THE CAREER DOCTOR "BOSS, I'M PREGNANT"

First of all, congratulations and I hope that you have a trouble-free and happy pregnancy and beyond. Second, welcome to the most obvious manifestation of the glass ceiling. It is dreadful that you even have to THINK about this sort of stuff. There you are, doing the single most important job on the planet, fulfilling your purpose as a member of the human species and you feel that you have to almost apologise to your employer.

First and foremost, you need to know the terrain. Be clear as to your legal entitlements (check eumom.com), what your company’s maternity policy is (they are required by law to have one), and (from the grapevine) what has been the company’s reaction and approach to maternity leaves in the past.

Second, pick your time. Most couples will wait until they are past the first trimester before telling the world they are expecting and many working women don’t like to tell their employer until they are ‘showing.’ These options may be suitable in your case or they may not be. Pick your time well – for you first, and them for them. From the tone of your questions, you are obviously concerned with maintaining a good relationship with your employer, so telling them early may facilitate their planning process and enable them to identify a suitable temp to cover for you while you are on leave.

Be matter-of-fact – there is no cause for an apologetic tone here! This is a scheduling issue, nothing more. Treat it accordingly and be crisp and business-like in your delivery. They will probably appreciate your candour and you can plan to be available for the hand-over to your cover person. This will also help if your company is engaged in long-term projects as they can plan better for your time off and schedule milestones accordingly.

They will probably ask you a barrage of questions when you break the news, so you should prepare your anticipated plan and intentions. (You may even want to role-play it first.)

If you intend to return to work after your maternity leave and you have put preliminary child-minding plans in place, by all means tell them but don’t over-promise. At this stage, you cannot know how you will feel about being a mother; you cannot know whether you will have an easy or a difficult baby; you cannot plan for any complications that may arise post-partum. So don’t promise to be back on site 52 days after your due date to start on a critical new project – you just might not be able (or willing) to deliver on that promise.

If you do not intend to return to work after your maternity leave, honesty is probably not going to be your best policy at this juncture and you should look to your self-interest first.

Rowan Manahan is MD of the career management firm Fortify Services and author of Where’s My Oasis? Visit www.fortifyservces.com or telephone 01 230 1313.

Irish Independent, Jobs & Careers supplement, May 19th 2005.

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