Returning to corporate after having a baby has anyone found female managers with older kids unsupportive
I’m a new mum who has recently returned to a corporate role after parental leave and I’m curious whether other women have experienced something similar.
Returning has already been a pretty huge adjustment. While I was away there was a restructure, my role changed, I came back into a different team and under new management all the fairly typical corporate fun that can happen while you’re on parental leave
What I wasn’t expecting was how difficult the actual return would be made by my manager, particularly because she is also a mother although her children are older (11-14)
My flexible working request became a negotiation rather than something I felt supported through. I originally asked to return three days a week and that wasn’t supported, so I had to negotiate an arrangement that has me increasing my days sooner than I wanted. Since returning, I’ve generally felt there has been very little understanding or empathy around the realities of coming back to a demanding corporate job with a young child.
I think part of what has surprised me is that I assumed perhaps naively that having a female manager who had also had children would mean there would be more understanding of that transition.
Instead, I’ve felt the opposite. There’s a bit of a “well I did it” energy to it, rather than “I remember how hard this stage is, how can we make this work”
It has made me wonder whether this is actually a relatively common experience.
For those who have returned to corporate roles after having children did you find female managers who were mothers themselves more supportive, less supportive, or did it make absolutely no difference?
And particularly if their kids were older did you ever feel there was a disconnect between what returning to work with a baby or toddler is actually like now versus what they remembered from their own experience?
I’m genuinely interested in hearing other women’s experiences because this has been one of the most challenging parts of returning to work for me.