New mother, Jessica O’Dowd, returned to work when her daughter was five and a half months old and like many mothers she says she felt “spread thin”.
Some five months later she was given a unique performance review at work to evaluate how she’d been doing since returning from maternity leave.
“One of the biggest challenges is missing this little human that came from you,” Jessica says in a video filmed by baby brand, Chicco.
The video shows the new mum looking apprehensive before she receives her feedback.
Jessica is soon brought to tears after watching a video montage of compliments from her employer, colleagues, friends, relatives and loved ones.
One co-worker says: “Now you’re back, I have no idea how you’re achieving so much in the same amount of hours I have in a day.”
Like most mothers, Jessica thought she was “dropping the ball” and she was surprised that people were impressed with her efforts at work and in life.
“I guess I’m doing a better job than I thought,” she says.
“You beat yourself up about not being the employee you were before, you beat yourself up about not being the mum you thought you could be and apparently you are.”
Lack of confidence.
Most Australian mothers suffer from a lack of confidence when they return to work after having a baby, a recent survey found.
The biggest concern for mothers was finding a good work-life balance and a high percentage of new mums thought their skills and qualifications were “no longer up-to-date”.
The time spent mothering isn’t counted as a series of key performance indicators but it certainly doesn’t deplete the skills that were developed before having a child.
Many mothers return to work with a host of new skills, which seem to be under-rated – even in our own eyes.
Perhaps every mother needs this kind of performance review, at work and in life.
Many mothers might be surprised that they are actually doing great.
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