Career breaks are often framed as a risk – a pause that might cost someone momentum, income, or influence at work. UNE Business School PhD candidate Anastasia Prikhodko is challenging that assumption, asking what really happens when people in technology roles step away from their careers, and what it would take for them to return without penalty.
Drawing on a background in journalism and communications, Anastasia is examining how career breaks are experienced and perceived in the tech sector, and how those experiences shape people’s future opportunities. Her part-time PhD at UNE allows her to continue working full-time in communications while conducting in-depth research into one of the most pressing workforce questions of our time.
Focusing the Lens: Career Breaks in Technology
Anastasia initially set out to examine why gender inequality persists in STEM despite decades of research, investment, and public discussion. Working closely with her supervisors, Professor Sujana Adapa and Dr Lucie Newsome, her focus evolved into a more specific and under-explored question: the impact and perception of career breaks in technology.
“My research examines the impact and perceptions of career breaks – whether parental leave, carers’ leave, sick leave, sabbaticals, or switching jobs as a way to step back before returning to one’s specialty – and how these breaks influence the career progression of people working in technology roles,” she says.
Gender inequality in STEM has generated more than 50 years of scholarship. Yet in practice, progress has been slow. For Anastasia, that saturation – and the limited change it has delivered – made it important to look at the issue from another angle.
With minimal research in Australia, especially studies that include men who have taken career breaks, she and her supervisors saw a clear opportunity to contribute something new.
Why Career Breaks Matter Now
While many people associate “career breaks” with maternity leave, Anastasia’s work deliberately broadens the conversation.
“People take leave for a variety of reasons, yet most of the research focuses on maternity leave and primarily on women. While this remains incredibly important to examine, particularly in technology, a sector that, as you can see from the news, is undergoing significant change, the conversation needs to be broader,” she says.
Technology was once seen as a relatively stable industry for those willing to continuously upskill. That certainty has eroded. Restructures, redundancies and shifting skills demands now sit alongside major life events such as caring responsibilities, illness, or burnout.
“Technology also shapes and influences every other sector, which makes it vital to examine the experiences of those working within it and to better understand and support their career transitions,” Anastasia notes.
Despite this, many workplaces still treat a period of leave as a temporary interruption after which employees will simply “slot back in”. The reality can be very different.
“In an era marked by retention challenges, skills shortages, and ongoing efforts to improve gender equity in technology, it is striking that relatively little has changed within workplaces to ensure smooth reintegration,” she says. Too often, employees return to lower pay, demotions, or a sense of being sidelined – experiences that may push them to leave soon after coming back.
The Human Impact – and the Manager’s Role
One of the most compelling aspects of Anastasia’s research is how widely it resonates. “Just about everyone can relate to it,” she reflects. “I think it’s also an opportunity to normalise taking career breaks without the fear of being penalised, which still happens far too often.”
Her early findings underscore the pivotal role of direct managers in shaping what happens after a break.
“Ideally, [this research] can help organisations strengthen their HR policies. It can also help managers better understand what employees need to feel supported,” she explains. “One of my main findings highlights the critical role managers play in someone’s re-entry—they can truly make or break the experience for a returning employee.”
By centring the experiences of people working in technology roles – including those whose stories are often overlooked in maternity-focused discussions – Anastasia aims to provide insights that HR teams, people leaders, and executives can translate into fairer, more responsive policies.
Ultimately, the beneficiaries of this work are broad.
“Anyone who works in a company and is thinking of taking a career break” stands to gain from better-designed systems and more informed leaders, she says.
Why UNE – and Why Now
For Anastasia, UNE’s model of flexible study has been crucial.
“UNE is a good fit because it allows me to continue working and living where I am. I wouldn’t be able to do this without the remote element,” she says. “It has also connected me with incredibly supportive and knowledgeable supervisors.”
That support has helped her refine a complex, long-standing issue – gendered inequality in STEM – into a focused, timely study with clear practical implications for the tech workforce.
As organisations grapple with retention, skills shortages, and the realities of modern working lives, Anastasia’s research offers a grounded way forward: understanding what career breaks really mean for people in technology, and how workplaces can ensure that stepping away does not mean falling behind.
