It sounds a bit cheesy, but when you work in real estate and property, you know your job is all about people.
It’s about building and maintaining relationships, helping clients move from one chapter of their life to another in quite an emotional time.
So when I was not shown the same level of compassion by my own boss on returning from maternity leave in 2019, I felt shaken.
The level of hostility I faced after giving birth to my daughter led to me having to resign and ultimately having to take my employer to court – where I won £180,000 in a sex discrimination claim.
I was due to come back to the team in November after giving birth at the end of the year before. I loved my job and had been there since 2016, building up an underperforming team to one that exceeded expectations.
I really enjoyed working with a diverse range of clients at Manors estate agents and supporting them through their moves. I learnt a lot and was excited to get back to work.
However, I noticed towards the end of my maternity leave when researching nurseries that the only one I could get my daughter into was an hour away and closed at 6pm – the time I was supposed to finish work.
I had to chase my director, Paul, to schedule a meeting to discuss the situation. In the meeting, I requested flexibility – asking to work part-time, four days a week, finishing at 5pm instead. I knew I would probably have to take a salary cut but we didn’t even get to that stage of negotiations.
I genuinely thought it would be a normal request to change hours, but it became clear that Paul was very closed off to the idea. It just wouldn’t work for the business. There was no counter offer, no alternative.
There was nothing I could do; I couldn’t return to work without this change as there would be no one to care for my daughter. It was a complete stalemate situation.
Alice’s case:
A female estate agent has won a sex discrimination claim against her employers after they refused to let her clock off early to collect her new baby from nursery.
Alice Thompson, from Weybridge, Surrey, was earning £120,000 a year as a full-time sales manager at Manors, a small firm in London, when she fell pregnant in 2018.
Read more about Alice’s story here
I raised a grievance with our HR department about the way my request was handled, along with the issue I had had with the little information there had been about maternity leave before I took it, both of which were dismissed. There was no other avenue then but to resign.
I had always imagined being at the company for a long time; I had aspirations to continue to build and grow my team. I had given so much and I just felt so undervalued and frustrated. I thought I would have been worth more to the company; I thought I would have been shown some respect and recognition for my hard work.
There was also the issue of me being financially reliant on returning work.
Now at the end of my maternity leave, I had to worry about finding a new job. Fortunately, I had my husband supporting me fully, and a great group of fellow mums from my NCT class always offering an ear, but the stress and sadness I felt about the whole situation negatively impacted my time with my little girl and I couldn’t enjoy it like I should have been able to.
Before I got pregnant, I had never worried about how I would be treated by my employer. I just assumed that having a baby was a natural part of life and workplaces were set up to support women as and when they became mothers.
There had also been no other pregnant women in the company when I was there to give me an indication of how Manors treated them.
But I perhaps should have taken more stock in my director’s reaction to my pregnancy in 2018.
The team were all out together and I overheard him say to another colleague that he was warned about hiring a married woman of my age and that my pregnancy was essentially an inconvenience when the company was doing so well.
This claim was later dismissed as not being harassment at the tribunal, but at the time it left me feeling upset. I saw that my pregnancy meant that I had lost value in the eyes of the business, in spite of all I had done to contribute to its success.
As a new mum, you’re already navigating your new identity – so facing rejection from your employer on top of that is really a blow to your confidence
I wasn’t about to let the comment slide, so I confronted my director about it when I saw him in the office. He told me that it was true, that I would end up leaving after giving birth. I tried to reassure him that I had every intention of coming back, but it turns out he was right – although it was no fault of my own.
When I resigned, there were no pleas to get me to stay or offer of concessions. The weeks leading up to me handing in my letter had seen our interactions grow formal, with Manors getting legalistic in response to my requests.
As a new mum, you’re already navigating your new identity – so facing rejection from your employer on top of that is really a blow to your confidence. I was left feeling insecure in a way I never had before.
Around that time, I instructed a lawyer to ask for advice as I didn’t know how to repair the relationship with my boss. Their help was invaluable. They guided me through the next steps and the barrister helped give me a voice.
It was hugely financially and emotionally draining, long winded, with lots of detail involved. In truth, I can see why lots of women don’t bother.
In 2018, only 3% of sex-discrimination cases made it to a final ruling at the employment tribunal. Since having my story published, I’ve had so many women who I do and don’t know get in touch to tell me they have been subjected to similar treatment.
They’ve said that their story only got brushed under the rug because they didn’t have the mental capacity to fight it, the financial resources, or their companies settled with them and made them sign a non-disclosure agreement.
My daughter has been my source of inspiration. She is so wonderful and I am doing this because I am trying to make a positive change in the workplace for her generation.
From personal experience, it feels like we’re still in 1981, when women had a baby and had to quit their jobs to be on childcare duty. It’s been 40 years but it’s still the same story, and I don’t want that to be the case for her. She deserves to have all doors opened to her.
The fact that offices are not recognising the value that working mothers bring is just infuriating. We are educated women with experience, knowledge and a drive to work. We shouldn’t have to shape ourselves to outdated practices, they should be shaped to benefit both family and work life. It shouldn’t be a case of choosing one or another.
Sadly, my previous employer does not exist in a vacuum. After resigning, I looked for a senior, flexible role elsewhere and was found wanting.
I’m now self-employed, which has come with its share of challenges, but is working well for my family.
However, it is not a solution. A regular salary, with options of flexibility and opportunities for progression should not be too much to ask for. If businesses truly have a mission to diversify, they need to change the way they operate to allow women who have children to make it to the top.
Although I feel like a weight has been lifted in winning this claim, my eyes have firmly been opened to the reality of working as a mother.
I certainly did not think I’d be coming back from maternity leave to no job.
And that is why I am sharing my experience. If one mum returning from maternity leave gets flexible working and draws confidence from my story, then it will be worth it.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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