What are keeping in touch days?
Keeping in touch (KIT) days are available to employees taking unpaid parental leave. They are designed to help employees stay connected with their workplace and ease their transition back to work after taking their parental leave.
KIT days are not considered a return to work, and they do not affect employees’ unpaid parental leave entitlements. Employees are entitled to up to 10 KIT days for every 12 months of unpaid parental leave.
Keeping in touch days and unpaid parental leave
Australia has a government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme. Employees are also entitled to up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave. As an employer, it’s important to be aware of your role in relation to these types of leave. Here is a look at what you need to know.
Background: Australia’s paid parental leave scheme
Under the Paid Parental Leave Act, Australian employees can access up to 20 weeks, or 100 payable days, of paid parental leave (PPL) through the Australian government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme. This is set to increase to 26 weeks by 2026. For more information, you can visit the Services Australia website.
Parental Leave Pay is taxable and paid at the national minimum wage rate. Services Australia provides employers with Parental Leave Pay funds, and employers then pay these out to employees.
To take up their entitlement, employees lodge a claim for Parental Leave Pay with Services Australia, which assesses their eligibility. Full-time, part-time, casual, seasonal and contract employees may be eligible.
As a company perk, you can choose to offer additional parental leave pay on top of the government benefit. Receiving employer-funded paid parental leave does not affect your employees’ parental leave payments from the government. The amount that you offer ultimately depends on your company’s budget, but it demonstrates that you value working parents and can be a great way to attract and retain talent.
Unpaid parental leave
Under the Fair Work Act 2009, when unpaid parental leave is taken in one continuous period, the employee can attend work for a keeping in touch day when the purpose of the work is to help the employee’s eventual return to work.
How do keeping in touch days affect unpaid parental leave?
Keeping in touch days allow employees to perform limited work-related activities while on continuous unpaid parental leave.
Employees can access 10 KIT days for every 12 months of unpaid parental leave. Under the Fair Work Act, employees can take 12 months of unpaid parental leave, and employers can agree to extend their leave to a maximum of 24 months.
Accessing these days does not break up or extend employees’ continuous unpaid parental leave period.
How do keeping in touch days work?
KIT days are used by agreement between the employer and the employee. These days can be worked in a 10-day block, one day at a time, or a few days at a time. It’s up to the employer and the employee to decide.
A KIT day is not necessarily have to be a full day. One hour of paid work activity counts as one KIT day and is deducted from the 10-day allocation. An employee gets their normal wage and accumulates leave entitlements for the time they work on a keeping in touch day.
Working more than 10 KIT days in 12 months is considered a return to work under the Act.
Permitted keeping in touch activities
Only certain work activities qualify for keeping in touch days. These may include:
- taking part in a planning or strategy day which is relevant to their role
- learning or practising new or updated processes
- updating skills, for example, by participating in training sessions or conferences
- taking part in activities that will aid the transition back to work.
The main purpose of KIT days is to facilitate a smoother transition back to work. If the employee does work that has a different purpose, they may be considered to have returned to work.
However, there is nothing stopping an employee from keeping in touch with their work team informally. Workplace activities that employees aren’t entitled to receive any payment or benefit for are generally not considered a keeping in touch day or a return to work. These activities could include:
- visiting colleagues
- attending social events
- performing other unpaid activities during social visits to the workplace, such as checking emails.
Record keeping requirements
There is no requirement to keep any formal records of KIT activities. But it’s still a good practice to keep records of the agreed arrangements between you and your employee regarding keeping in touch activities. You may refer to these if, for example, there are disputes about the number of KIT days worked.
How else can I support working parents?
Australian workplaces often consider a variety of approaches that may help parents balance work and family responsibilities. Different organisations adopt different practices, and the following examples reflect some areas employers sometimes explore.
Some workplaces review how their parent-leave arrangements operate in practice to ensure they are accessible to all eligible employees. Others look at flexible work options, which may assist parents in managing changing schedules or caregiving demands. In some cases, organisations consider forms of childcare-related support, such as providing information, resources or financial assistance, depending on what aligns with their operational capacity.
These examples illustrate the types of considerations employers may reflect on when thinking about what best suits their workforce and business needs.
