{"id":609,"date":"2015-03-02T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2015-03-02T09:00:48","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T13:00:48","slug":"how-and-when-to-tell-the-boss-that-youre-starting-a-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/blog-posts\/how-and-when-to-tell-the-boss-that-youre-starting-a-family\/","title":{"rendered":"How and When to Tell the Boss That You\u2019re Starting a Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[A coaching client recently asked me how and when she should tell her boss that she is pregnant. She just started a new job and didn\u2019t know she was pregnant when she accepted the position. Now she is worried that her new employer will feel she was dishonest and withheld information during the interview process. With that perception, the relationship could sour before she has a chance to show her boss how well she can perform the job. But she can only keep this secret for a short time before it becomes obvious that she is pregnant.\nWhy is pregnancy an issue when 71 percent of American mothers in the US with children at home work, and women are the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of US households with children? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/09\/07\/upshot\/a-child-helps-your-career-if-youre-a-man.html?_r=0&amp;abt=0002&amp;abg=1\">Claire Cain Miller of the <em>New York Times<\/em><\/a> explains that while having children is a routine part of life for working women, the attitudes in American culture about gender and work have not caught up with the fact that women have shown they can be both mothers and productive employees. By the same token, assumptions that men should be breadwinners and not caregivers have also not changed. The results are discriminatory for both women and men in different ways:\n\n\n<ul>\n\t\n\n<li>Mothers are less likely to be hired for jobs, to be perceived as competent at work, or to be paid as much as male colleagues with the same qualifications. They are seen as less stable than women with no children or men.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>Because men with children are seen as more stable, they are more likely to be hired than childless men and are paid more. But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/11\/09\/upshot\/paternity-leave-the-rewards-and-the-remaining-stigma.html?abt=0002&amp;abg=1\">men with children who want to take family leave<\/a> or use flexible work arrangements to be caregivers receive worse job evaluations and lower hourly raises and are at greater risk of being laid off.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>There is no legal protection for pregnant workers. A bill called the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/06\/opinion\/gail-collins-the-woes-of-working-women.html\">Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act<\/a>, requiring employers to make \u201creasonable accommodation\u201d for workers who become pregnant, does not have enough support in the US Congress to pass.<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Five Tips for Preparing to Go on Maternity Leave<\/span>\nEven with these difficulties, it is possible to balance motherhood and a career. Here are five tips to help you make the transition to maternity leave smoother for yourself and your employer:\n\n\n<ol>\n\t\n\n<li>Tell your boss as soon after the first trimester as possible to allow time for planning.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>Know your legal rights, company policy, and the insurance benefits available to you for maternity\/family leave.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>Think about your work calendar and begin planning early for big events or deliverables that will occur during your absence. Develop a detailed draft work plan for coverage of your responsibilities, and review this with your supervisor.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>Talk with your boss, or HR, about the available facilities for breast pumping so that you know whether breast-feeding is an option when you return.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>Determine the amount and type of contact you do or don\u2019t want during your leave, and discuss this with your boss. Develop a communication plan for letting your colleagues and clients know who to communicate with while you are on leave.<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\nHow have you handled family planning and maternity leave in your career? Please share any ways you\u2019ve found to overcome cultural perceptions about working mothers.]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,117,142,197,221,225,490,551,567,634],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-bias","tag-confidence","tag-discrimination","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-gender","tag-relationships","tag-stereotypes","tag-teamwork","tag-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}