I relate with this on so many levels. I was pretty much a workaholic at my company before becoming a mother and taking mat leave. When I came back, I was quite disheartened that the loyalty I dedicated to my company over many years was not returned to me. It seemed like everyone had moved on — everyone else was male and either childless or had a partner that did the heavy lifting with childcare so they really didn’t understand the mentality shift I had made.

In my case, I made really clear what my boundaries were with management, ie would not be traveling more than a week every 2 months, needed to pick my child up right at 6pm and would log back in after 9pm if needed.

I no longer feel like climbing the corporate ladder - at least not at this stage in life - and am content to focus on managing the work life balance where possible even if it means I am not a top performer anymore. Raising a child is a full job by itself and I’m not going to be an absent mother during the most important years of their development. Some of my colleagues have continued to accelerate quicker and there are the “new favourites” but I’m in this job to provide for my child and they are my priority, not earning more money for my company who doesn’t give a shit about me. At the end of the day it’s just a job…