Episode Details

I'm joined this week by Jayne Chater, executive coach, leadership development specialist, and author of A Slight Detour: A Guide to Navigating Family and Career. Jayne has spent decades helping women accelerate their careers at every stage of life, and she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to this conversation as a mum of three navigating a blended whānau of nine.

We get honest about what the motherhood penalty actually feels like from the inside: the guilt of going back to work early, the guilt of staying home, and the quiet resentment that builds when caregiving roles are simply assumed rather than discussed.

Jayne shares her own story of being thrown into senior leadership in her mid-20s, navigating pregnancy with no paid parental leave as a self-employed woman, and the moment she realised the expectations at home had never actually been talked about, just inherited.

We dig into what employers can do differently (starting with checking assumptions, not policies), what mothers can control when everything feels like it's on fire, and why learning to say "full stop, silence" instead of over-explaining might be one of the most powerful career tools going. We close with three magic wand wishes that get right to the heart of a system that still doesn't value caregiving.

This is a warm, funny, deeply honest conversation for anyone juggling career and caregiving and wondering if anyone else feels this exhausted too.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why the motherhood penalty shows up on both sides, guilt at work and guilt at home
• What happens when caregiving roles are assumed rather than discussed with a partner
• Why "checking your assumptions" matters more than any parental leave policy
• How to stop apologising and over-explaining, and why "full stop, silence" changes everything
• Why sickness in the family should be spoken about as a household issue, not a personal failing
• The difference between coming back "down" after a career break versus coming back "on"
• Why knowing your yes and your no (and sticking to it) protects your time and energy
• Jayne's three magic wand wishes: unlimited household support, work valued on impact not hours, and six months' fully paid leave for both parents

Book: A Slight Detour: A Guide to Navigating Family and Career - https://jaynechater.com/book

Connect with Emma

This podcast was funded and created by Emma Mclean, the founder of Works for Everyone. Emma Mclean is a mum of three and founder of Works for Everyone, a professional development business that partners with NZ's leading corporates to help them retain and grow their working parent talent. She does this through innovative leadership programmes, executive coaching and keynote speaking. She founded her business in 2019 following a 20-year career in corporate strategy where she experienced first-hand how hard it was to have a career and a family. As an impatient optimist when it comes to system change, she launched her successful podcast "How to Smash the Motherhood Penalty" in 2023 where she talks to humans who are actively working to change the system that creates financial penalties that only mothers pay. And in 2024 she launched the first NZ Part Time Power List, to shine a light on those senior roles in NZ that are career building, not side stepping.

To work with Emma or enquire about speaking: emma@worksforeveryone.co.nz

www.worksforeveryone.co.nz

https://www.instagram.com/worksforeveryone/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mclean-9176217/