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Original poster

colleagues' resentment

30 replies

whatwasIthinkingof · 18/03/2013 14:51

Hi, I am back at work after taking a year of maternity leave to look after my DD. I have very recently gone back to work part time but just before I went back I discovered I am pregnant again. I will have to tell work soon and am really worried that they will be unhappy about it as I?ve just had a year off and am now going off again in a few months time. Am nervous about two things: colleagues' resentment about me being part time (already had a couple of comments after being back a week) and people?s judgement about going on mat leave again so soon after coming back.

Really felt we couldn?t wait much longer to get pregnant again as I am in my late thirties (although it happened much quicker than we thought it would!). Anyone else out there with these concerns? If so, any tips for things to say/ways to deal with it?

Thanks

OP posts:

Darlingclementine · 18/03/2013 15:07

Watching with interest. I've just had my first DC and just turned 35. We would ideally like 2 more children so will need to get on with things.

I've basically decided that I'll go back for a few months before ttc DC2. With DC3 if we're lucky enough to have more, I may very well have to go back pg. I know that this will be seen as terribly bad form along with having 3 DC so resigned to probably having to look for a new job after my last mat leave as I will be persona non grata. I'm a lawyer and sadly the view is still very much that children are a right only for partners and a privilege for the rest of us. It's so stupid as prior to this, I've been an excellent employee

I think you'll just have to brazen it out. Suggest telling your immediate boss but waiting to tell the rest of the team until it's obvious.

I've had a huge mind shift since having DC - used to work really hard and be a real people pleaser. I'll still work very hard when I go back but, at the end of the day, I remind myself that I would bitterly regret not having more DC and I'm not going to have people who I will probably not even know in 20 years time stop me!

FierceBadIggi · 19/03/2013 21:10

Better having them close together as then you will be able to fully focus on your career again sooner than if you had a big gap (like me!) Or that's what you could say anyway.
No-one should be making cracks about you being part-time, I would be tempted to pass that on, if you don't feel you can/should deliver a put-down yourself. Good luck with your pregnancy.

LadyWidmerpool · 19/03/2013 21:19

Congratulations! You are fully entitled to go on maternity leave again, you aren't doing anything untoward, and your work ought to be able to cope. I'm a line manager and if it happened to a member of my team I would wish her well. If other team members gave her a hard time I would be extremely displeased and would take action.

Bluestocking · 19/03/2013 21:40

Congratulations on your pregnancy!
Truthfully, your colleagues are probably expecting it. A colleague in our office returned in March and we were all very naughtily running a book on when she'd announce she was pregnant again. In the event, she couldn't tell us until she was twenty weeks (around October) by which time she was the size of a hippo and we were all having to pretend we hadn't noticed. But if anyone's nasty to you they should sod off - and don't take any crap from resentful colleagues about being part-time - you'll probably end up doing far more than you're paid for, most part-timers do!

lesmisfan · 20/03/2013 06:47

If colleagues make comments about you being part time then remind them that you only get paid as part time, you're not part time on a full time salary.

SPBInDisguise · 20/03/2013 06:51

Ooh I used to hate this when I worked part time, people taking about my "holidays" or "days off" as if they were granted by the company. I didn't get paid for them! Op, congratulations.

Metalgoddess · 20/03/2013 10:39

Hi,I work 3 days a week and am always getting told that I'm very lucky, part timer etc, it seems like people are envious yet when I suggest to them that they might look into going part time then they go on about liking the full time money!! I appreciate not everyone is in a job where they can go part time or finances may not allow but a lot of people could, they are simply choosing money over free time/time with family etc, its a personal choice.

It's not like I'm getting a freebie, I'm earning a lot less than full time! Anyway congrats and don't worry, you are entitled to another mat leave. In fact in thinking of doing the same myself!

2048 · 22/03/2013 20:47

Whilst you are entitled to another mat leave, don't assume that you are entitled to a favourable reaction from your colleagues. Some will be and some won't. Not all part timers do more work than they're paid for

SPBInDisguise · 22/03/2013 20:54

Nor do all full timers. I used to work with full time slackers. I now work with someone who is paid for three days a week. She regularly takes work home and pops in on her non work days

MisForMumNotMaid · 22/03/2013 21:08

I think that there is a settling in period when you go back to work regardless. If you were previously full time and now part time that adds a further layer of confusion to little minds. You have changed. You are not the same person. You have a little person at home that no doubt melts your heart when they smile and hug you. Work comes second to that.

I returned to work after DS1 as an engineering manager, it was an all male environment. I didn't take my full maternity leave and I was on email contact throughout, going into the office weekly for meetings etc. DS1 has autism and various other needs he couldn't suckle etc so was high needs but this was not known by anyone in the office.

I had resentment from colleagues that I still got annual leave when i returned . I guess there are times in life where standard preprepared responses come in handy, and this is one of them.

I'd go for 'thank you, we are delighted and having the DC close together means they'll be friends growing up'.

Regarding the part time. 'i work .... would you like me to email that to you for your records? if i'm not in please email me and i'll endeavour to deal with your query as soon as practicable on my return'.

MisForMumNotMaid · 22/03/2013 21:09

Sorry op I forgot my manors. Many congratulations.

2048 · 22/03/2013 21:10

Why would you take work home and 'pop' in your non work days. Must be difficult for part timers who don't. Either work part time or full time

SPBInDisguise · 22/03/2013 21:16

Same reason I work in the evening and weekends. Lots to do.

2048 · 22/03/2013 21:22

Again must make it hard for part timers who don't.

SPBInDisguise · 22/03/2013 21:25

What about us full timers? What about the work that needs doing?
I was surprised recently to learn in a thread that most ppl work their exact hours unless paid extra. I was always under the impression that in a professional job you work the hours required to get the job done

Bluestocking · 22/03/2013 21:28

What's your problem, 2048? First you snipe at part-timers in general, then you snipe at part-timers who do extra to keep on top of things. FWIW, I was on an 80% contract until DS was eight, but was still doing a full time workload by doing stuff evenings and weekends. Not ideal but for me it was worth taking the salary hit in exchange for the flexibility.

ceebeegeebies · 22/03/2013 21:29

I agree with previous posters - any comments on your part-time hours along the lines of 'how lovely having a day off' etc should be replied with how your bank balance doesn't like it, you don't get paid which usually shuts them up

Also, I had my 2 with a 2 year age gap and whilst it was difficult work-wise as I struggled to commit once I returned from my first maternity leave knowing I was planning on going off again, I am now 4 years down the line from my second maternity leave and am now beginning to focus on my career again

SPBInDisguise · 22/03/2013 21:35

Have you seem the thread abt the part timer who is expected to take 5 days rather than her weekly 2 days to have a week off?

DizzyFerret · 22/03/2013 21:43

Congratulations! I was in the same situation as you a good few years ago now, though I was working full time. I took a year's maternity leave, and when I went back to work I was already five months pregnant with DS2, having got also got pregnant much quicker than I thought I would. It was difficult telling them at work, but I just brazened it out and went off on another year's maternity leave three months later.

There may be some resentment, but it's none of your colleagues' business anyway. You are on a part-time contract so no one has a right to criticise the hours you were employed to do, and you have every right to take maternity leave.

Good luck & congratulations again .

sausagedogfan · 22/03/2013 21:59

SPB can you link to that thread? Surely that's illegal?!

OP congrats on your pg. The situation is what it is and yes there will probably be people who'll get sniffy but try to let it all wash over you. I had two mat leaves pretty close together, but I'm done now so I can start to focus on my career again. As far as people getting sniffy about you being part time, like everyone has said, you are getting paid part time, so just remind them of this. I've got a colleague who's recently returned part time and she is taking lots of work home with her to get it all done. So as far as the managers are concerned, she's pretty much still doing her full time job. I work part time, so I do 3/5 of the work I did when I was full time. To me, that's what part time is all about!

SPBInDisguise · 22/03/2013 22:05

Sorry, I think it is poor advice rather than an existing arrangement. Have bumped it and will link if I can figure out how on this thing

Metalgoddess · 23/03/2013 17:30

I only ever work my agreed hours and not over, neither do full timers. if we have to stay at work due to unexpected sickness then we get paid for it and its not that often.I hate the culture of people being expected to work well above their hours for no money or time off, it's just not right. If this is the case then either people are not effective in prioritising tasks/poor time management or they are being asked to do too much which in itself is unfair. Days off no matter whether someone is part time or full time should be days off!!

SPBInDisguise · 23/03/2013 17:40

But surely the job is done when it's done. Yes I may be "being asked to do too much" but it's all in the greater interest of what we're all trying to achieve.

ceebeegeebies · 23/03/2013 19:20

Metalgoddess in an ideal world, yes you are correct but unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world at the moment do we?

I work 4 days a week and always check my e-mails on my day off and occasionally bring home work to do at evenings/weekends otherwise I would not get my work completed. It is not lack of organisation/time management on my part as I am efficient, it is purely down to workload. However, due to the economic climate, redundancies have meant that there are now 5 staff doing what 8 staff used to do so yes the workload is high but what other option is there?

Metalgoddess · 25/03/2013 10:31

I guess I'm just lucky to have my job then and my husband is lucky to have his as when our shifts/ days are finished we are out of there and it's our time as a family. We are both do professional roles too. If we ever do overtime which is not very often we get paid for it. There was a suggestion at one point that staff at my place of work had to do some training which would involve studying for a few hrs per week at home. We got the union in and it was deemed against employment law to make us do this out ofwork hours. Part timers should not be expected to do work out of their hours or they might as well just be full time.

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