I Left Venus and Came Back to Mars: Temporal Focus Congruence in Dyadic Relationships Following Maternity Leave

Temporal focus on past, present, and future of contributions to work is critical understanding how employees their line managers navigate career disruptions minimize potential for negative impact. This paper reframes temporal using a dyadic, relational perspective explore (in)congruence shapes resocialization experiences returners following maternity leave disruption. Our qualitative study draws 54 interviews across 27 organizations demonstrates that congruent, broader focus—that embraces the future—is associated with more positive outcomes than an incongruent focus, where one dyadic partner holds narrow focus. findings explicate adoption broad versus creates perception as either brief interlude or major A allows reduce reliance typical motherhood biases instead, consider woman’s over course her career. We highlight importance congruence at level value adopting careers while offering new insights regarding dynamics inherent transitions both managers.