When should I tell work that I'm pregnant?

[LuckyTraveller]

The day after I received my results from my 12 scan I went on annual leave for 2 weeks. I went back to work this week and on Monday morning the Director of my department offered me a new position in a different team, which I accepted.

Th earliest I had planned to tell my Manager about my pregnancy was this week but now I'm wondering if it will look odd timing. My 20 week scan is the day after I start my new position and I'm wondering if it's best to wait until then? Or to tell them ASAP?

I want to be fair to my Manager and don't want to seem like I was being sneaky, as the timing for not telling them is purely coincidental!

Any opinions are appreciated!

[TheSeal]

Hi, I think that you need to tell work by week 24 by law, but i am not entirely sure.

In my case, I had to tell them before week 12 cause I was having a really tough 1st trimester and it was affecting my work, I had to stay at home so I had to tell them. If I had a different first trimester, I would have told them after the anomaly scan at 20 weeks. This only because I am a pessimistic person and I wanted to let them know only if I was sure everything was ok. I understand your position, and if I were you I would just be honest with your manager and tell them. I know it happens to be a coincidence so it shouldn't be a big problem, they should understand and this shouldn't affect the new position. Perhaps this is not much of help but that's probably what I would do. Best of luck for everything

[LuckyTraveller in reply to TheSeal]

Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry you had a tough first trimester! I think working from home due to covid meant that I could keep it quiet a lot easier. I couldn't have coped with morning sickness in the office! I hope everything is going/went well with the rest of your pregnancy!

[Seb9]

My opinion would be to not worry about the timing of it, don't think of telling them as a negative. They can't discriminate against you for to your pregnancy and they can't take away your promotion due to it. You have lots of protection as a pregnant lady.

Also some workplace are really lucent about pregnancy, very loving and supportive so their reaction might surprise you.

Congratulations on both the promotion and pregnancy xx

[Bluelady-sing in reply to Seb9]

Congratulations

This is a dilemma it is hard to know when to start a family.

[Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

I took a job in a new team just before I found out I was pregnant and so I was also worried about telling my new boss I was pregnant. I really wish I hadn't worried so much as he was so happy for me. I made the decision to tell people when I did as I was starting to show and I felt people guessing would be worse, I was only about 14 weeks.

[suysuy]

I had a similar case but with my contract renewal. I haven't told my manager or anyone on my team that I'm pregnant and they had to renew my contract around that time. A week later I had my 12th week scan. Right after the scan I've talked to my manager anxiously that I didn't want to tell anyone before seeing a healthy baby and he understood and was happy for me. I didn't want to be seen schemeing or making a fool of them renewing my contract for another year but they considered my pregnancy as something normal it was quite relaxing after.

So I recommend you telling them but you know the people you work with better but don't be anxious about it. It's just life. Plus if you don't want to no one can force you to tell before 1 month of your maternity leave, it's protected by law.

[LuckyTraveller]

Thanks everyone for your comments