Career off track from maternity leave - what did you do?

[Careeofftrack]

Curious to hear other people's experiences when returning from maternity leave?

I took just 5 months off for my first child and am now on leave with my second child. I took just 5 months off to help my career but working on a male dominated area I found it to be very hard. Now I'm off with my second, I feel even more distant. Many problems and reasons. Primarily, I'm a manager and my team was restructured, people left, people promoted who I don't think were the best fit. I lost a lot of credibility, mostly but my fault other than being absent. Now on my second leave and there is more turbulence. Then of course there is the challenge of having less time to invest upon returning.

I could just move companies. But my area is moving fast and I'm feeling out of date (imposter syndrome).

I would love to hear your stories. How did you deal with the challenges you faced? What would you advise your past self to get through?

I actually think moving job after mat leave can be a good move career wise- because you're not seen as someone who's been on mat leave/had a baby, and you can start afresh.

I was forced to do this because my work didn't treat me well on mat leave, but it has been v positive for my career so far!

Thank you. This is helpful to hear and makes a lot of sense

Personally I found maternity leave to be less of an issue than the difficulty of starting back at work, juggling drop offs and pick ups, illness etc. That might be industry dependent though.

I went back after 3 months also in a male dominated area. It is one of the reasons why I didn’t take more time off.

It has worked out for me but I think it would’ve been harder if I had much more time off. It’s also very fast moving in my work too.

Maybe a fresh start somewhere else is the answer for you?