5 Common Worries Working Women Face When Becoming Pregnant

Finding out that you are pregnant can be equally joyful and worrying at the same time. There is a lot to come to terms with; when do I need to tell my doctor, how will my body change, how will I tell my friends and family…. And the daunting one…. How will it affect my job!. In most cases, depending on your job, your pregnancy won’t affect your ability to work but may bring a few little barriers that need to be considered. Below we touch on five common worries women face when approaching pregnancy and work.

Keeping it a secret

In the early stages of pregnancy, it is common for women to want to keep their pregnancy a secret, particularly in the first trimester. However, with mood swings, fatigue, and the potential for morning sickness to kick in at any minute, it is often hard to keep a pregnancy a secret. Moreover, the early trimester can be a quite stressful and worrying time, and although legally, you don’t need to tell your employer until you are at least 25 weeks pregnant, telling one manager in confidence can help you gain additional support that you may need when dealing with difficult pregnancy symptoms.

Managing Pregnancy Symptoms

With that said, those difficult pregnancy symptoms can come in many forms. Back pain, moody swings, extreme exhaustion, and morning sickness are just a few of the many symptoms that show up during pregnancy. Arming yourself with natural anti-sickness foods such as ginger biscuits, eating small and frequent, increasing the number of hours you sleep, taking regular walking breaks, and adjusting your posture at work can help ease some of the symptoms.

Safety at Work

Depending on your job role, you may need to speak to your human resources department to perform a health risk assessment in your area of work. This can be anything from reducing the manual handling required to do your job or assessing the work environment, such as providing chairs to improve posture, reducing long working hours, or well-ventilated areas if working with toxic substances. If there are risks, your employer should take adequate steps to remove those risks. If there are clear risks, but your employer is not taking adequate steps, you should speak to your trade union or health and safety representative.

Pregnancy Policies and Procedures

Alongside health risks assessments, another thing to consider is your company’s policies and procedures. Pregnant employees usually have (depending on your country’s laws) legal rights to time off for antenatal care, lactation breaks, maternity leave, maternity pay, and protection against unfair treatment or discrimination related to pregnancy. Familiarising yourself with these policies will help you understand your rights and also allow you to plan when you may leave to have your baby.

Returning to work

Although, in the early stages of pregnancy, you may not have even thought about what you will do after the birth of your child. Planning your return to work will enable you to plan your maternity pay or allowance and also explore any changes to working hours that may be needed. It may be that you have a good home support network that will allow you to return to work full time, or you may need to reduce or change your shift patterns following your child’s birth. In this case, you may need to meet with your manager or hr representative to discuss job-sharing options or flexible working before going on maternity leave.

Conclusion:

While pregnancy can bring many worries, employers have many policies and procedures in place to help support you during your pregnancy and ensure you are treated fairly, during pregnancy and after the birth of your child/children. If this is or will be your situation, we wish you the very best of journeys, you got this!

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