How has work treated you?

[Laurenmomma]

I currently work full time for a very large house builder. It's a male industry and I'm the only female in my job however I feel like I'm treated so differently it's getting me down!

I have worked here for 14 months and since I have started took on my own site which was going well, then Yesterday I was told I now have 3 more sites for me to progress.

I have had no pay rise at all however took on so much more work. Also for the past year I have had to drive my senior around due to him getting a driving ban, this has held me back as I couldn't concentrate on my own site so couldn't progress as it meant I was out of the office a lot. He has now got his licence back and has handed his notice in for a much higher paid position. I added so much extra miles, wear and tear and petrol to my car yet received no extra money.

Now I'm 15 weeks pregnant, I havnt officially told them but my manager had guessed and asked me while we were on our Christmas do but I didn't answer him!

Now I'm the only person that hasn't had a promotion or payrise nor have I had a development review even though this happens for everyone every 6 months.

I was pregnant earlier this year however delivered the baby at 21 weeks which hit me hard and I was off for 2 months however felt like I was forced back!

I just feel like they treat me so different. Iv expressed my concerns and I just get fobbed off!

Sorry for the long post I just don't know where to turn! I know I am paid well under what the standard is for my position, probably about 6k plus car allowance under!

 

[arturia]

That's pretty awful. Sounds to me like you need to consider finding a new place of employment. Though I definitely understand if there are complications relating to coverage and whatnot, I'd just suggest not going back to THIS company once you're ready to return to work.

My current employer essentially doesn't treat me any different now that I'm pregnant. I get curious questions from the other employees and my boss raving about the merits of parenthood (he has grown kids) but otherwise my workload remains unchanged.

 

[gigglebox]

How's work? Well my boss is a jerk, cares not for my needs at all, and screams at me a lot. He demands things usually by saying, "I want xyz" and if I don't get it immediately or ask him to say "please", he yells at me. As much as I try to keep a schedule for efficiency, he rejects it...granted, I'm a stay at home mom and my boss is my 4 year old, but I'd also like a raise

Ok, all joking aside, is there a superior you can speak with? I worked through and after my first pregnancy in a company with a much higher female to male ratio, HOWEVER the males held the top positions in the company. I was pissed because I hadn't had a decent raise in some time, and I was busting my ass doing my job as well as taking on responsibilities from another coworker who was fired. What I ended up doing was going over the head of my direct supervisor and talking to the vp who I had a decent relationship with. I stated my case -- that I was working several jobs within the company and I was an asset because I was good at my job, PLUS I had saved them a lot of money negotiating bills with doctors' offices -- and I backed up that statement with paperwork of exactly when those money saving incidences happened. I didn't threaten to leave or anything, I just made a case and said I felt I should be considered for a raise. He agreed and I did get a raise.

I'm not sure if that helps, but that's what worked for me. In my experience, man are very logical and hard evidence and reason works better than feelings. If you want to explain why you should get a raise, you need facts, not feelings. In otherwords, had I said I was tired because I was working hard, or that the work was frustrating, that would be a lot less effective than talking about the work itself.

Hope that helps!

Edited to add: my direct superior was a female, and she was thoughtless B who sucked at her job. I eventually found a new job and learned that she was fired not too long after I left...so it's not necessarily men being jerks.mthey just operate differently, like we do. I don't want to seem like I'm hating on men!

I also agree with arturia, if you can't reach a compromise or find reason to stay, a change in jobs might be in order...though being pregnant, I know it's an added layer...

 

[SonnyH]

That sounds really rubbish no work environment should treat you differently because you are a woman although I appreciate that's an ideal world. Is there anyone a lot more senior you can raise your concerns too? I personally would be thinking about changing jobs if it continued and you believed you were being underpaid because of your gender. It may not be the right time now but after baby is born perhaps? I'm not sure where you are based? But certainly in the UK, you are entitled to regular reviews and they'd have to have a good reason to justify not giving you a pay rise if all your colleagues did. You could go to an employment tribunal or have you spoken to HR if your immediate colleagues just keep fobbing you off? I also think it sounds like it might be quite important to tell your employer you are pregnant if you are on building sites? Again, I'd have though there are steps they have to take to ensure your safety. I work in an office and I've had multiple safety reviews! It's a bit overkill for an office but it ticks their HR boxes I suppose!

My work have been v good. I work in publishing, so gender wise it's split fairly 50/50 but managerial is more male heavy for sure. My manger and his manager are both male and could not have been kinder about my pregnancy. I was in and out a lot early on due to bad morning sickness and it was never a problem, they were very sympathetic. My manager really is a rare breed though, he is unbelievably kind and flexible to work/life and your needs as a person and not just a robotic worker!

 

[alliekatt]

I'm a heavy equipment opperator in a male dominated company. I was underpaid for a couple years but never said much about it. It simply took me some time to work up the guts to ask for more. They obliged when I brought it up and now I'm fairly paid. I'm also pregnant in a male dominated field and it's the first for my company. It's a rather large construction company (about 200 male field staff, 3 female field staff) and I'm the first field woman to last so long at this company, five years now, and the first field pregnancy. They weren't really sure what to do with me at first since I can no longer do 50% of my job tasks. They did strongly convey this message though. It's the first and they want to do it right! I've been very lucky. I've been treated with alot of understanding and my work duties have been fairly modified to suit my needs at this time. They aren't forcing anything on me and I've been allowed to continue working for as long as I'm comfortable.

In all honesty if I had been treated the way you were for so long I would have left years ago. It's certainly a rough time to leave but if it takes some of the stress off I'm sure it's better for the baby in the long run anyways. Are you part of a union? Can u file a grievance or a report with your human resource office? Union and human resources were my first calls when I hit 3 monthes pregnant. I was scared they would find some excuse to weed me out of the company or lay me off before I was ready. This was the best thing I could do. I found out what all my rights were and spoke honestly to my bosses about those initial calls as soon as I felt comfortable enough to share my pregnancy news with everyone. It turned out fantastic. Lots of stories and support from all around. I was blown away but how supportive everyone was. I wish nothing more then the same for every pregnant working woman out there. Best of luck!

 

[jessmke]

My job hasn't outright treated me unfairly, but I am starting to get nervous that I am going to get laid off. I came back from maternity leave a month ago, and am pregnant again. They brought me back, but didn't technically hold my job for me (as they are required to do by law) so on the 4 days a week that I am there I am just an extra person and there often isn't enough work for everyone to do and people complain that there are too many people there. I am worried they are going to claim that there isn't enough work load to justify my position and will lay me off. They can't get rid of me because I am pregnant, but they can do lay offs if there isn't a large enough work load. If that happens I will talk to the labour board because they didn't hold my job for me as they are required to do. They should have hired someone to cover my 1 year mat leave, and then that person should have left when I came back to work. I am stressing over it because it will be very difficult for me to find a job while pregnant because there are quite a few pretty major areas of my job that I can't do while pregnant (like taking X-rays) so if I am interviewing for jobs while visibly pregnant no one will hire me. I need to work at least 600 hours in order to qualify for my next maternity leave so I may end up trying to find a job outside of my field, which would really suck because before going on my first mat leave I had just finished school so I could start working in this new field.

 

[PhoenixCT]

I've had decent employers and awful ones. I too work in a male dominated industry. IT Engineering. In most cases you will always have to work harder AND be better than your male peers to be treated the same, that fact I've never been able to escape.

I'm at a place now that while I still get labeled things like "aggressive" because I am not intimidated by people who are threatened by my competence, they realize my value and that I am actually the best they have. So when I announced my pregnancy they were accommodating, supportive and have not treated me different than they did before they knew...at least thus far.

If they treat you like crap all around, I'd either stick it out until after maternity leave, or find a new job now.

 

[Laurenmomma]

I'm struggling to find a job whilst pregnant my whole experience has put me off the industry altogether �� And it's took me 2 years of paying for my own night college along with long late nights after work to get a qualification!

I know the company needs me now more than ever, the two other men in my team will be gone at the end of the month!

One of my major gripes is their reluctance to give me a company car, even though I'm entitled to it in my contract. Iv basically been told fund your own new car because one won't come available (they don't know that, it only takes one person in the company to leave and I take their car!) but for the past year Iv bore the brunt of unnecessary journeys in my own car with no extra pay which has resulted in me having to pay the finance company extra for the extra miles Iv done which has meant extra servicing too!

I can't handle the stress and if we could live just off my partners wage I would leave tomorrow! They are not flexible at all, like I finish at 5 and kids nursery closes at half 5 yet I wouldn't get there until 5.40, any other reasonable company would say go in earlier, which I often do, and finish that ten minutes earlier. Yet mine won't, even though I'm mainly office based I have to stay til 5 meaning I have to pay someone to pick my kids up and keep them that extra 10 minutes!

It's been getting me down for months ��

 

[Laurenmomma]

Also, the only person above my director is the managing director, where most of the problems come from! He's a dinosaur and doesn't promote women in my work, he's never even had a conversation with me!

Our HR department is the md's secretary who is always of focus sick with a bad back and is rather old yet the group HR if we went to them it would be opening a can of worms!

I just don't know what to do!