So I’m new to this whole pregnancy thing… I work full time in a busy management role and took over a failing team. I had to fire and re-hire half the team. Since being there, the team and performance have come along way and we got some of the best stats out of the sister teams.
They also changed the manager above me as the one before contributed to the team failure. She’s super new to her role - stepping up in the team. She is very competent. But from day one, she seemed to try find ways to undermine me to senior management and always took the tasks that made her look good while left me to take the hit for remaining issues unresolved which made senior management anxious. I took a lot of aggression from senior management trying to resolve shit while she took praise. She also left me to manage conflict with my peers (her old mates when she was at my level) such as issues with rotas rather than doing the job as manager above us and acting fairly. Her mates or people she was afraid of got the times off they wanted. Even one guy commented to me he wished someone more objective got the job.
But anyway, it got real bad when my performance was looking good so she agreed with everyone (her old mates) for me to take on more work. I am pregnant. I facilitated a pregnant risk assessment in response which is a legal requirement in the uk, reminding her of my need for breaks and management of stress. I also chose to start my mat leave early because I had a previous miscarriage and didn’t want work zapping me and my lovely developing baby boy. She knew about this miscarriage and stress at the time of taking a failing team. This is a manager that also made excuse to miss my check ins by saying she accidentally booked them on a weekend (which we dont work) after dumping a load of extra work on me.
she reacted so weirdly. She didn’t sign the risk assessment and made some comment about taking leave when other people would also want annual leave for school holidays. Does she expect me to come out of Mat leave to cover school holidays as well later in the year?! We have a well resourced team. But she couldn’t deny the request because I sought HR advice before the request.
She has backed off since which is nice. Less pressure to take on everyone’s work. However she acts weird around me, keeps bleating on about her achievements loudly around the office and talks to me in a patronising way. I’ve worked my ass off. She hasn’t even asked if I am coming back after Mat leave or mentioned staying in touch days. She acts out in emails and comments. What have I done to this woman other than work hard?! Please someone help me understand this.