Being discriminated for going on mat leave?

[M2M]

Hi everyone,

I've been at this company for 5 years and I went on maternity leave in 2019 for my first child and I'm currently on my second maternity leave. Throughout the years I've worked at this company, I'm practically begging for a payrise and promotion and I've only ever had a total of TWO payrises (very small increase btw) yet I've got 10 years in this industry.

I've seen others who joined much later than me get promoted very quickly and they're very good at sucking up to senior management whereas I just crack on with my work and the hideous over time I've done but it doesn't get acknowledged. I can't help but feel I'm being discriminated for going on mat leave as I found out there was a recent wave of payrises and promotions and I received nothing. How do I approach this? I want to raise it with my manager but I need to word it carefully.

Any advice would be appreciated 👍

whereas I just crack on with my work and the hideous over time I've done but it doesn't get acknowledged.

Bluntly, that isn't the way to get promoted. It's the way to get taken for granted. Promotion will be based on visibility and relationships and people arguing a business case for their promotion. You putting your head down and slogging away is invisible - especially if you haven't actually told your manager you want to pursue promotion.

I don't think it has anything to do with your maternity leave. You need to modify your expectations and approach.

Depending on relationship, I would be polite but direct and ask your manager what you would need to do to achieve promotion and then agree objectives / a pathway there, with regular reviews on progress.

Sorry but whilst I do sympathise with your position, there is no evidence this is because you taken maternity leave. By your own admission you have acted like a doormat, sucking up the work and the overtime without complaint, and never promoting yourself or your abilities. Others have at least done the latter if not the former.

I agree with the PP - you need a discussion about how to progress with this company, and if that isn't on the cards then you know (a) to not give your all for nothing and (b) you need to start looking for progression elsewhere.

what have you achieved in the last year or two to justify a promotion? have you documented it? If not, you need to speak to your manager and ask what you need to do to get a promotion. If you are just doing your job and not taking any extra responsibility, then there's no reason for a promotion. As for payrises within your job, there's no guarantee for those. Quite often people stay on the same salary for years, or get a mere 2% for example, which doesn't cover inflation

Thanks for the advice all. I should have made it clearer in my original post, manager knows fully I've been pushing for a promotion in the last 2 years, there's been appraisals in place with clear goals and objectives which I've hit as well as positive feedback from external and internal stakeholders. In other words, I have done everything in my job description AND beyond (I set up a working parents and carers committee for the company). I've told my manager about the long hours I've been doing, he's always given me positive feedback to the point I'm like so what's stopping me from getting promoted then?

I've had 2 different managers in the last 5 years and every time we've had an appraisal meeting, it's always been positive but the reason for no promotion is there needs to be an open role elsewhere in order to bump me up. Why do others get promoted every year then? Because they suck up to senior management and know how to play the game? Since when did hard work become a reason not to promote someone? Do we live in a society where exposure is everything? (Rhetorical question).

You said payrises don't happen all the time, in our industry there's two waves of payrises every year and I know specific colleagues who have been given a raise every time. What's the pattern? They're young, not parents and they're male. Hard not to think it's discrimination...

Put bluntly, you need to play the game too. As @swanling mentions, putting your head down and doing long hours isn’t the way to promotion. I would be careful about being seen as the person who gets involved in setting up groups for parents and carers when you have just returned from 2 lots of mat leave in 5 years. Look at how they promote and let that be your guide - some private companies seem to give pay increases and promotions to people they think may jump ship. If they see you as a young mum grateful for a job, they will just load you up with work and you risk being pigeonholed. Have you looked externally for opportunities or got involved in external professional organisations relating to your role?

They don't and won't value you so you need to leave and go somewhere where they will value you.

Give ‘pregnant then screwed’ a call

Different workplaces have different work cultures. In yours it seems like visibility is key to promotinlon. Head down and getting on with your work clearly isn't producing results.

I'd either play the game or find a new role elsewhere with a different company culture.

They're young, not parents and they're male. Hard not to think it's discrimination...

With respect, you can think what you like, but what you do not have is evidence. But the biggest factor here is that men are much better at self-promotion than most women - they think they are bloody great at everything and they play the game better. But there is still nothing that suggests this is because of your maternity leaves.

Your asked " Since when did hard work become a reason not to promote someone?" Sorry but that is incredibly naive because the answer is "Forever"! Hard work has seldom been a factor in promoting people. It would be lovely if it was, but in my experience, playing the game, self-promotion, claiming credit for what others do but didn't claim the credit for, and even, sometimes, just being a liability in one's current role, are all factors in many promotions.

I think what you are describing is the "glass ceiling" effect - almost certainly being female plays a part in this, but I also suspect that you play a part in it too. Any man who was feeling this way would be finding a new employer that vales them more (at least when it comes to recruitment). With respect, you are sitting there working hard, working long hours, doing the extra, and asking. You need to be "doing", and doing, in this case, means that if they aren't valuing you, then you either demand that or you walk.

Really interesting advice from everyone! I think it's time to look elsewhere but I have been delaying it due to being pregnant at the time and currently on mat leave. Thanks all!