Working at LinkedIn as a new Parent
I've recently become a parent and while I've been mostly happy with my work, benefits and perks it seems there is very little understanding of balancing new responsibilities at home with those in the workplace. On numerous occasions I mentioned the difficulties I was going through and asked for flexibility but was then told it seemed I was disinterested - I love my job and believe in our mission but eventually I got a therapist because of the issues at home due to my burnout. I'm doing better but... I'm starting to feel sidelined for career opportunities - partially due to my direct feedback on the subject but also because I'm no longer interested in playing politics and attempting to always overachieve as I was doing during my first few years in various roles. This has been the most challenging time of my life. Has anyone else experienced this at LinkedIn and can share their personal views or have you had the completely opposite experience? What's a good approach?
LinkedIn sucks anyway. Part and find a new gig you will be much happier 😁 like me!
where do you work now?
Hang in there. The first years are tough, and postpartum depression ( for both parents is a real thing). Career is a marathon, and some periods it needs to take second place. Be ok with that. All of us have different constraints that we work within, and your is a young family. For me, I ended up doing a career switch that allowed me more job flexibility. But everyone is different. The bottom line is that you are responsible for drawing the line, enforcing the balance, and being ok with it.
What kind of things were you asking for flexibility on? Do they stress long hours and face time over results? Are you in engineering?
Not engineering. L&D and the demand is more face time with cross functional teams while at the same time I'm under pressure to hit deadlines with product and customers. I put customers first but that's not helping me internally with leadership it seems.
What's L&D?
Learning and development
That's not just LinkedIn. All companies behave that way, specially large ones. Stop venting your personal problems at work!! Not only they don't care about your stress, they want 100% of your productivity, plus you will be marked as a "disgruntled" employee and you will be passed for promotions etc. Welcome to the real world.
Come join Uber! Now Uber is one of the most new parents friendly companies. Female friendly too. Things really had been changed a lot.
Leave. I did. My boyfriend didn't and is still working 60-70hr weeks and commuting to South bay. He doesn't even have time to go to therapy to work on the damn problems. LinkedIn is a trash company. They overpay for subpar talent and work the good ones to the ground. Not worth it.
You are so right about LinkedIn!
Hold on! As a new parent is difficult to adjust to new reality. In a few months you will learn to find the right balance without losing focus in any of the two areas family and work. In the short term my advice would be to try manage expectations with people as much as you can, hold on for few months and then make a decision. I am sure that in few months things will improve. Not sure if you have paternity leave or pto to avoid burnout. I wouldn't recommend changing jobs at this time until you stabilize. If you have a strong track record and reputation you should be clear to your manager about this particular time and she should understand. You will be back in the game sooner than you expect.
Thanks, appreciate the advice. I think that's part of the problem that I over-delivered and had a strong record and I have a high visibility role in L&D that just doesn't fit with where I am in life anymore. But you're right I will continue to be clear on what I can and can't do with no regrets as long as I'm putting family first.