I identify as someone planning for motherhood (freezing eggs/embryos this year).
I want to just understand best way to balance motherhood with workload (when to leave a job / maternity leave and give advance notice to my direct report, skip manager/boss etc.)?
How do you balance expectations about coming back if you're still not ready to come back if you had things like postpartum depression or other issues?
Hey! I want to give a detailed answer for this question, as it will touch various aspects.
So I'm not a mom and never will be, but I've generally found that the best approach to taking leave is transparency (especially if you like your manager). An employee going on leave is disruptive, so giving a heads up as soon as possible gives all parties time to plan around it.
When my favorite manager at Meta went on maternity leave, she told me 2 months ahead of time so me and the other tech leads could set up a plan to uphold the team in her absence (we totally crushed it too and got great feedback from my skip). Kuan in particular has a lot of great tactical advice here: "Is it good to take all your PTO at Google/FAANG companies or will you have issues getting a promotion?"
When it comes to balancing motherhood and work, here's an excellent thread: "How to keep my mental health while working in a competitive team and having kids?"