WWYD? Pregnancy and cover

[TheGrumpySquirrel]

I'm due on 10 December (currently 8.5 weeks), so have about 15-16 weeks before I HAVE to tell my work (assuming I'm working to 39 weeks) but will probably show earlier than that (no idea how early, although this is second pregnancy).

The issue is that we just hired a junior to work for me (he will report to me). We were meant to hire him about 4 months ago but the process has been very slow. So I'll only have 6 months to train him before I go on leave (only taking 6 months, with all 10 KIT days working). I thought I would have a year to train him, but a combination of the hiring process being slow and me falling pregnant about 3 months earlier than planned has reduced that.

I'm really worried my line manager and senior bosses will be very annoyed about it. They'll have to supervise him while I'm off and he won't be autonomous yet.

I'm considering telling just my LM now / at 12wks after scan, to make sure he knows we need to get the guy up to speed ASAP. And to try and show I care about the business. But I'm not sure as I know I'm worried that the big bosses will discriminate against me (American company) and so the later they know the better. But I am very loyal to my LM and don't want to leave him in the lurch. He's also more progressive than them, but I don't know if I can ask / trust him not to tell them.

WWYD? Be upfront? Or it's not a big deal to wait as it won't change the outcome?

As you know, I'm guessing you're trying as hard as possible to train up your junior ASAP. I don't really see how you could make them learn quicker with the help of your boss? Personally I'd wait till 12 weeks at least if you think there's any chance of discrimination/missing opportunities or training. I did tell earlier but that's because they were planning projects around me and I felt rather dishonest, trouble is it's still early days so unless your boss is very supportive and you want ir need them to know (manual handling/spots/sickness) I wouldn't.

Thanks. I just confided in the only other woman on my team and she advised me to keep quiet as late as possible, as they could decide to take the responsibility away from me before the new person joins. This way I'll already be his boss before they know and before I go on leave. Then it's harder to take that away.

I'm terrified of getting a bad deal on pay at year end (as they'll obviously know by then!) but I'm just going to have to be aggressive about it.