Pregnanc and the cold boss

Oct 31, 2008

“I WAS depressed,” Norah summarises her woes at work, the day she started showing. One’s pregnancy is part of her private life, right? Not in Norah’s case. She had become like an abomination in her boss’s sight. It mattered less that she had informed the boss as soon as she had found out.

BY SUSAN MUYIYI

“I WAS depressed,” Norah summarises her woes at work, the day she started showing. One’s pregnancy is part of her private life, right? Not in Norah’s case. She had become like an abomination in her boss’s sight. It mattered less that she had informed the boss as soon as she had found out.

But to Norah’s boss, a woman who gets pregnant, moreover out of wedlock, cannot work normally. From the time she made the revelation, Norah was never given significant assignments. For Stella, the case is different, she can’t get pregnant, as this, according to one of her supervisors, would jeopardise her prospects of moving up.

What’s a girl to do especially in Norah’s shoes, having to face her boss on a daily basis? Eseza Byakika, the human resource manager at the National Housing and Construction Coperation, says it is wrong for a supervisor to discriminate against an employee who is pregnant under any circumstances.

Byakika gives tips on how to deal with such negativity at the workplace.”
_ Don’t keep quiet about it because it will obviously disrupt your work. Talk to your supervisor about it before involving a third party and if this fails, involve counsellors and other people your supervisor looks up to. Discuss rather than confront him/her to avoid being misunderstood.

_ As much as you have to respect your boss, he/she is legally not supposed to influence or control your personal life. He/she has no say in personal things like how you got pregnant.

_ Never react to verbal assault and harsh treatment with emotion lest you spark a war of egos. You might become a target for more attacks.

_ You can’t do much to change a difficult boss, especially if it is part of their personality. Work on changing the way you view their behaviour. But you don’t have to take ill treatment at the hands of a cruel boss, it is your right not to.

_ Be professional because you are employed to do a job. Your boss doesn’t have to be your friend, get the job done and carry out their instructions as a subordinate.

_ To the boss, it is important that a supervisor leaves his or her personal opinions and views on life out of their professional work. As the boss, you to an extent, control your subordinates’ work by appraising them and giving instructions, but there is a line to draw when it comes to their personal lives. Unless an employee’s pregnancy is compromising her work, it is not fair to impose your beliefs or to discriminate against them for their personal choices.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});