Yesterday I was in my car with my boss driving to a meeting. We start talking baby and that evolved into him asking "How long are you planning on taking off for maternity?". Now, here's the kicker...and most women would be horrified at his train of thinking : "Two weeks? A month?" The lovely thing about this is that my boss's wife went back to work after two weeks. Needless to say she owns her own business, is 10 years older than I am and they have a live in nanny. At this point I thought if I said "the whole 12 weeks", he would veer off the road. I mean, we are a small firm...I make up 1/4 of the architects and we have, thankfully, a lot of projects going on right now (in this economy). But, I have not met a mom who is happy she went back to work early or even after 12 weeks, and I want all of that time with my child. I would like more if I could swing it. Here's the real kick in the pants... If I say, "to hell with you" and quit, it may be harder to get another job in this economy... John makes decent coin, but I am not sure we can do the one person salary with a newborn.
Right now, I really really dislike my boss' wife for setting a terrible precedent and making him think this is all reasonable. On the bright side, if there is one in this scenario, they are being "totally flexible" and letting me work from home. I am no expert, but I think babies need a ton of attention and how I am going to fit work in between meeting O's needs (and my own). Maybe it will work out, but what if it doesn't?
So, let this be a lesson to all of you working women with the hopes of having a baby...if you work in a small firm, make sure you know what your employer's expectations are. I mean, because of FMLA, they HAVE to hold my job, but I have my hands in so much at this point they would really suffer if I was gone for that long, even with a temporary replacement. And believe me, in this economy, that is like blood in the water.
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