Telling work or not just yet??

[Foodylicious]

After a bit of advise -i am around 7 weeks and trying to work out when to tell work. i am a mental health nurse with older peeps and job involves some risks (agression/falls).
colleuges who have been pg recently (now on mat leave) have had altered duties as a result of pg, i.e no 1:1 obs and not involved in restraint or lifting (yes we do still have to lift people occasionaly).
i am worried that by not telling now i am putting me/us at risk, but there is no way i can tell my boss without everyone else knowing and not sure I am ready for that yet!
I do have a bad back, but not really up for lying and saying that is whats wrong first.
Anyone had anything similar? is there anyway I could expect my boss to keep it confidential and still put a plan in place to support me?

[bakingaddict]

You can tell your boss in confidence, they will not be able to disclose this to anybody else if this is your request and if they go against your wishes you can report them to HR but i'm guessing that you think colleagues will work it out from your lighter duties.

It's always best to tell at the earliest opportunity as you will get paid leave for all your forthcoming ante-natal appointments.

[Foodylicious]

Thinking colleagues will prob guess, and I am not ready to be public property or have it be the only thing people talk to me about. we are quite a large team of about 30 and work really closely with each other due to nature of the job.
I am worried be will tell me others need to know as part of risk assessment.

[Foodylicious]

*he not be

[Foodylicious]

Anyone else?

[RuckAndRoll]

The definately don't have to tell people. I had a risk assessment done when I came back from being signed off for a bit, I still had a nasty habit of blacking out so due to the nature of the office someone needed to know where I was at all times to check I hadn't fallen down the stairs or collapsed in the loos. The person asked to watch me was told I wasn't well and might faint but nothing more. This amount of disclosure was agreed with me before she was told anything.

They have to find a compromise. They can't breach confidentiality.

If it helps, I told work at 5 weeks as I'm often on sites that aren't safe when pregnant, immediately got pulled back to office based work and my boss bent over backwards to make out like it was all his fault for messing ppl around and took quite a lot of flack for his actions but never once told anyone. No-one guessed (apart from the female HR director who knew we were TTC!).

[Foodylicious]

Thanks, that helps a bit!
off for a few days at the mo, so got a bit of thinking time.

[fanjodisfunction]

I told boss as soon as I knew, as my job involves heavy lifting, chemicals and other hazards. He didn't tell anyone, just told them all that I was in the office to work on a certain project.

Some people did guess but were pretty good and kept quiet.

It is best to tell early, but only to boss.

[afrikat]

I told my boss pretty much as soon as I found out. I felt pretty ill at first and he was quite flexible about my working without informing anyone else why. I also have a bad back anyway so I used that as a bit of an excuse. Felt uncomfortable lying but everyone understands when the truth comes out