I have been working at my employer for eight years. During that time my boss has risen up the ranks and is now in a very senior position. I have also had a couple of promotions, but on a less spectacular scale.
We work in the City - it’s a fast paced, extremely driven environment full of very ambitious people.
I used to feel valued by my boss and that he had my back and wanted me to suceed. We were never extremely friendly or close, but he would stop by office for a chat from time to time and was always pleasant to me.
More recently, I feel like I have done something to piss him off and that he doesn’t like me. He seems to favour other people when allocating work even if it’s work I would traditionally have been allocated in the past and/or where I have more experience. He is very curt with me and I feel like I can never do the right thing. If I take initiative, I’m not doing it the right way but he gets annoyed if I don’t take initiative.
We have recently moved to an open plan office and he rarely says hello when he walks past my desk, but will stop and chat with people at neighbouring desks. I feel very left out as I am now usually the last person in our team to know about things even though I am supposed to be a senior team member.
I have no idea why my boss is now treating me like he is. I have two children and feel that things have gradually worsened since I returned from my second maternity leave. Maybe my boss thinks that I am less dedicated or dislikes that I am no longer at his beck and call?! I still work really hard, but am less flexible than I used to be because I obviously have commitments in terms of the children. I am the only woman with kids in our team.
I don’t know how to handle the situation, but I am pretty unhappy and can’t carry on feeling like this and my confidence is at rock bottom. Do I try and have a conversation with him about it? It feels so awkward to do that because I think I’ll just end up crying in front of him.