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Telling Colleagues About Pregnacy

Discussion in 'General Discussions - USA & Canada' started by Angela123, Apr 7, 2020.

  1. Angela123

    Angela123 Gold IL'ite

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    Fellow ILites,

    Since COVID-19 concerns going up, I started working from home since mid march. I am currently pregnant 14 weeks and I told my boss (who I report to) and emailed HR, who in turn told my boss's boss. I had to tell them in the first trimester because they were planning some site visits and my doc recommended to stay home since pregnant women are considered at high risk. My boss offered to keep it quiet but I told him I do not mind if our office knows the news. So I am not sure if anyone knows this yet. But I haven't told any of my colleagues directly (ours is a small department around-20 people), they are not friends, but good people who offer help when needed. We all will not be in office for at least a month from today. I am already showing since it is my second pregnancy. So my question is should I send an email to my immediate colleagues (whom I interact on a daily basis) sharing the news? We do have a daily morning meeting, I do not want to announce there because it is always very formal, and this might be news to me and not for others. What do you all recommend?

    Thank you!
     
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  2. Angela123

    Angela123 Gold IL'ite

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    Our office never have work from homes so all of the colleagues are taking turns to be in office at least once a week. My boss excluded me from this because of pregnancy.
     
  3. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    Not required to send an email. This would purely be my choice.
    You should go ahead and do what is most comfortable for you .
     
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  4. Angela123

    Angela123 Gold IL'ite

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    This is what I am unable to decide. I know I am not obligated to tell them. Not sure how to handle this as I was always less private life more office work talk person.
     
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  5. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    They'll figure out when they see you.(Whenever you back to work). Few may ask ,few may choose to not ask. If they ask just give a positive reply.
    I don't see any reason to let them know in an email.
    A colleague here hadn't shared even with her manager until 6 months. The bump was very much visible and her frequent trips to the pantry was making it obvious. :) it's just a choice. Informing manager is understandable. Not obviously informing other colleagues is totally fine :)
     
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  6. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Wait for another two weeks. At 16 weeks, send a small, light email to the ones your interact on a daily basis. For two reasons: you interact with them daily, and you are being excluded from the 'be in office' turn taking.

    You can time that email to be sent out right after the daily morning meeting. Depending on how the meetings end, you can sort of connect the email to the last few minutes of the meeting. I do that sometimes. If there is something I don't feel like saying in a call or meeting, I send an email right after the call. I mention some key thing from the meeting and add what I really want to share.

    Or, send it on a Friday afternoon around an hour before the usual log off time.

    Also, depending on the dynamics of your group, you could ask your boss to share it in the meeting.
     
  7. SinghManisha

    SinghManisha Platinum IL'ite

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    I would be surprised if your boss has not shared this already while assigning the come to office turns to rest of your colleagues. I am sure at least one person would have asked why Angela123 is not included .So I would not bother sending an email or mentioning it until someone brings it up. And sooner or later, you will be asked.
     
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  8. Angela123

    Angela123 Gold IL'ite

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    I am sure if that was me my colleagues might ask me the question directly. We used to have morning meeting just our team on Mondays where I could easily share this, but right now it is the whole department.

    So like @Rihana suggested, I might send the email in couple weeks.

    There is no more than 3-4 people in office a day and so no one can easily tell if I came or not. People go to work site (ours is a civil engineering department) without coming to office, and that still count as an office day. Boss was individually meeting everyone to talk about the day in office and it was like we could pick the day but let him know beforehand. I changed my schedule after the work from home started, this lead to all kinds of questions arising in my mind. On top of that, DH started blaming me for not telling the boss when we got the home pregnancy test positive!!! I didnt want to share then because it was too early.

    Thank you all for the suggestions. I like the idea of sending an email later to the people I interact everyday. May be they already know it, but i feel guilty of not telling them since I already told my boss.
     
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