I work for an international company - the global HQ is in a country with abysmal mat leave and employment policies generally and their attitude extends through the company. My satellite office in the UK is v small with no HR and I work with mostly men. As far as I know they’ve never dealt with mat leave before and they decided not to hire a mat leave cover for me.
My direct line manager is a woman in another country who told me she took about a week off after having a kid and clearly expected me to do the same.
Important background: There have been a lot of “redundancies” over the past 18 months (not redundancy as we’d recognize it though, more that they just fired people with zero warning) and I was very concerned that if I told them outright I was taking 12 months mat leave they would fire me and I wouldn’t even get paid the first few months statutory mat leave.
So I told them I was taking 6 months initially and would see how that went. Now I need to tell them I want to take the full 52 weeks (I’ve checked and I’m allowed to do this with 2 months notice, which is coming up soon).
It’s pathetic since I’m a grown woman in her early 40s but I’m terrified at how they’re going to react. Does anyone have any advice on how to break it to them?
Also important:
- I have an older child who was born before I joined the company
- I absolutely do not want any more children so will not be planning any more mat leave.
- I’ve been at the company for 3 years so am not taking the piss in terms of joining then heading off for mat leave
Thanks