For the 2 years I worked there, a male colleague had a part-time contract that would have suited my needs. He covered my maternity leave and wanted to continue to work full time so it was a case of swapping contracts right? Wrong.

The part-time contract was “no longer in the interest of the business”. Would he have lost his job if I had returned full time? Unlikely.

I feel angered to have been forced into unemployment. I have since been diagnosed with birth trauma so I know that taking on the stress of battling for my job was not an option but am saddened that I allowed myself to be treated this way.

I did not want to work more hours because I would have had to place my daughter in paid childcare for which my wages for the day would have covered the cost and not much more. I did not see the point in working to cover childcare when I could be providing the care myself. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my daughter with strangers at such a young age either.

I didn’t even get a proper exit interview “due to Covid”. They couldn’t stretch to a Zoom call? I received a questionnaire to fill in which I did minimally. I felt I couldn’t express myself truthfully or as candidly on paper as I could in a conversation. I didn’t want to make it so I could never work there again if I needed to.