She was leading a large team at a manufacturing company in a senior role and had been suffering from common side effects such as insomnia, hot flushes, and feeling emotional from the hormonal changes.
“I did two rounds without even telling them, which was really hard. My boss hounded me to know what was going on,” she said.
After disclosing the IVF treatment “my boss just rang me and said we’re moving you into a different job,” she said.
“There was no warning, no discussion. To everybody else, it looked like a demotion. I didn’t want to tell everyone what I had going on.”
If you are worse at the job then what should the boss do? And is this discrimination, what they’ve done? Other than rational discrimination that is, the sensible thing to do in the circumstances?
“To everybody else, it looked like a demotion.”
But was it a demotion? Was she earning less? Does your boss have a duty to manage your colleagues’ perceptions? Couldn’t she just tell them it wasn’t a demotion?
Wouldn’t happen in the Skiving Service
If the bos had left her in a job she was clearly struggling in, the article would be about the lack of support she had.
Daniel: spot on.
More likely to everyone else it looked like: “why are they giving her special treatment if she’s not up to the job?”, or “phew, now we can get things done properly, now she’s out of the way.”
My boss hounded me to know what was going on,” she said.
Evidently her boss had concerns about her performance and/or behavior for awhile. And rather than fully disclose to the boss and work with said boss to address his concerns, she decided to ignore his concerns and carry on as if nothing was wrong.
Brilliant.
So… When she finally did disclose, it was well past the point where the boss felt he could work with her to get the situation fixed.
Again, brilliant.
There’s a two-way street aspect to this that Little Missy seems to have missed: If you want your boss to support you, you need to engage with him. Other People (like bosses) often appreciate open and honest communication. You know, being forthright.
I don’t know about anyone else, but if I had a employee with performance issues who resolutely refused to engage with me about those issues, I’d do exactly what Boss Man did in this instance… Get rid of the employee.