Q: My work has finally offered me the promotion I've been hoping for. It would mean taking the lead on a big project running for the next three years, but I'm trying to get pregnant and I don't know whether it would be right for me to take the job, or if I ought to tell them. What do you think?
A: I can understand that you must feel torn about this. If you have been with this company for a long time you must feel loyal to them, and you don't want to let them down.
Before you even get pregnant you might not have any idea of when you'd want to go back to work after having a baby, if you'd request flexitime, or whether you would want to go back at all.
Do you really think your manager would be upset if you took the new role and became pregnant straight away? Many employers can surprise you with their views.
They might just congratulate you and buy you a nice set of babygrows. Bear in mind it would actually be illegal for a company to discriminate against a woman because she was pregnant.
You say you've wanted the promotion for years so I assume you are passionate about this opportunity. If your employers feel that you are the best person for the job, and you feel you are the best person for the job, I would be inclined to say keep your mouth shut about your baby plans.
I imagine that if you didn't take this job you would always regret it, and you might find it hard watching someone else doing things differently to how you would have tackled the role.
Besides, you never know what is round the corner and it could take some time for you to conceive. If you do get pregnant, make sure you do the best handover you can before you leave to lessen the impact of a change of leader mid way through the project.
If you wanted to, you could ask to attend 'keep in touch days' while on maternity leave to make sure your knowledge of what is happening is up to date . Good luck!
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