Leaving for maternity leave as a manager - Returning as a director

We all love a promotion story – they show us what quality work and high performance can do for a person and therefore what it can do for us.

However, this is one particularly inspiring tale of the price that comes with staying connected and being in the right place at the right time. Jo speaks to us about what it was like coming back, officially, to a promotion and reflects on what she feels made that possible for her.

I left for maternity leave as a manager and returned as a director. And here's why...

First, timing. The person who was covering my previous role was doing a really good job. This together with movements in the team, my specialist knowledge and my skill set, led to me being able to plug a gap and go back to a slightly different role on an interim basis. And it just continued from there.

Second, I stayed in touch. A lot was going on in the organisation at the time and I chose to stay close to it through my Keep-In-Touch days. Then when my son was about 10 months old, I felt ready to return to work. Initially, I used my accrued annual leave to work part- time hours building up to full-time hours over a few months which helped with balancing work and family life.

So, when the Director opportunity came up, I was all systems go. By keeping in contact and gradually transitioning back into the workplace, I wasn't coming into anything too cold which helped set me up for success. With the new skills
I acquired whilst on maternity leave, along with support from my Manager and team, I was able to stretch myself really showing what I can do.

They say opportunity meets preparedness. And that's been my testimony as well. – Jo Baddeley