I remember working for a top tech company and when it came to the end of my contract position, my manager wanted to convert me to a full-time employee. But he did it in the most weirdest way.
Our team was always very open and had an environment of taking about our personal life (think, asking each other how we plan to spend the holiday). I remember during my interview, my (future at the time) boss asked about my personal life. I casually mentioned that I had a daughter, he asked if I had a husband and a said no and that was the end of it. Then during the interview to convert (after I had done PHENOMENAL work restructuring their product dev cycle) he brought up me being a single mom and how much he needed me to ‘rise above my condition’ and prove my value to the company.
It made me feel very small and I went above and beyond to work hard and ‘demonstrate my value’ — even when I saw other male coworkers with other ‘personal prerogatives’ that seemed very similar to my personal life work/life balance.
Idk, it always felt weird how my boss through my status as a single mom in my face, even though I was outperforming others on my team.
I eventually left because the stress became too much, but I’m wondering how many others were placed in the position of having to ‘make up’ for the personal life responsibilities of your life?