Story 69

I worked at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong for almost a decade. For most of that time, my performance and commitment were never in question. That changed the moment I announced my pregnancy.

From that point on, I noticed a clear shift in how I was treated. When I returned from maternity leave, a junior team member was effectively being positioned to take over my role. It was immediately apparent that there was no longer a place for me on the team.

For nearly a full quarter after I resumed, I had no meaningful work assignments, no roadmap, and no support structure. During this period, I heard rumours that I was being considered for layoffs but could not be let go due to my maternity status. Within a year of returning from leave, I was indeed terminated.

Instead of reintegration support, I was assigned a technically complex project with no additional resourcing. My line manager repeatedly threatened me in private one-on-one meetings—raising concerns about deadlines, delivery, and how I was being perceived by senior management. I was consistently targeted and placed under disproportionate scrutiny.

The broader engineering organisation was highly political. Senior technical leadership lacked hands-on expertise and focused primarily on self-preservation. Headcount was inflated, projects were delayed, and accountability was absent. Talented junior and mid-level employees carried the real load, while senior managers engaged in internal politics to protect their positions.

After DEI initiatives were quietly deprioritized, I began to observe a troubling pattern: employees—particularly women—being laid off globally within a year of returning from parental leave.

During this time, I experienced a personal emergency and a personal health issue. While management outwardly projected support, it felt performative. In reality, I faced exclusion, gaslighting, and a complete absence of genuine accommodation.

One of my co-managers was a woman and a mother herself. That made the experience even more painful. Rather than empathy, I encountered hostility and aggression. Another co-manager consistently claimed to support me but failed to take any concrete action, seemingly unwilling to challenge the system as he approached retirement.

The cumulative impact of this treatment led to severe anxiety and depression following my return from maternity leave.

I am currently on a career break and questioning whether returning to corporate finance is worth the personal cost. I accepted severance and signed an NDA, which prevents me from naming individuals—but that does not erase what happened.

I am sharing this because these experiences are not isolated. They are structural. A culture that enforces rigid return-to-office mandates, deprioritises caregiving realities, and sidelines women after parental leave will never retain diverse talent in the long run.

I have moved on, but I believe accountability matters. Stories like mine deserve to be heard.