerse herself in all things fundraising. While also balancing that with LEGO building, endless folding of laundry, and a love for hiking, canoeing, and all things outdoors.
Main quote:
Leaving well to me is thoughtful. It's intentional. And it's critical for the missions that we serve to continue to grow, make impact, and create the change we want to see in our sector and the world.
Additional Quotes:
As an employer, just asking, how can I support you? What can we push forward? And how can we fill your role and get things done while you are focused on your number one priority. Isn't that powerful? How good would it feel if somebody asked you that when you were navigating these hard, hard pieces in life?
Our program goes through what needs to be done. Who is going to do it? What should be prioritized? What can be given grace and extended timelines? How can we push forward mission critical work and de-prioritize non critical work? And then how can we do all of these things thoughtfully to ensure that employees, not just the employee going on leave, but employees all around are satisfied? That’s good staff retention. And we're being thoughtful about the humans that work in our sector.
To connect with Lacey visit the Balanced Good website.
LinkedIn: Lacey Kempinski
LinkedIn: Balanced Good
Whether you are preparing for your own parental leave or a team member's, this handy workbook will help you walk through the steps to create a solid plan for the next! Parental Leave Planning Workbook
US Surgeon General's announcement: Mental Health and Wellbeing of Working Parents
Parental Leave in a Day Program: Helping employers and employees make a thoughtful plan as the navigate preparing for parental leave.
To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/
To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.
This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.
Transcript:
Laci Kempinski is a former in house fundraiser, turned mom, turned consultant. After more than a decade of in house fundraising, motherhood changed the trajectory of Laci's career, and in 2018, when she was due back to work after her second parental leave, Laci took a leap and founded Balanced Good. She's on a mission today to better support parents and organizations in the non profit sector.
Balanced Good provides parental leave coverage from the day to day, hands on work To big picture transition planning. Balanced Good believes that a supported transition to parenthood will benefit both our sector and the parents working in it. Lacey has a bold vision that all parental leaves are viewed as celebrated life milestones and not a feared employment gap.
Lacey loves continuing to immerse herself in all things parenting. fundraising, and while balancing that with Lego building, endless folding of laundry, and a love for hiking, canoeing, and all things outdoors. Laci, I am so glad to have you on the podcast to discuss all things parental leave. Thank you for coming on.
Well, thank you for having me. I think it's a really important conversation and just like, you know, And I know we'll get into this, but I'm really excited to talk about it in the framework of leaving well. Um, when I first met you and heard about the work that you're doing, I was so incredibly touched because leaving well is, is so important.
So yeah, I'm excited to dive into this conversation. Yeah. I would love to ask you first, maybe just to talk a little bit about the typical objections that you hear from nonprofits when you talk about the proactive planning for parental leave that Balanced Good does. Oh, you're just getting right into the juicy pieces, no, but I think that's really important because yes, oftentimes, especially because this is a newer service, it's an innovative service, it's not something that we've seen in the sector before, there's going to be objections, there's going to be questions.
So there's two main things that I find we usually come up against and I don't think anybody will be surprised that the first one is money. It's always about money, right. But I think. Especially in the nonprofit sector and the social impact sector. We're very conscientious of budgets and investments, but, you know, I always counter that with this.
This question, but what is the cost of turnover? What is the cost of not filling this? What are the things that won't happen if this leave isn't covered? And, yeah, how much will it cost the organization if this person going on parental leave doesn't come back? And then I also like to steep in with that.
You know, that that we need to acknowledge the human value of showing team members that they are valued part of the team. Right? And so I think, you know, that is that is priceless and and so important. And then there's 1 other piece, which is, I think that a lot of organizations. Think they can handle workload internally amongst their team members.
So it's okay. It's only for. 4 weeks, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months. It's only for a short period of time. So if we just divide this work between the team, we'll get it done. But the challenge here is in the social impact sector. We are notoriously overworked and underpaid. So what happens if you add more to team members plates?
Like, it's just a recipe for burnout, resentment and challenges. Right? So again, it's framing it that there's. a true cost to the services we provide in covering parental leaves, but the return on that cost is, is critical. Yeah, there's so many things that I wanted to ask you about just from that opening answer.
I think where I'd like to go next is to talk a little bit about how, and I know that things in Canada might be a little bit different than in the United States, especially as it comes to board of directors. But where does. The organization involved their Board of Directors when you see it work really great versus maybe when it doesn't work so great when bringing up the topic of parental leave and needing to establish not only policies, but coverage and a plan.
Do Board of Directors need to be involved? Should they? Should they not? What's your take? I mean, I think it really is like an operational decision, right? So similar to staffing. In some cases, it does incur extra expenses. In most cases, when organizations come to us to backfill a parental leave, there's already room in the budget for that staff role.
So it really doesn't need to be board approved, um, because it's, it's falling in line with their budget. And I think this is like a whole nother podcast topic. What should your board be involved in? And what should your board not be involved in? Right. But I think trusting your executive director, your CEO, that the organization needs these resources and needs to thoughtfully cover gaps in the workplace.
And, you know, we are talking about parental leave, but this could also be caregiver leave. This could also be. Sick leave, it can be any type of leave. We need to think about that role and how we can support it while that person isn't able to work. Yeah. What about though, I'm thinking about the, maybe the CEO who, and I don't want to use the word progressive, but maybe isn't as human centered, uh, of a leader.
And maybe it's a board member that's listening. That's like, Oh, we really need to have some parental leave planning in place. Is there any recommendations or tips that you would give that board member to then be able to bring up or board chair slash board president to bring this up to their E. D. or C. E.
O. If it's not been a topic without dipping into operations, staying in their governance role, but to just talk about maybe how important it is and the why. I mean, you've covered it a little bit already, but. Yeah, I think, I think one of the ways that board members and I love this because there are a lot of board members who want to see things done the right way, more progressively.
And then how do we do this against the limitations of the organization? So I think a good way to. You know, bring this up as a board member to navigate. This is to really think about what are the frameworks you currently have in place? What are the policies you currently have in place? Do you have a parental leave policy?
Do you have a commitment to top up for parental leave? Are you providing extended leave for team members? Are you doing the bare minimum? And then in that. Um, and I think it's really important to think about what is your policy, which we don't see a lot of people do, but what is, what is your commitment to moving that role forward and moving that role along, moving that work along while that person's on leave.
And I think if you can build that into your policy, you have like a recipe for really strong success and retention in your organization. I love that. And I, it makes me think also about when you said, what is your commitment? It makes me think about going back to values and maybe that as a board member, that's something they could use is like one of our values is commitment.
is insert blank. And so because of that, I'd like to make sure that we have that coverage. And you talked about early on the problem that happens when we think we can just backfill or we can just cover the leaving. Well, work is all about burnout and preventing, um, Additional toxicity inside of our not for profits.
I guess, what would you say to the ED who's listening and says, but we can just cover it. Like that's part of our planning is that we just cover it. Um, you have the parental leave planning session. Do you want to dig into that a little bit and, and what that can look like for an ED or an organization?
Yeah, I think, yes, you probably in your organization could just cover it, right? But at what cost is always the question I'm asking, because not only could it create burnout, but it could create resentment amongst team members, like, oh, this person went on parental leave, and I had to backfill their role, right?
Um, you know, we've heard of the Sour comments of how was your vacation when coming back from parental leave and stuff. And really, this is a huge life milestone with significant challenges. And so it's important that we create an environment where the parent can return. Safely and in a healthy environment, right to your point about our parental leave in a day program.
And I don't want to sound too salesy because I think, but what I think is important to share is that there's a way to do this thoughtfully, even if you can't backfill the role, there's a way to do it. think about it and plan for it in a more thoughtful way. So our parental leave planning session is a unique offer that I'm really hoping will land with our American audience.
So I am Canadian and in Canada, we have an incredible parental leave program that still has its flaws, but we do have access to a 12 to 18 month paid parental leave. So in that case, like it really is. What I would call a no brainer to backfill because that's a significant period of time, but when we're talking to organizations in in us that potentially have, you know, as little as 4 weeks for parental leave, I think it's even more important to have a thoughtful plan.
The reason I say that is because. When somebody's coming back to work, and they're really early in their postpartum journey, they are experiencing emotional, if they're the birthing parent, they're experiencing hormonal, physical, emotional elements. And so we need to thoughtfully prepare for these in the workplace.
Um, so that's what the parental leave planning session is about. Is making sure that we map out the deadlines we were mapping out the workload that's going to happen even if it isn't four weeks, because what we don't want to see and what's going to lead to more burnout is if it's just ignored for four weeks, if that workload is just ignore it and now this, this parent is coming back, probably on very little sleep.
very hormonal, mentally exhausted, emotionally exhausted, away from their child, and they're trying to catch up on missed weeks of work, right? Um, so I think that that's really important. So our program kind of goes through what needs to be done, Who is going to do it? What should be prioritized? What can be given grace and extended timelines?
How can we push forward mission critical work and de prioritize non critical work? And then how can we do all of these things thoughtfully to ensure that employee, not just the employee going on leave, but employees all around are satisfied, there's good staff retention, and just that we're being thoughtful about the humans that work in our I just got goosebumps when you were saying that because the thought of how intentionally beautiful that would be to have that conversation.
That's powerful. And I also love that what you're talking about when you're saying what can pause and what needs to be mission critical, what can be given grace like that would be so powerful if we had that in all aspects of our organization, not just around leave. The other thing that I love about this, and I think it's why you and I, um, love our connection so much is because there are so many overlaps between what we're doing.
And I think, you know, for the leaving well work, it's all about being intentional and thoughtful and proactive, and then also making sure that there's joy. And I see that coming through with your work, especially when you talk about wanting it to be a milestone, that's really, truly celebrated, um, instead of it being even more pain and trauma and all of the things.
So that's, that's good. I'm glad that you have that offering. Yeah, yeah. And I love, I love the framework around joy because it really is a joyful time. It becomes an unjoyful time when workloads aren't being thought about right when the person isn't being looked at as as a human first, and just looked at as an employee, but really, you know, Parents are extremely excited to go on parental leave to mark this new chapter of their lives, but that doesn't mean that they are discrediting the career that they've built.
And I think so many individuals, incredibly Career oriented individuals that I've met and that we've covered leaves for that's the main factor is they love their job. They love the career. They've built. They are entrenched in the mission of the organization and the work that they're doing. They want to step away because they're excited to grow their family, but they don't want to step away.
They want to come back. They want to see things move forward. Right. And so if employers could embrace that, I think there would be such a positive impact on our sector. I think so, too. And I think when you're just saying that, it makes me also remember most team members who are leaving for a leave also don't want their fellow team members to be burdened.
They don't want to have that attached almost to their leave. And so having someone come in to support and have that coverage is really valuable. I would love for you to talk a little bit about Something I hear a lot, which is you don't know for speaking to me, you don't know about our mission, or you don't know about our sector.
When I think about interim executive director leadership, you in the past have only done fundraising roles, but recently expanded to provide coverage for programs and operations. What's your answer to I mean, I think I know what my answer is, and I think I know what yours would be, but when people have objections around us as interim folks or providing coverage, not knowing enough about the role or the sector or the industry or the mission of an organization that we're stepping into.
I mean, I think that's where there's a couple pieces, right? I think one, that's where we can lean on to our team members and our board and, you know, the people closer to that space that know the mission to learn from, to listen to, um, and to help support and guide that. I also think like. I know what balance good.
We've created a team that really does have a wide, wide variety of experience across different areas of the sector. So environmental to social justice to animal welfare to health care to. Education, right? Like, we, we've really tried to be widespread on that, but we're also very adapt to understanding the mission.
And layering that with the work that needs to be done. Yeah, so here are the deliverables. Here's what I need to know about the mission to get this work done, you know, and I think sometimes it almost can take some of the emotion out of it. So you're not burning yourself out as much. So when we come into a role, we're really focused on here are the deliverables.
This is what we need to get done. This is what we need to know to get this done. And I mean, there are definitely some causes that are very close to our heart. And you can feel like it actually, it's funny because the ones that are, we're more emotionally connected with. I can see it draining on staff a little bit more, like at the Balance Good team.
And I'm like, okay, we need to get back to the deliverables. We need to push this forward because I think it just speaks to our sectors. Like we're all very passionate about what we do and where we work and show up. Yeah. Have you noticed any increase or improvement of Kind of the world's, or we could just be specific to Canada, maybe acceptance of things like parental leave coverage and the work that Balanced Good does.
Are you seeing that eke into U. S. support? Are there things that you can point to that you're excited about? Definitely, we've seen a huge uptake in people interested in our services, wanting to think more about parental leave. I think at first, when I first launched Balanced Good and started speaking about my journey into motherhood and how this impacted my career trajectory, I had a lot of parents reaching out to me because they, you know, connected with what I was saying.
But more and more now, I have a lot of, like, people in culture Representatives reaching out to me, a lot of CEOs and executive directors saying, I love what you're saying, and I want to learn more because we want to support people. I think in a lot of cases, leadership wants to do well, but they don't know how to.
And so we are providing that road map of here's how we can do Prenn to leave thoughtfully, right? Like, you don't have to just totally disconnect from your team member because they're on leave. In most cases, they want to know what's going on because again, they love the mission. So I'm seeing that a lot in Canada.
In the U. S., like, it's, it's a very different landscape, right, like, parental leave is different state by state, there's an incredible childcare crisis happening, it's embroiled in all of the politics of, of the country right now, so I think it's, there's a little bit of a line, like, some organizations totally see what we're doing, what we're providing, and, and are willing to really test it, And invest in it in a way to, to demonstrate this is, this is what could be done.
This is how we can do it better. But then there are other organizations that say we simply just, we don't have the budget because we've never budgeted to backfill for a role, because we've never had to, you know, our team members just going to take six weeks off so they'll be fine. But they won't, right?
And I've seen that and talked to a lot of parents, but it's been really hard. Yeah. Well, and I'm, I'm thinking too, when you said test and invest, um, that is really, really important. And I think it's, it's important for you who's listening to think, you know, where is the intersection of your power and decision making in the organizations that you either serve as a board member or that you serve as a member of the staff?
Because I think, It takes one conversation to say, I think we should do this. I think we should look more at this. I think we should research, especially in the U. S. Like you said, childcare is such a hot mess and, you know, to think proactively, I guess one of the questions I have for you is how soon is the perfect or what's the perfect timeline for someone to think about implementing in your mindset?
What's the perfect? I mean, I know when people come to me and ask about transition planning or organizational health. I'm like anytime you say you're ready to invest in it is the right time. Does it work better when it's proactive? Do you ever go in when it's like you're in there in the middle of it and they've just had someone leave on family leave?
I guess that's a weird question to ask you, Lacy, but no, no, I think. Yeah. So we've definitely come in where either the organization failed to provide backup support or recruit for the parental leave Backup. So we've had to just kind of scramble and get things done. We've also come in where an organization has hired someone and then that person has left because when you're hiring for an interim role and you know, this too, like, and it's short term, if that person finds a full time role, they're going to go to that, like, that makes sense.
Right. Um, so we've come in to kind of like, okay, we really have to pick up the pieces here, but then obviously we've come in where it's extremely thoughtful. Typically, we find a month overlap with the parent going on leave is, is ideal. Now, that can be tricky because the end of pregnancy, like, if they're a birthing parent, can really change, right?
Like, you think you have a month and then, you know, a health issue comes up or, or something like that, or the baby decides to come early. So, these things can't be perfectly planned. As long as I think, We find as long as we build some sort of connection with the person going on leave and really finding out not only the key pieces of their roles, but their values and how that drives their work forward.
We can really create a thoughtful way to support. And then I just also want to note, like, it's even more difficult to navigate this if if parents are going through the adoption process, because sometimes it can be very, very quick. And so being able to. know that you could call balance good to be like, Oh my gosh, like our team members leaving in a week and we need to figure out how to navigate this.
You know, we have playbooks for that and we can help with that. That's awesome. Are there any other resources that you think an organization should be thinking about? Say they have a parental leave policy in place. Maybe they thought a little bit about having coverage. Maybe they've hired balance good.
What other resources do you find that are most helpful for whether it's a birthing or non birthing parent that is the employee that that folks could be keeping in mind? And so we do have, um, a workbook, which I think is just helpful because parental leave isn't just about like the work that needs to get done while the person's obviously that's an important factor.
And so we like to map out all of those deliverables, key relationships, et cetera. But then it's also about career goals, because if somebody stepping out of their career for a year to focus on becoming a parent. What are the things that we can help push forward? Are there special projects that are going to demonstrate, you know, this career?
Is there something that they hold really special to them? Um, so we can help move that forward. So when they come back, they don't feel like a year has been lost. That's, you know, what I experienced, um, and so many others. Um, we shouldn't be penalized for becoming parents, right? We should, so we're really trying to embrace that.
Like, how do we push forward? Career goals, and these are very intentional questions. So I think for employers, even if you're not working with balance, good to ask that. What are your career goals? What, you know, what do you want to achieve? You know, if you were here in the next year, what would be the project you're most excited about?
How can we support that while you're off? You know, what would make you jump for joy when you return back to work and you see it's done? Yeah, I love that question. That's really powerful. That also helps separate a little bit of the, the individual, uh, away from the role because the role can be filled by some coverage.
So I like that a lot. You also mentioned, and I just wanted to highlight this a little bit and see if there's anything else you'd like to add to it. You added, or you talked about that this isn't just about parental leave, that it's also about Numerous types of caregiving or, um, short term or long term illness slash disability.
Is there anything else you'd like to touch on, um, that might be different or that you haven't shared yet around a more expansive idea of this? I don't know if there's anything. Really different, I think, except, like, and it's not different, but, like, leading human first. So asking your team members what they need, um, becoming a caregiver to elderly parents or to an ill child or whatever it is can be all encompassing.
And so as an employer, and it doesn't mean that that person doesn't care about their role, but they have to prioritize. And in life, we need to prioritize family first and loved ones first, whatever your family looks like. And so, as an employer, just asking, how can I support you? What can we push forward?
And how can we, you know, fill your role and get things done? Will you are focused on your number 1 priority? Like, isn't that powerful? Like, You know, how good would that feel if somebody asked you that when you were navigating these hard, hard pieces in life? I think it's, it's so powerful. And I think, you know, I'm, I'm guessing that the person listening to this probably has an experience where it hasn't been that affirming.
And just to think of the possibility of not only how that would feel in the moment, but I also think about from a, you know, like a bottom line of an organization, how much better you are viewed as an employer of choice. If you have these priorities of how you treat people, um, so just thinking about it from that vantage point to have, um, it makes your recruitment and your hiring even that much easier if, if folks know that this is something that you prioritize.
So I love that. I have one more question for you as we end, but I wanted to hold space for anything that I haven't asked you about your work, maybe about even. Your experience of starting to balance good that you'd like to share the one piece. I just like to thank you for this question and creating this space.
I think that's just important for organizations to really truthfully look at the landscape of the social impact sector. It is. Predominantly women, there's a lot of women and people of color, um, a lot of marginalized individuals, and we need to create space for them to be successful and to, um, grow in, in our fields.
Oftentimes, work in the social impact sector is seen as caregiving work. So then that also then adds a layer. To, you know, the traditional idea of motherhood and this caregiving element there, there really truly is like the motherhood penalty, right? Where, where women are being penalized in their career and their career trajectories because they're having, um, and creating families.
Also, there's this emotional labor that goes with motherhood and parenting. And not just motherhood, because I want to include like same sex individuals as well, like there's predominantly one person where a lot of the emotional labor of the family lands on their shoulders and oftentimes it's the person that's working in the social impact sector because they're naturally the caregiver, they're likely the lower income earner in the family.
And so, as a sector we need to do better for these people because it's the majority of our workforce. That right there is, is the accountability piece that I know you hold dear to your work and that I hope you're to mind that we really do. And it's interesting because earlier you said that early on you were having individuals contact you.
And then now you're starting to see that trajectory shift a little bit more towards organizational responsibility. And it's the same with my work that it was first around the executive director who knew that they needed to leave and wanted to leave well. And now it's really my desire is that we shift.
the ownership, um, to the organization because we need to do better. Uh, so I appreciate you saying that. Honestly, it makes me hopeful for our sector. Sorry, but I just needed to say that, right? It really does make me hopeful. I think we're moving in the right direction. It might be slow, but we're moving in the right direction.
Yeah. Well, and it's, it's one organization at a time, right? And I think it's, it's that, it's that slow moving, you know, moving at the speed of trust almost with like, if I can trust my employer, To navigate this conversation, even if it's not going to be done right the first time, or even if there will be mistakes, then that solidifies.
It might not mean that I'll stay there forever, but I think that it helps me regain or reestablish some trust with them. And then one by one, as organizations take this on, I especially think, I don't know if you all have this in Canada, but we have nonprofit associations that are kind of regionally based or community foundations.
If you're listening and you're part of a Association for Nonprofits or a foundation person, this would be an excellent topic to bring, bring to the masses. It's leading by example and modeling the behavior. So, yeah, the more of us that do it, the more we talk about it, the better it will be. What is, what is leaving well to you, Lacey?
Hmm, I thought about this a lot. Because I've had experiences with leaving, leaving poorly. I think leaving well to me is thoughtful, it's intentional, and it's critical for the missions that we serve to continue to grow, make impact, and create the change we want to see in our sector, and the world. I love that.
That's like a mic drop quotable right there. Yay. Yes. Thank you so much for the work that you do and the work that Balanced Good does. I am so glad that we're connected, um, and I'm so glad that your work exists in the world. And I feel the exact same way about you. I'm really grateful to have had this conversation.
Thank you. You can find all the links for Lacey's social media, her website, and also the workbook that you mentioned is also linked in our show notes. Take advantage of all of that. Connect with Lacey if you have questions or would like to engage Balanced Good in your nonprofit. Thank you, Lacey. Thank you.
If you've not yet taken the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz to discover your natural relationship to change and transition, you can do that at NaomiHattaway. com/quiz. To learn more about living well and how you can implement and embed the framework and culture in your own life and workplace, visit NaomiHattaway.com. It's time for each of us to look ourselves in the mirror and finally admit we are playing a powerful role in the system. We can either exist outside of our power or choose to decide to shift culture and to create transformation. Until next time, I'm your host, Naomi Hattaway, and you've been listening to Leaving Well, a navigation guide for workplace transitions.