2 maternity leave max

[fia101]

My boss was talking about a consultant in another company and as she talked about exclaimed “she must’ve had 3 maternity leaves with company x” as though this was horrendous.

Made me think - do employers generally expect a max of two kids and maternity leaves on their watch? Anything over that (on their watch) will be used against you

Well the stats on the impact of pregnancy and motherhood on your career are well known. It shouldn't surprise you. If you take a year each time then three mat leaves IS a long time away from the workplace.

Average leave in my place is 6 months.

It's wrong but having seen it, women who take multiple maternity leaves with the same company can be sort of 'written off' as being permanently either on maternity leave, about to go on maternity leave or just back off maternity leave.

If you take 3 maternity leaves of a year each, with 9 months between, you're looking at more than 5 years of a disrupted, is-she-here-or-is-she-not career. Hard to establish yourself/ develop professionally when that's the case.

I know what you mean but seems somewhat unfair if you spend your whole career (until 65) working full time with one company that your record is always blighted.

I wouldn't say that. If you stay somewhere another 30 years after all your maternity leaves your record won't be "always blighted".