This article explains how to set up and manage maternity protection correctly. You schedule an employee's maternity protection period through the Personal information tab of their employee profile. This is a different process from scheduling other long-term leave periods. When you schedule maternity protection, the resulting leave period appears on the employee's Time off page.

If you're using Personio Payroll, the process described in this article doesn't apply to your setup. Follow this process instead.

Before you start

To complete the steps outlined in this article, you need permissions to Account configuration > Time off.

If you haven't already done so, make sure to do the following: 

1. Create a specific time off type for maternity protection.
2. Create a time off policy for the maternity protection time off type. You can configure long-term leave rules as needed. For example, you can configure the rules to automate status changes, compensation proration, or entitlement adjustments. If you configure long-term leave rules, Personio automatically applies them to the maternity protection period.
3. Assign the time off policy to the relevant employee. 

Set up a maternity protection period 

You schedule a maternity protection period through the employee's Personal information tab. Learn more about editing employee information, including how effective dates work. When scheduling maternity protection, you can enter certain information now and add the remaining details after the birth.

To set up a maternity protection period, follow these steps:

1. Go to the employee's profile > Personal information.
2. Click Edit to edit the employee profile.
3. Go to the Children attribute. By default, this is under HR information. Click Add.
4. Configure the following fields: 
   • The baby's name and gender (if known). 
   • The expected birth date. You can leave the actual Date of birth field empty for now.
   • Turn on the Enable maternity protection toggle.
   • Check the Multiple birth and Early birth boxes if applicable.
   • Select the time off type that you want to add the resulting maternity protection period to.
   • Enter the duration of the maternity protection period. Personio pre-populates this field with a period based on German regulations.
5. Click Add child.
6. Set the effective date.

Add remaining details after the birth

After the baby is born, you can add any missing information, like the actual date of birth. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the employee's profile > Personal information.
2. Click Edit to edit the employee profile.
3. Go to the Children attribute. 
4. Click the pencil icon next to the previously entered date of birth.
5. Enter the name and gender if not previously known.
6. Enter the actual date of birth in the Date of birth field.
7. Check the Multiple birth and Early birth boxes if either of these applies.
8. Save your changes and set the effective date.

Next steps

If your employee wants to work part-time during their maternity leave, learn how to set this up.