Pregnancy news are often good news but are equally personal and private. For this reason many consider telling the employer about the pregnancy to be unnecessary. However it is important that you tell your boss that you are expecting both for you and your employer benefit.
Employers do expect the employee to disclose their pregnancy status. When you disclose your pregnancy you are able to gain legal protection against discrimination, enjoy work privileges, and allow for role transition.
The best time to disclose your pregnancy, enjoy benefits offered by employer, and allows your employer to arrange for your maternity leave. Ensure that you follow your company’s policy, and consider your medical condition, or personal preference when deciding on the timing to disclose the pregnancy news.
However it is best to communicate as soon as you find out. You can equally wait till the doctor advises you to, till the pregnancy shows or when you personally feel you are ready to break the news to your boss. When ready you can then write an email ,a letter, a phone message or simply have a one to one physical meeting to disclose the news.
Benefits of Disclosing your Pregnancy to Employer
1.Legal Protection against Discrimination
Many pregnant women have faced all manners of discrimination at the workplace because they were pregnant. Announcing your pregnancy news to your employer, in writing will protect your legally in case of any pregnancy-related discrimination later on.
Some pregnant moms are fired, demoted, and lose their jobs after maternity leave. But having disclosed your pregnancy to your employer, you are protected from all such discrimination.
Most women are unable to legally prove such cases of pregnancy discrimination as there is no evidence of its communication. While your pregnancy may be clear, your employer can easily deny being in the knowledge of your pregnancy hence your discrimination grounds on this basis are tested.
Read: How to Handle Pregnancy Discrimination at the Workplace
2.You Enjoy Benefits offered by Employer
Several companies are mom friendly and have family friendly policies in place. It means that pregnant and nursing moms can enjoy quite several privileges that allow them to work as well as take care of their families. Disclosing your pregnancy status allows you to enjoy key advantages in the workplace.
It includes flexible work hours, working from home, frequent breaks, bed rest, and sick off days among others. These privileges are meant to ensure that you are comfortable in your space as a mom-to-be so that you can deliver at the workplace. When you disclose your pregnancy status to your employer you can start enjoying these privileges.
It is one of the advantages you enjoy once you communicate about your pregnancy to the employer. Employers have a duty to accommodate pregnancies provided they have knowledge of it. You can only however have these arrangements done officially when you have communicated your status in good time.
Read: How to Address Sexual Harassment at Work
3. Allow your Employer to Arrange for your Maternity Leave
It is important to ensure there is a capable person to relieve you of your duties when your delivery date is due and you are on your maternity leave; which requires adequate time and training. Communicating your pregnancy status in good time allows your employer to make arrangements for your maternity leave and other job adjustments.
Different positions have different difficulties in finding a suitable replacement. Top positions are especially sensitive and need adequate time for training. By communicating early you will have adequate time to train and make the transition easier with the employee who will take up your duties.
Such easy and smooth transition is important for continuity at your workplace without affecting or disturbing operations too much in your absence. It also helps so your employer avoids including you in upcoming projects as you shall be away on maternity leave.You can only enjoy this after telling your employer that you are expectant.
Read: Staying Motivated at Work while Pregnant
When to Disclose your Pregnancy to Employer
While the importance of disclosing the news of your pregnancy is clear, it has not been standard when this should happen. The time of disclosing your pregnancy may depend on your company policy, your medical condition, or personal preference.
1. Follow the Company Policy
Your company policy is one of the important guides you can use to decide when to reveal the news of your pregnancy to your employer. Most companies and employers have a policy guiding when you should let the office know that you are expectant.
Some companies will require you to disclose as soon as possible such as the military. Others have a timeline for this communication. You should therefore consult your HR office and follow this policy if it exists to know when is the best time to let you employer know about your pregnancy.
2. As Soon As Possible
Communicating as soon as possible is important so that you get the right protection and precautions for protecting both you and the baby. It technically means communicating to your employer as soon as you find out that you are pregnant.
It is especially important if you work in a field that may expose you to hazards or threats that can harm your baby. Such includes nursing field whereby you are exposed to many vulnerabilities and infections hence the need to communicate your status and get the necessary precautions in place. Also in other fields e.g. a mechanic, lab assistant, etc. you might be exposed to hazardous materials.
Also, communicating asap will explain your morning sickness and the reasons you may need extra understanding at the workplace.For some moms, morning sickness during the first trimester can also affect their productivity and performance at work. Hence it is important that your employer/supervisor is aware of your condition as soon as possible.
3. Consider Your Medical Condition
Your medical condition may guide you on the best time to communicate your pregnancy condition to the employer. For instance, if you are carrying a high-risk pregnancy, it is important to communicate as directed by your doctor.
This is because you may need to take bed rest or sick off days or adjustment of work duties when needed. Communication of your pregnancy news as well as your doctor’s instructions will be helpful to you to go through a safe pregnancy.
Read: Reasons to Take an Early Maternity Leave
4. Wait till the Pregnancy Shows
Some moms just waits out instead of telling the employer about it. This means that they wait until the pregnancy shows and hopefully this is meant to communicate this news to the supervisor or the employer.
Unfortunately, this approach may not helpful to you in several cases. You may not get any job or work environment adjustments to support your pregnancy. Also you may not prove cases of pregnancy discrimination should they happen and hence your employer can easily get away with it.
5. Disclose when you Personally Prefer
Here it all depends on personal preference and when you would personally prefer to communicate about pregnancy news to the employer. Some wait until their second semester when it will start to be obvious. At this time, the risk for miscarriage goes down significantly and hence reduces any chances of having to deal with an announced pregnancy that is later terminated.
If you have had to try to get pregnant for a long time, you may want to wait it out longer for personal reasons and that is also okay. You may also have had a previous miscarriage and wants to wait.Others have waited until it is the third semester for this reason.
Others take the time to communicate the news till when the opportunity comes up. For instance, your employer may include you in a project exposing you to danger or one happening past your due date. This is an opportunity to let your employer know why they need to re-plan/reschedule.
Also, some prefer not to report at all, especially those under casual engagement rather than contractual terms. Whichever time you choose to communicate, it is better coming from you rather than from anybody else.
How to Disclose Your Pregnancy to your Employer
There are different ways of disclosing news of your pregnancy news to your employer. The key point is making the communication official rather than casual. Further, there should be a documentable record or evidence of the same.
- Write a Letter -You can write a letter and address it to your HR /Employer. Keep a copy of the same.
- Email – You can email your supervisor/HR /Employer about the news of your employer. It is a very simple and straight forward way of letting your employer know that you are expectant.
- Write a Message -You can message your supervisor/HR /Employer about the news of your pregnancy. Also, keep the message for future reference. If you have no access to email or paper, you can write your employer a simple phone message communicating about your pregnancy.
- Have a Talk with Employer -You can decide to just tell your employer about your pregnancy on a one-to-one talk. This is the most common way women use but it is not protected if no write-up exists. It is hence proper to follow it up in writing either through email or letter after this meeting.
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