Before I went on maternity leave, I was thriving. I'd been at ENSEK since September 2020, working my way up from analyst to operations manager. I'd built strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, managed Centrica through some major milestones, and had a very clear career path. I knew exactly where I was going and when I'd get there.
So naturally, I was completely convinced I wouldn't need the full maternity leave. I kept telling my manager (Andy) I'd be back in three months. Every time I said it, he'd just chuckle and smile, and say: "Taneisha, just wait until you hold your baby in your hands for the first time."
I'm not going to pretend I listened. I worked right up until my due date and when I hadn't gone into labour by then, I genuinely considered carrying on. Andy put a stop to that.
He was right, of course. The only way I can explain what happened when my daughter arrived is this: my brain rewired overnight. In every single aspect. Work wasn't even a focus point. When the time came to start thinking about going back, the guilt hit me in a way I hadn't anticipated. I thought, "How can I leave this tiny person I created? What if I miss her first steps?"
I returned to work in June 2025, nine months after my daughter was born, on a phased basis, three days a week. I kept Fridays free because she went to a play group that helped with her development and I wasn't willing to give that up. By February I was back full time.
I genuinely expected to walk back in and pick up exactly where I left off. I was going to be the best, perform at the same level as before, and just slot straight back in.
Reality had other plans. In the nine months I'd been away raising a tiny human, the company had evolved. The Centrica acquisition had moved things on. Colleagues I'd supported and mentored had grown in their careers. And the job role I'd had my eye on, my dream next step, no longer existed.
I put an immense amount of pressure on myself to perform immediately. To prove I still belonged. What I hadn't expected was having to find myself again at work. I thought I'd already done that part.
It wasn't until I sat down to write my self-assessment that things finally came into perspective. For the first time, I stopped looking at what was next or what the next challenge to prove myself was. I stopped focusing on what I'd lost and I started looking at what I'd actually gained.
The phased return pushed me to grow in ways I didn't expect. Doing a full-time job in three days taught me the value of time in a way nothing else had. I stripped out the fluff, focused on outcomes, and became sharper. I wasn't willing to be the person who "only worked three days". So I changed how I worked instead.
None of this would have been possible without the culture around me. The flexible working, the way Managed Service operates as a team, the genuine support from my manager and the people I work with every day. All of it played a role in allowing me to give my all at work and then actually switch off and be present for my daughter at home. ENSEK gave me the structure to return without burning out, and I don’t take that for granted.
Success doesn't have to look the same in every season of your life. Returning from maternity leave is not a failure in your career, even though I genuinely worried it would be. It's a transformational period, and there are skills you develop through it that you simply cannot learn any other way.
Stop wondering if you've still got it. You have. You might not be the same person you were when you left, I'm certainly not, but that doesn't make you an imposter. It means you've grown.
There's a stereotype that mothers in the workplace are a burden. I want to be clear that motherhood has not weakened my professional abilities, it's made them stronger. I've survived sleepless nights, difficult days, navigated postpartum while delivering at work. There is very little that will phase me now.
I'm proud of the woman I am now, even though I'm not the same. Growth sometimes looks less like returning to who you were, and more like becoming someone even stronger.
Taneisha Christy is an Operations Manager in Managed Service at ENSEK. She joined in September 2020 and manages a team of 13 analysts.