Returned from maternity leave and after leaving detailed documentation/coverage plan, no coverage was actually put in place so upon my return I’m having to front customers and take one for the team since their dissatisfaction is low (since they had no coverage while I was out). Also, when accepting original job agreed to travel of 5-10%, was part of a reorganization where I had no choice on what direction I wanted to go so all customers are outside my home city, nothing local any longer. On top of traveling for customers (2-3 times a month) have to travel for group events putting my travel at 75-90%. Tried speaking to my manager about said topic and I’m told I need to think about my career and instead of helping me prioritize the travel insinuated that my job is not secure and that I’m letting my colleagues down. On top of a day to day job where I’m getting beat down by customers, I have no support of my management chain, related to work and the amount of the workload OR my personal life. I want to laugh at the great place for parents award, I have nobody on my immediate team who is a parent, including my manager so when trying to speak about the above and sharing the impact to my family I am told I need to think about my career options. And, performance management. If you happen to take maternity leave, don’t do it in H2. Any work you do in H1 is forgotten (even if you document it) so don’t think you will ever be considered for a promotion and you are essentially forgotten in any performance conversation therefore leading to a minimal merit increase.
