It was just a small change in her behaviour after Melissa Woo returned to work from her first career break that ended in October 2023, but she remembers its significance. The executive director with OCBC’s wealth management audit team, then 41, was immediately saddled with a “super heavy assignment” that required her to clear work over a weekend. The only problem? She had already committed to attending a mother-daughter church retreat that same weekend.
“Previously, what I may have done was just say, ‘Okay, let’s skip the whole retreat,’” admitted Woo, now 43, having always been “very entrenched” in work. “But now, because of (my career break), I knew I really needed to be there for my daughters. So we made it work.
I had to answer a few calls here and there, but other than that, I was there with them. It was very priceless." Woo’s decision to attend the church retreat with her two daughters was just one of many “very subtle” ways she noticed herself being “more deliberate”, following her brief three-month unpaid break that began in July 2023, she told CNA Women.
Her second career break, also unpaid, coincidentally lasted from July to October 2024. While she had initially taken both breaks to be there for each daughter during the final lap of preparation before their respective Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), her time at home proved more beneficial than she expected. GIVING HER FAMILY – AND HERSELF – “FULL ATTENTION” Woo ack.
