I came back to work after maternity leave about a couple of weeks ago. Several things happened: 1. Reorg- team has changed dramatically. My position has not changed but several people who are more junior than me were ‘promoted’ to managers position. I am ‘demoted’ by contrast. 2. Work required everyone to be in the office full time. I talked to the new manager who outrightly rejected my flexible working arrangement.
I found both of these things very unfair. I’m one of the most trustworthy member of the team in terms of quality of the work - only received positive feedback over the years and had always been given high profile tasks. People who are promoted before me have less experiences and do not appear to be more driven (they showed up to work very late and did not take initiative to do things). I found it very hard to understand the logic behind. But I admittedly am relatively quiet and the sort of person who let their work speak. I’m also not learning much from my job. On the bright side, the stress level is not too high and I have the autonomy of doing things. Most importantly, the pay is not too bad - I am the breadwinner and need the salary.