Should I tell my bosses i may ttc??

'Feminist tree huggers'

What a total potato.

I am a Director at a Big 4 Accountancy firm, on partner track. I have 3 children - if I had ever told my bosses I was TTC, I would have created a horrendously unprofessional atmosphere. It's a work place, not a club. You need professional boundaries in place or you'll find your "oversharing" nature is what stops you making partner.

Oh and I looked after (and still do) some of our biggest global accounts, millions of pounds worth of revenue. Before and after my maternity leaves. They didn't flinch at all when I said I was taking time out.

Don't be that nauseating person who overshares, OP!

Them TELLING you that they considered it as part of their decision shows you they discriminate.

You might have been way above the other candidates and so it didn't make enough difference for them not to hire you. But what if you'd been just above or in line with them, them taking it into account means you potentially could have not got the job. Which is illegal.

I'm absolutely baffled that you don't understand what every single person on this thread is saying to you.

I understand your world (similar career). Don’t do it. For YOU you might think about the best time to conceive and arrange things to minimise disruption. But you don’t need their help or permission to do that, really.

Tell them when you are pregnant.

Good luck.

"That’s the difference here tho, I’m in a managers position"

= patronising

Oh and LOL at you being the only senior woman they've hired. Are you surprised? That's sad evidence of their discrimination.

"despite what ‘rights’ I have"

It is really sad that you think so little of the hard fought for anti-discrimination laws that you feel the need to put them in quotes. Again just trying to help you realise how you come over as happy to be part of a discriminatory situation.

"For any employer to not consider maternity would be ludacris! Yes they aren’t allowed to ask etc these days, but they are a business at the end of the day and I can’t blame them for not wanting to be left in the lurch"

= saying it is OK to ask women (but not men, you made this clear in a later post) about their plans to have children, before any pregnancy has even occurred

This is discrimination against women. Being a woman sadly does not prevent you from believing that discrimination is OK. If you can't see that, then perhaps do so further reading on the subject.

I agree with others though - I dont think 12 months is a short amount of time really?

They've broken the law by letting the sex/reproductive age of potential female employees influence whether or not they are hired. If you do get pregnant, watch your back.

And I didn't word that well- I didn't mean to say you're self-obsessed, but that with regards to this one thing I think it's a self-obsessed attitude to think you're not easily replaceable.

You're entirely missing the point- why does it look bad?!
If you think it looks bad, you're saying that having a child and taking maternity leave makes you seem less committed/ not conscientious/ something similar. Attitudes like that belong in the 1950s and women thinking that as well as some men makes it even harder for us to achieve true equality in the workplace.

Slightly different scenario but when I was only 3 weeks pregnant, my boss wanted to second me to a difficult client. We’d had 3 previous members of staff fucked up the role and they wanted an experienced senior in there who wouldn’t annoy the client or leave soon after going there. It was the perfect role for me so they asked if I would do it. For me it was the responsible thing to do to tell them I was pregnant, partly because they couldn’t afford to have someone there for less than a year and partly because it would be a risky environment for a pregnant woman. They thanked me for telling them and got someone else to do it.

Had I been TTC I wouldn’t have told them, as you have no idea what will happen.

One thing I did learn after spending a couple of years waiting for the right “work window” to TTC - it is impossible, it never arrives. And much as you won’t want to hear it, they’ll manage fine when you go on ML.

It doesn’t matter if you applied for the job while pregnant. Women have a right to have children and they will get over it and you will return to work. I would not be returning anywhere that it is considered getting “on the wrong side of them” to have a family.

I haven't started TTC but will be in April. I haven't been openly talking about it to management but they do know that we want to start trying once I am free from Zika risk. Im not talking about it in a preparing them way, but because im excited to start a family and they know it means a lot to me.

How it looks: that you're a woman of childbearing age who has decided to have a child with her partner.

How I'm assuming you think it looks: unbelievably cheeky woman takes huge advantage of company so generous enough to give her a job (a job!) by daring to do something so outrageous as have a child within a year of joining.

You're either so self-obsessed you think the company can't possibly get by without you, even though you're new, or you think it is taking the piss to have a baby.

Your husband could quite easily take 9 months shared parental leave- but I'm guessing he wouldn't consider telling his work to let them know he was potentially going to be cheeky by procreating.

I don't see that telling them you are ttc would be particularly helpful. They can't really not give you clients in case you conceive, as if you didn't you would have a reduced work load. I would just ttc when suits you and then when you are pregnant, you can explain to them your plans e.g. this is last one, I plan to take a short maternity leave. Obviously you don't have to do any of this, but you want to, but wait until there is something to say.

I wouldn't do this!

When pregnant you are protected under employment law. When you are TTC you are not. If they know you are TTC they will know you will be leaving for maternity in the near future, this will basically put you at the top of the list for redundancy, overlooked for promotion, demotion etc... regardless of performance, and you wouldn't have any protection.

Sad, but true.

Just no. I'm a lawyer. While I can understand that you are excited at the prospect of having a much yearned for second child in the clearest possible terms I'd advise you not to tell your enjoyed until or unless you are pregnant.

12 months is fine. As a senior manager I wouldn't expect one of my team (who manage large projects and accounts) to tell me they were ttc. I'd actually prefer it if they didn't because it would introduce an uncertainty that might well not exist. It could take ages to conceive or you may find you have issues after conceiving that mean you don't actually have a baby for another couple of years. The situation would be totally different then so no point planning now.