When to tell boss I'm pregnant

amother

Plum

Wed, Aug 03 2016, 11:43 am

I have a fantastic full time job and I recently found out I'm pregnant, though it will be at least a few weeks before we tell anyone (no one else knows yet). A few women at my job are already pregnant, and because we are in Israel where maternity leave is 3-6 months, we will all have overlapping maternity leaves (they will all presumably still be on maternity leave when I give birth). My boss is very overwhelmed by the fact that so many people will be on maternity leave at the same time. We have the kind of job that is very specialized and you can't just bring in someone temporary, because it takes months of training to learn the job. The company wanted to hire more employees anyway, and they are now debating how many, partially based on how many people they know of who will be on maternity leave. Last time I was pregnant, I told my boss in my 4th month, shortly after we told family and friends. But this time, because our department really will be short-staffed, and if they knew I am also going to need maternity leave they would most likely hire an extra person, should I tell my boss earlier that I'm pregnant? By earlier, I mean maybe mid-end of the 3rd month (once we've seen a heartbeat and therefore the risk of miscarriage becomes very small).

In theory, I don't have a problem telling just my boss a little early and asking him to keep it a secret. But, since executive decisions would be affected by it, he'd probably have to tell all the higher-ups (like another 4-6 people). And even if he didn't mention me by name, they would figure it out, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am having that many people at work know. Partially because I feel weird about them knowing so early, and partially because I'm worried that if that many people know, it will leak out. On the other hand, it would really help out our department, and I would directly benefit from them hiring extra people, because when all the other women are on maternity leave before me, I will have a lot more work if we don't have anyone new and it would be in my last trimester, which is exactly when I don't want more work.

What would you do?

amother

Azure

Thu, Aug 04 2016, 11:56 pm

I would explain that you are telling him before you tell family and friends b/c you care about the company and want do to what's best, and based on that can he please keep it totally confidential right now. If so many people will be going on maternity leave, can't he leave out some details so they don't figure out that it's you? I don't know who you work for, is there a possibility any of these people will come in contact with your family? If so, they shouldn't find out (besides boss)

amother

Plum

Fri, Aug 05 2016, 3:19 am

Thanks for both your responses! Yeah, I think I probably should say something earlier. My boss has been looking so stressed out. . .

I don't work in such a big company, and there are only so many people who could be pregnant (and most of them already are), so I think it's inevitable that the higher-ups will figure it out. But, any of the people who would find out at the company (e.g. the higher ups) aren't people who know my friends or family, so that's not an issues (there are other people at work who do, but they presumably they wouldn't find out until later since they are not in senior positions. At least, hopefully the news wouldn't reach them).