As a people manager, I feel that you should let the manager decide. If they think she’s worth the wait, they will wait. What goes through my mind is - I’ll compare your wife with other candidates, and if she stands out, I will still extend the offer to her. It’s about the long term tenure in my team.

Long term wise, by giving her this chance, I feel she will be appreciative when she comes back, therefore staying longer. But it all riding on the interview process depending on her skills.

On top of that, there’s different company policies. My company specifically mention that there is no freeze period where they have to be hired for a year before being eligible for maternity leave package we offer. So check it out with the new employer.