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Promotion & Pregnancy

3 replies

PinkCrab · 12/06/2024 12:13

An internal role has come up at work which would be a promotion for me. I am also 4/5 weeks pregnant and haven’t told work yet. We are having a scan in two weeks time, and the job advert closes two weeks after that.

I was planning to tell work after my scan, but if all is well I am terrified this will go against me if I apply for the job. I know legally it can’t, but that doesn’t prevent unconscious bias. Equally I’m worried that if I don’t tell them until I am potentially offered the job, I will be seen as dishonest. The length of time taken to go through the process might also means it becomes difficult for me to hide it.

I was thinking of speaking with my line manager who I know has been pregnant whilst going through promotion and I know will be supportive, but I don’t know if I can expect her to keep it confidential when the person hiring for this new role is her colleague - again I know there might be a legal position here, but from a moral point of view I feel unfair putting her in that position.

does anyone have any advice? Obviously I know it is early days in the pregnancy so it may not be viable but I want to have a bit of a plan in place. I am also feeling quite rubbish so feeling like I should be telling my line manager anyway!

OP posts:
DreadPirateRobots · 12/06/2024 12:16

Honestly? I would keep my mouth shut for as long as I possibly could until assessment for the promotion was finished. Yes they can be angry about it, although it would be unreasonable to be so, but they can't withdraw the promotion without opening themselves up to legal consequences. Whereas if you tell them beforehand, there is just too much opportunity for unconscious bias against which you have no recourse. Plus as you rightly observe, the pregnancy will hopefully go to term but at this early stage nothing is certain, and it would suck even more to not get the promotion OR have the baby.

DreadPirateRobots · 12/06/2024 12:17

Apply now. Do any interviews/assessments ASAP. Then sit tight until decisions are made if you possibly can. Even if they "suspect", you can put it down to too many pies. It's not their business until 25 weeks.

HappyAsASandboy · 12/06/2024 14:04

I would (and did) keep quiet about the pregnancy until the promotion process is finished. I don't think my organisation would have discriminated against me, but I like that I know they didn't because they didn't know!

By my counting, I think you're saying the application deadline is when you're about 9 weeks. It would be totally normal to wait until after the 12 week scan to tell work, so there is really no reason for you to do so.

I told my boss about my pregnancy at 18 weeks, and I was carrying twins! Just adjusted my clothes a bit and kept quiet. I've no idea whether anyone suspected, but nobody said anything.

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