Posting here for traffic.
I’d love some honest perspective from other working mums who’ve been here.
My office went back to 5 days RTO start of this year. Honestly, it has been tough for me. I just have no energy left by Wednesday with an 70 mins commute each way. Positives include on track for career progression (working towards promotion but not guaranteed), fairly manageable workload as have been in the role for 4 years now, but few months could have long days and always require a demanding pace.
I’ve been offered a similar role with 3 days in the office and 2 WFH. The pay is lower and there’s less clarity about progression, but it seems to offer better flexibility on paper. The commute would be about the same. My only concern is whether it could eventually shift to a full-time office setup and that’s pretty common in my industry (finance). The interviewers seemed relaxed though, and when I asked, they said several people work core hours and use flex time for school pickups on WFH days, which sounded like a big positive to me. Still, that flexibility won’t mean much if it turns into 5 days a week later on!
To add I have a 5-year-old, and my top priority right now is to be mentally and emotionally available for her, not just physically around but too drained to connect.
Financially, both are fine, the difference is about £20k take-home a year. I’m torn between building my career momentum and protecting the balance that keeps me sane and present for my daughter.
If you’ve made a similar choice, how did it play out for you? Did flexibility truly make family life better, or did you find the slower career growth frustrating later on?
Any perspective from other mums juggling similar trade-offs would mean a lot 💛