Did having a baby affect your career?

[Onion2010]

Hi, I'm currently undertaking a dissertation for a Masters qualification in Personnel and Development. It will be looking at the treatment women have received from their employers whilst pregnant, and during and after maternty leave. It will also try to identify whether having children affects career progression. I'd be grateful to anyone willing to share their experiences, whether good or bad. Could you also indicate what sector your employer operates in (public / private sector, charity, etc). No company names necessary. Thanks in advance.

It did.
My hours of work were the most affected as i went down to pt hours.
Now i work "family friendly" almost full time which means that i am unable to attend certain meetings and am unable to contribute when they are short of staff.

I am a nurse by trade, and the hours are NOT family friendly, so i have moved side ways into training, this way i can pretty much choose my own hours. My coleagues on the shop floor struggle day by day.

Also emotionally i am not as robust as i was prior to children. I struggle to cope with the really upsetting things, and sick children have me in an awful heap where as prior to children i was professional and got on with things....i still do to a lesser extent.

I have now been promoted probablya s high as i can go in this job, but only by default.

Often get snide comments about my hours and comitment.

Do you mean on or off here? I am happy to share - have had good and bad experiences with different employers. And then the impact on career / juggling afterwards.

It didn't affect my position in my current position, which was the job i was in when i had DS, who's now 4, but it did affect my career progression. I'm certain that if I hadn't had DS i would have moved on by now , and was in fact offered a much more senior position elsewhere but couldn't negotiate anywhere near flexible hours that i need as DH works shifts.

I work in the public sector for a local authority who are great (i went back job sharing and then when my job sharer left increased my hours from 3 days to 4 days, without any other cover for the 5th day). The other job i was offered was also public sector, but NHS. That particular PCT didn't even have a flexible working policy.

It's funny where I work near all of the senior management are women, many of whom have children so I wonder if that affects the culture.

Yes, in that I'd love to do a certificate but there's no way I can do that without much more time to study outside work. I work in the private sector and my boss is fab, but it's all about goodwill. I'd have far better conditions in the public sector but what the business can afford in terms of supporting staff through maternity periods is limited. I would have the opportunity to work less hours should I wish but as the main earner I can't do that. Realistically I'm unlikely to get to the stage of my career I could now be at without kids until I'm in my 40s (I'm in my late 20s).

It affected me with my position and my hours. I went down to 20 hours from 38.5 - that was my choice though although I was not given the days of my choice but that was a small compromise.

Also my place of work merged with another, just before I went on maternity leave I had been put in another role because mine was deemed 'not needed' which I did contest for a bit. When the new merged company said in fact that my old role was a valid and important role I thought great, but then was told they had no way of knowing (and of course they were not allowed to ask), if I would be coming back full time as they considered it a full time role. My manager said it would be fine for job share but they would not take this into consideration and basically told me not to apply - this was a job I had been trained to do and now I work under the person doing it who is not trained in it!

I too get comments about my commitment and hours. I often get asked to stay late or come back in for a meeting despite my managers knowing I have no access to childcare outside of my working hours - their solution is to bring my DS into a meeting! I also find now that I don't care if i'm not seen as committed, a combination of being restricted by my hours and their restriction of my progression as I devoted hours of my life to that place and it's not come to much and now of course my DS is the most important thing now. When I was off sick last I got asked if I was off sick or if my DS was the one actually sick (I don't get paid for time off for dependants) - I think they even checked the in house nursery where he attends!

I work in a public sector (education)

I also work in the public sector and have had a really positive experience with returning to work. I've reduced my hours to a working pattern that suits me and I can also work from home. I'm currently also doing an NVQ at work and get support for the unpaid work I do for my professional body.
The character of my work has not changed and I am still equally valued. I am one of the more experienced members of staff and I think my managers appreciate that and the fact that I am very committed in the time I am there and, as far as possible, will be flexible and attend out of hours meetings etc (with a bit of notice to arrange childcare)

I do exactly the same hours, just start and leave earlier to fit with Childcare arrangements. The expectation is that I am less committed because I have other things to think about now... (fair enough as it's true!) but for some reason that still rankles...

Lots of indirect questions as to whether or not I will have a second child... Ie) do they need to plan for me not being there at some future point?

I don't feel part of the team in this way anymore... I am the only parent and I feel singled out and different.

I work in the private sector.

I have a promoted post and was at the stage where the next step would be a further promotion. Nothing stopping me going for that except for the obvious - not willing to put 50 hours in at work to do that. Now (thanks to flexible working arrangements) temporarily working part-time, and there aren't any promoted posts that are part-time, so I'm stuck till I'm willing to work full-time again. So, it's great to be able to work part-time, but it stops any progression.
Working in public sector.

No, I love my job!!!

No, not so far.

They didn't treat me any differently during pregnancy (but I didn't need them too, I proved quite robust.) and I took a full year off for maternity and came back to a better role. Have since moved up a grade and been put on the 'high potential' list.

I almost always leave bang on 5pm and no-one comments. Oh, actually, one person did once, and I simply told him it wasn't my problem if he wasn't capable of doing his job in normal working hours and that, in fact, nobody is fooled by him sitting on the internet until 6pm.

I do make my commitment obvious. I'll bring home work in the evening or over weekend if it needs doing and I'll travel at short notice. I make a point of pointing out the extra I put in because if I don't no-one else will.

I don't see myself going to senior management, but mainly because I'm not willing to relocate outside the UK.

I work in the private sector for a global manufacturer.

Private Sector, Financial Services, Director level.

I was forced to take action against one employer when my progress was blocked owing to pregnancy. Other than this yes, my career progression has been affected but there are a number of reasons for this. I also had a very positive experience with one employer who I would love to name (but would out myself if I did)

I have also done research as part of my own MSc on 'flexible working and it's effects on the glass ceiling', so am a bit passionate about all of this. I am currently undertaking research on diversity within my current organisation, with a view to presenting to Board next month.

Happy to chat off-board.

I also have a positive result (in the end).
Advised boss I was coming back to work - she was v cagey & finally said the role was moving to London as I was the only member of the team left(!).
HR made up a job for me in another department. After 6 months I applied for and got a promotion and 18 months after that got a further promotion, plus a diploma qualification - something I never would have been encouraged to go for by my old boss.

One thing I have noticed in particular over the last 24 months is a desire to promote 'role models', so I think there is a very interesting angle to explore around whether women are potentially benefitting from some image-driven positive discrimination in this regard. All a bit sad and tokenist, but maybe this is the quickest way you might achieve 'tipping point'?

having a baby affected my career, having two damaged my career and having three wrecked it.

Public sector- social care, schools, youth offending,social care(all p/t). Current job has flexible working which I didnt get anywhere else but am pretty much at the top without doing a degree.All internal secondements are f/t so would have to give up work for a degree.

Did haveing a baby affect my career? Yes - i used to have one!

Yes. I was a department head of a medium-sized privately owned company. I had a surprise (gobsmacked) pregnancy at 45. I continued to work normally until 8 months. I had all pre-natal appointments out of hours. I took maternity leave much to my chief exec's irritation. I was made redundant on my first morning back full time. I hadn't asked for flexible working or facilities to breast feed etc. My job had been given to a close family member of one of the directors. No-one else was made redundant, no consultation, no interviewing for my job, just kicked out. It's currently with the solicitors.

Ditto Seeker! Now I have a job . . .

OMG Kathy, how awful! Hope you win.

Public sector (large solicitors) returned to work to find I had been moved into a different team and no longer had any direct reports. Raised the issue and was told that it would have been 'unfair' to take the role away from my backfill.

D'oh - private sector, obv

I was told by my boss that I wouldn't be able to have a promotion because I was pregnant ('I'd shot myself in the foot as far as being promoted goes'). I left and I sued, this was in 1999 though so I really did get pittance for this.

Thanks Iggi, the tribunal's on the 28th of this month. It's been a bit of a slog but it's nearly over.

Kathy, that's awful - feel sure they won't get away with it, pretty sure what they have done is illegal.

I have two friends who were at senior/director level in our (private sector) company. They had babies, then were utterly screwed over when they came back, promotions withheld, no work given to them etc, excluded from meetings. Both took legal action and, funnily enough it got settled out of court, with pretty big payouts.

All three of us now work for the same public sector org and the difference in treatment is unbelievable. Personally, I am not on maternity leave yet but my boss (father of 4) has been brilliant. I told him at 4 months preg that I wanted to take a full year off, and what I would like to do when I come back (3 days) but that I would be as flexible as possible about hours/days/precise role. They have appreciated the early notice, told me how valuable I am to them and that they "will find a job for me, somewhere". It's really sad to hear that every woman does not have that experience.