There may be times when your Freedom Maker may need to take extended leave for such things like a surgery or pregnancy. As an independent contractor, they get to determine the amount of time they will take before returning to work for you.

This document discusses some of the possibilities, and outlines what we can do to assist you during the extended leave period.

Notification from your Freedom Maker

Transparency is a guiding principle of FMVS.  We ask our Freedom Makers to share the news with their clients as soon as they are comfortable. There is no hard and fast rule about when they will let you know, but we do ask for at least 8 weeks notice when possible.

Once your Freedom Maker determines the amount of time off they intend to take off, they are asked to take the following steps:

• They first communicate with the Freedom Maker Success Management (FSM) team for guidance and appropriate next steps.
• The FSM team gives the Client Success Management (CSM) team a heads up, so they are poised to check in with you.
• The Freedom Maker notifies you.
• The CSM team will check in with you to discuss next steps.

Next steps: Ways we can help

The following options are what clients generally prefer when their Freedom Maker takes extended leave. We are open to other arrangements should the following options not address your specific situation.  Please contact the Client Success Team or book a call to discuss.

• Work with a Temporary Replacement: We have skilled Freedom Makers that are happy to jump into temporary replacement situations. The Client Success Team will help you through this process, and will try to make it as seamless as possible. You can go through the selection process again (talking with up to 4 Freedom Makers and choosing), or you can ask us to select just one or two Freedom Makers for you to talk to. There is never a charge for finding a replacement.
• Transition Away from Freedom Maker: Perhaps you’ve realized that your Freedom Maker doesn’t have the correct skill set or fit you need, or perhaps they aren’t at the right rate level. This would be a great time to contact the Client Success Team to revisit your task list and goals, to see if we can find you a replacement more suited to your needs.
• Pause Your Assignment: If your Freedom Maker’s leave will be short and the work involved in adding a temporary replacement is not a net gain for you, we can simply put your assignment on “pause.” When your Freedom Maker’s leave is complete, we will restart the assignment and bring the two of you back together.

Wrapping Up the Extended Leave

Approximately 2-3 weeks before the end of the extended leave, the team will check in with the Freedom Maker to ensure that everything is on schedule for their return. We will then check in with you to relay any updates, as well as to plan the transition.

The transition back is simple. You decide whether you want overlap, or if the temporary Freedom Maker stops the same day the initial Freedom Maker starts back up. Let the CSM team know how to proceed, and we will get everything lined up for you. Our Operations team will transfer hours in Ivy at the appropriate time.

Other issues that may arise

• What happens if I want my temporary Freedom Maker to stay on beyond the extended leave? ****
  • First, we ask that you talk with your temporary replacement Freedom Maker to see if they are interested. Sometimes, they just want a temporary assignment and don’t have the bandwidth for a long-term assignment.
  • If the replacement Freedom Maker is agreeable to staying on with you, please determine if you want to keep both Freedom Makers, or replace your initial Freedom Maker entirely.
    • In the event that you want to replace your initial Freedom Maker, we ask that you give the Client Success Team notice as soon as possible. Please have a conversation with your initial Freedom Maker as soon as possible (or ask us to handle the notification), so that he/she can begin to look for new clients.
    • If you would like to keep both Freedom Makers on, we suggest an initial meeting between the three of you in order to lay out who is doing what tasks. Depending on how often the Freedom Makers will cross paths in their daily duties, a recurring meeting may help deconflict task duplication.
• What happens if my Freedom Maker wants to extend their extended leave beyond what I am willing to wait?
  • We can find you a replacement! Perhaps you want your temporary Freedom Maker to stay on. Perhaps you’d rather get a new pool of Freedom Makers to talk to. Just communicate with the Client Success Team, and we will find the best way to minimize the impact on your business.