Taking new job while pregnant

[If123]

Hi mums,

I applied for a new job already knowing I was pregnant and decided to go to the interview as the job was what I had been searching for a long while. I didn’t expect to get an offer but I did and I have provisionally accepted but I feel guilty I am quite pregnant now so will only be in the role max 4 or 5 months before going on mat leave.

Am I being unreasonable by taking the job?

for extra context this is my second baby and I will be taking off around 6 months of mat leave. I also have not told them I am pregnant yet as I faced a lot of discrimination in my previous role with my first pregnancy. The role is part time so I feel satisfied I will be able to do the role to a good ability while pregnant and would plan to return after baby is born.

Thanks mums xx

Oof
thats a tricky one
firstly, you may not be able to get mat pay as you need 26 weeks of employment that is the first issue
I think rightly or wrongly your new employers could be super pissed off that you join them and then leave - if they’re professional they won’t show it but it won’t be easy for them
they then have to backfill your role - more expense and time for them
it would start the whole relationship off in an very problematic way
is it a big or a small company?

Sorry i forgot to say I wouldn’t be expecting any maternity pay from this role. I have another part time role I have been in for 2 years and I will qualify for statutory maternity pay from that role.

its a county council so big company.

If you want the job, go for it. Obviously it’s up to you but I think it would be better to tell them when/if you accept the offer as they could find your maternity cover from one of the other candidates. Yes they may see the whole situation as inconvenient but imagine if they were able to discriminate against you because you were pregnant. You’re breaking down barriers for women in the future, this company will realise that it’s a completely manageable situation, good luck.

I always think what would a man do if they were in that situation and am sure they would take the job.If it's something you're really serious about ,that is part of your plans for your career is, go for it. Hopefully you really clicked with the colleagues and will leave time to get to grips with the role before going off
Somebody else could go for the role and come down with an illness requiring a leave of absence anyway, at least with mat leave you intend to come back. Life happens.
I went on mat leave a year into a role which was much sooner than I had expected. It really caused no issues and I was with the company for years afterwards.

I’m afraid that I don’t think that’s the way to win any friends at work. This is why employers don’t like hiring women of childbearing age. They’ll have to go through sorting out maternity cover pretty much as soon as you start.

Up to you, of course.

There’s a very big difference between a year and 4 months.

I think you’d be silly to turn it down if it’s a good job for you.

You haven’t done anything wrong in taking it but I’d be prepared to potentially fail probation or it “not work out”.

I feel this is quite harsh considering these things happen and my perfect job just happened to come up at a tricky time. Why should I turn it down when a man would never have to make this choice?

Because you’re not a man, you’re a pregnant woman who is going to leave work 4 months after you start to have a baby. And while you say you’ll only take 6 months your employer has no way of making you stick to that or know you’re not going to get in touch 5 months in and announce you’re going to leave.

Look, your potential future employer might be totally fine with it. But surely you can see that it’s a pain in the arse for them? I don’t know what the role is but if it needs proper cover they’ll have to start advertising and interviewing for that pretty much when you start, which costs time and money.

I am fully aware this is perfectly legal, btw. And it may well work out fine.

But you asked. And I’m just giving you how it looks to me. Which is, not great.

If it were you would you not take the job?

Well now, there’s the question. And I honestly don’t know. Which shows how looking at something theoretically isn’t the same as personally!

I suppose it depends how long you’ve been looking, how often these jobs come up, how you feel in your current role. And if you can afford not to have a decent maternity package.

If I hired somebody Who did this I would take a dim view of them and consider them to be time wasters. I know you are within your rights legally but its not good practice IMHO.

Aside from whether you are entitled to maternity pay, will they be obliged to keep the job open for you? Or will they be able to get someone entirely new in?

And if you needed the job financially?

I think if I'd hired for my team and this happened I'd be disappointed that we'd be losing you in the short term but I'd quickly get over it. The same as I said above if a new hire needed a leave of absence for another reason. Hopefully there'll be a good opportunity to talk it through with the new line manager and how you plan to come back. Relatively short mat leave and KIT days would be really good in this instance.
A flipside to this and I've seen it play out a few times in my friend group : woman gets really established in senior role over years, woman achieve lots and is held in high esteem management,woman goes on maternity leave for a year during which there's a merger/ restructure/ managers leave. Woman returns to previous role but it's like a new job and the new managers are awful. I'm pointing this out as there's never a good time to go on maternity leave .

Well luckily this isn’t the 1970s and diversity quotas are becoming more and more prevalent so it’s becoming obvious which employers are discriminating and pressure is starting to be applied.

Any proper employer should have robust plans in place to cover for any member of staff who’s absent for a period. A man joining could unexpectedly go off on long term sick for instance.

OP if you want the job then take it, if you were a man you wouldn’t even have to make this decision and therefore you shouldn’t let this inadvertently discriminate against you purely due to your sex.

I’m pretty sure the role for any woman is protected especially if you take 26 weeks or less, if you take over that they can offer you a different role as long as it’s the same terms. It’s to protect against discrimination purely on the basis of pregnancy and sex (as men can’t carry the baby)

I couldn’t do this. I know it’s legally fine but I think it’s morally it feels really shady.

You are correct OP, but you’ll get a lot of replies from people who’ve never held a management position telling you how unreasonable you are.

I think that sounds pretty accurate from what I’ve experienced previously and seen of friends going on maternity leave. You’re probably right there is no good time. You’ve made me feel better about it in the sense that if an employer if going to be annoyed and treat you differently they could do that if you’ve worked there months or years.

I feel like I can answer this from both perspectives. I was in this situation when I was around 3/4 months pregnant with my son. Due to circumstances beyond my control I found myself in the position of having to leave a good job and relocate back home after my relationship broke down. I very much needed to work so interviewed for a post within my old company albeit a different service. I told them after they offered me the position and safe to say the response was cold and measured at best, hostile at worst 🤦🏻‍♀️ safe to say I withdrew from the process as I knew I wouldn’t really feel welcome and then was lucky enough to be offered a job with a different company who couldn’t give a hoot that I was pregnant. I worked until the day I gave birth (didn’t plan to!) and am still there now and am now a manager.
So from a hiring managers perspective I can now see it would be a big pain to sort out cover so soon etc and would be very risky with you potentially not coming back……however if I felt you were the right person for the role and were impressed by you it wouldn’t really matter to me. You’re well within your rights legally to apply for roles whilst pregnant and let’s not forget this is not a situation a man would ever have to worry about being in. Just tell them and if they are the right employer for you, you’ll know by how they respond :) best of luck !

Having just hired someone who has just started maternity leave I would say just go for it, you have to put yourself first and a few months passes really fast. I think I saw that it's a county council - if they want you and you're right for the role then waiting a few months is going to make little difference to anyone.

i think as it’s a big company as such then it’s ok. And of course it’s ok anyway, just a little questionable to people you’ll work with and management. It’s absolutely good that women can do this but from a very human perspective it will be natural and understandable for them to be pissed off. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it easy. As a manager it would (in my head) grind my gears. If you are their perfect candidate though and at their size they will be able to cover you, so fine. A small company not so much. Then it would be really difficult for them and I know how hard it is to recruit. It’s expensive and exhausting.

It would depend on the team and role. I know a council is a big organisation, but in some councils their are only a couple of people doing a specific role, and the impact of that if 1 person goes off is much higher than if a larger team. For example my husband and 1 other did a role, she went off for 9 months and he had to do 2 people's work and was stressed and exhausted - councils are really struggling financially and generally won't agree cover - although they might with your role as you wont be costing anything whilst off.