We often hear women talk of having a ‘wonderful’ time during maternity leave — many indicating different levels of contact with their employer from daily email checking to monthly meetings with a manager or nothing at all.
But not many women openly reveal just how they really felt about their career and colleagues during maternity leave, particularly those with a public profile.
Over in the UK a former Labour MP has done just that. Yvette Cooper told the BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that she felt cut off while on leave with her third child back in 2004 and that departmental staff had been “very unsupportive”. She said she had to fight to stay in touch, declaring it came down to the attitudes of those still in the office given she had a much better experience the first time she took leave while serving as a minister in a different department.
“Lots of people will know the experience,” she told the program. “When you’re on maternity leave, you’re trying to manage with a new baby. Feeling like you’ve got to have a fight at work for yourself can be a really hard thing to do.”
Cooper’s comments reminded me of a conversation I had with two senior managers in finance recently who’d returned from leave in the last couple of years. One kept checking emails during her 12 months off, though found her employer and colleagues had left her off the chain of updates completely – even general company announcements suddenly went missing. The other received regular updates from her manager on how the key projects she’d been working on were progressing. You can imagine who returned to work with more trepidation.
Maternity leave shouldn’t mean your career can’t progress and there are plenty of examples of women who prove that time off has done anything but see such a stagnation.
Recently, we’ve heard from a number of women who’ve been promoted – or at least continued the process to get promoted – while on leave. Vivienne Tang and Lynn Kraus (both interviewed for our content partner section Select Employer) revealed how their careers progressed while taking time out with their children – resulting in Tang being appointed to partner at Deloitte soon after returning from her seven months off and Lynn Kraus taking on a new four-day a week role at EY in a field she had no prior experience in. Kraus was EY’s first part-time executive.
Of course, maternity leave also shouldn’t mean the foot needs to be on the career accelerator at all – ultimately, the decision should be up to you. That’ll depend on your employer. Smart ones will provide the options and support you need.
Did you get the level of connection you desired from your employer while on leave?