Employee with postpartum depression

Hi friends-

I am hoping to touch with moms who have had postpartum depression and managers who have helped employees through it.

I had an employee return from a fully paid maternity leave. I run a small business so I try my best to accommodate and support new mother’s. Prior to having her child she was a dream employee.

After returning from her leave, We adjusted her responsibilities that better accommodated her new life as a mom. She seemed super relieved that we were able to help!

She’s been back for almost 3 months now. She was definitely not getting much work done when she first came back but I just figured she was focused on her baby and she would get back into the swing of things. I met with her weekly to make sure she was doing alright.

Now in month 3, she is leaving early, coming in late, missing deadlines, forgetting to put in time off requests when she’s out, just a lot of mistakes. I’m trying to be understanding as much as possible but none of her work is getting done at this point.

I pulled her into my office today just to chat. I told her I understand that she’s still adjusting but that she doesn’t seem like herself. I was genuinely making sure that she was okay. But I did need to gently bring up that we still need to make sure things are getting done.

She shared with me that she was dealing with postpartum depression. She said that she was on medication and it made her brain foggy and she struggled to get things done. She has a doctors appointment next week to talk to them about coming off the meds.

As a friend and just a caring human being, I want to support her as much as I can. As a business owner, I also need to ensure that if I’m paying someone, work is getting done. I never expected to come back day 1 at 100% but after 3 months still not much is getting done.

I know this is very delicate and I really do want to support her as much as I can. I would just like to know everyone’s personal experience returning to work with postpartum depression.

What can i do to help her? What did your company do for you that you did or did not like?

If you have managed an employee who is struggling after coming back, how did you handle it? How do you navigate the difficult waters of needing them to meet certain deadlines but not pressuring them too much as they are dealing with so much?

Any advice is appreciative!