I've just come back from mat leave. Yesterday in a meeting about settling back in our head of department told me I'd have a choice over the next few years of either missing out on time with DS or just scraping by at work (and as part of that, not being considered for promotion).
I'm under no illusions that it isn't going to be challenging, but AIBU to find that depressing and regressive? Our work can have long hours but since coming back I've been working the same hours or longer than my colleagues (including HoD) without issue. DS's nursery is five mins from our house and I mostly work from home. There were no performance concerns before I went on mat leave - I was on the top appraisal rating. If we keep saying stuff like that, doesn't it become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy?