Cack yourself silly with this Dilbert cartoon from here.
A heavily pregnant senior Manager calls me to discuss her upcoming maternity leave. She works, on average, a 50-60 hour week and is concerned that no obvious plans have been made by her manager for a maternity leave replacement.
That's no problem, I say, perhaps your manager needs a gentle reminder. I comment that it is unusual that I haven't been consulted on this but I'd be happy to work out a few options to present to her manager.
Later that day the heavily pregnant senior Manager calls me, a little shaken. "I spoke to my manager about a maternity leave replacement and that we had spoken and he is absolutely furious. He said that I am HIS employee and it is nothing to do with HR whether he has organised a maternity leave replacement or not."
Then to show that his maturity has no bounds he doesn't speak to her for more than two weeks.
9 comments:
From the parent's perspective, it's amazing how unimportant all these work "issues" become once the kid is born. Suddenly, work is not the be-all and end-all of your existence.
I'd be saying to the pregnant manager, "In a few months time, you won't give a bugger what your stupid manager thinks. You'll have more important things to worry about."
Having kids is a wonderful thing for introducing a bit of perspective into one's life.
Another case of wouldn't it be different if men carried and birthed babies...
Nice to "see" you again!
What Tracey said! If only men were the incubators!!
Umm.... high school, much?
So, if maternity leave is not an HR issue, what is it? Logistics?
Unless, Boy on a bike, she spends the whole period of mat leave with her manager ringing her up expecting her to keep working (seriously, my friend spent all of her three months leave with the first kid explaining to her boss that she couldn't just work from home), or asking when she'll be back, or wondering if she'll have a job to come back to. Children also tend to solidify ones resolve to earn a living and keep a roof over ones head.
I hope your colleague has the sense to keep her phone turned off once she goes on maternity leave.
I'm sorry but that woman's manager is an arsehole, and far too immature to be in charge of other people.
Unbelievable!
And very, very sad.
Why does MOTHERHOOD not matter more? Quite apart from the loss of productivity in the workplace....
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