Mothers face hostility on return to work after having babies

[Caligula]

story here

Gosh. Imagine my surprise.

I shall go to the foot of our stairs.

And this is 'News'?
Thank you SkyNews, how enlightening.

Why do we expect resentment? Oh, that must be because we experience resentment when we go back.

I was quite taken aback by the comments people make about maternity leave. One person said "Let's be honest, if you worked for a small business they would have gone bust" At the time I had only had 6 months off on maternity during a 6 year stint.

But I have never let it bother me.

It's not only after work that they face hostility. I had to deal with a colleague, whom I considered a friend, completely changing once I announced my pregnancy. She made my last 3 months at work complete hell - all because her workload would change slightly when I was on maternity leave. Needless to say, I never went back.

While it must be nasty to be on the receiving end of resentment, it's sometimes understandable that people feel this way -if, for instance they wanted a few months off for a valid reason (nursing a terminally-ill friend or something) but hadn't been allowed to take it.
Really, more employers should be encouraged to allow staff more in the way of personal leave: it's not just parents who have lives and out-of-work commitments. And while I appreciate that some jobs do require a high level of dedication and extra hours, an awful lot of time spent In The Office is totally unproductive - think of all those people surfing the net, trying to cop off with their colleagues, reading the paper or playing computer solitaire: people who've been allowed to work flexible hours tend to waste much less time f**king about, so they are better employees.

wow - earth shattering ... i was made redundant when i returned to work after 6 months maternity leave - the only person in my department - - i agree with PP employers should be more flexible to all sorts of requests for leave but seeing as 30,000 women lose their jobs each year due to pg/childbirth i think it is a pipe dream ...

lol well, quite, re imagine my surprise, I came on to say 'and this is news?' I could have told them that!