Telling your male boss

aszul · September 2014

Is anyone else nervous about telling their male bosses? I am and I'm not even sure why?

Duffgurl · September 2014

No. With my 1st pregnancy it was a breeze and my office was really happy for us.

bowman958 · September 2014

I was. I felt like a 15 year old telling my dad I was pregnant. It was totally fine though, he was excited and happy.

catlover790 · September 2014

I have a female boss but I would phrase it the same way as I would for a male, personally. I want to be professional and just say that I'm pregnant and here is whe I am due, and this is approximately how much time off I plan to take etc.

lindsayanne14 · September 2014

I didn't, I told my boss very early on. We are pretty close, I would consider him a friend. If I didn't have a close relationship with him I would probably have waited longer and just told him the basics but I don't think I would have been nervous.

anna&jl2011 · September 2014

No. My boss is old enough to be my father but I can tell him anything. He's super cool. He's known since very early.

wolowizard · September 2014

I told my male boss around 7 weeks. It wasn't weird at all.

jackieanddan1989 · September 2014

I can understand why telling a male boss might be nerve-racking if he has a chauvinistic attitude or if you've had problems with him before. My boss is female and very approachable so I had no reason to be nervous but I still was. In fact I got nervous before telling anyone, even family, for no reason at all!

Just remember if you're concerned about how he'll take it, your job is protected by law if you work for a company with 15 or more employees.

klynn0423 · September 2014

Nope. My boss is very approachable with things like this and has 3 young kids of his own. I haven't spilled the beans about this pregnancy yet but telling him about my last one went very well and I don't expect this time to be any different.

fiscally3 · September 2014

I wasn't with my first two, but my former boss is gay, and often is more of an "aunt" to friends kids. That being said, when I came back from maternity leave, I was a little annoyed that HR left it to him to discuss with me the use of the nursing room (clearly he was uncomfortable with the discussion, and honestly there are a lot of male bosses who would be much more awkward.) Thought maybe, that would be a better discussion run by HR as it really had nothing to do with him, especially since our HR staff was completely run by women who were also moms.

nfresh29 · September 2014

I accepted a transfer to another office in my agency right before I found out I was pregnant. I've been holding off telling my boss mainly because he's been my manager for only a week now.

I'm hoping to hold off until I start to show. I should be able to function in my job a little more as I'll be trained and doing my routine work.

fartsandcrafts · September 2014

Totally dreading it, despite being close with him and having worked here for 3 years. Not because he's a guy, just because he's unprofessional in all aspects and this will be no different. I work for a very small company so FMLA goes out the window. I'm just going to aim to be as professional as possible. Hoping to find a different position after my maternity leave.

kariemomo · September 2014

I have a male boss, I'm pretty sure he thought I was dying at first with the way I worded it. But he was very excited, and has been incredibly concerned with all the shenanigans I've been through all ready. Always asking how I'm feeling and wants to make sure I've eaten.

crossfit704 · September 2014

I have a male boss and he is the bomb. We were friends before I worked for him so it really was no biggie. I told him the same time we started telling people around 8.5 weeks. He was a rockstar. We also have been traveling a good deal and if anything he is over worried "do you need to eat?" "tell me if we need to stop" "are you sure you're good to fly next week" blah blah blah.

His dad who technically owns the company (kind of just a figure head now) is slightly crazy and is concerned about everything I do. "Ohhhh don't pick up that box its too heavy and you're….you know….with child." This can be like a 5lb box. To which every time I explain to him that I am still working out an throwing 100+ lbs over my head regularly.

So they are all great if anything over cautious. Ha! The women in the office are just over excited.

awodash · September 2014

I finally told one of my bosses today. It went so well I have no idea why I was nervous. I knew his daughters had been in this similar situation but he also told me his first was born was when he was 18. He's super supportive about it. As for the rest of my coworkers I'm just going to let one person figure it out and then it'll spread like wild fire.

lantzysa · September 2014

I am telling my work partner tomorrow and am up right now thinking about it. Basically she will have to do the work of two people while I'm gone and I plan on taking the full 12 weeks. We are a crisis service intervention team for the Department of Corrections therefore they will not even attempt to fill my spot while I'm gone. She can be incredibly selfish and I know she will not take this news well. I think because I am 35 and have not had children she thought I was out of the game. I'm just trying to remember that no one can steal your joy, we all have the right to reproduce (and recover from it) and as long as you continue to work to the best of your ability, then there is nothing for anyone to bitch about. Now to just shut my brain off...

jk3610 · September 2014

i told the HR rep yesterday and am telling my 3 supervisors on Sunday. one of them (the "main one", if you will) is a male, and i'm only nervous because i dislike him in general. lol. not really because of his gender. he's just an ass.

happylife94 · September 2014

I'm nervous. I just came back from maternity leave in December, and I feel like I still haven't totally gotten the hang of being a full-time working mom yet. Especially in an industry where you're largely measured by how many hours you work. I'm also afraid that I'm going to cry when I tell my work (I've told a couple peers). My DH and I are super excited and happy about having another baby, but these damn hormones have made me into a crier!

mhickey426 · October 2014

He was super excited for me both times. I was nervous r about telling my other boss who is a nun because last time the first words out of her mouth was "all I'm thinking is maternity leave" even before congrats

bmblebea · October 2014

I have a friend who didn't want to tell our male boss at the time bc she was like "he's going to know I had sex" this was years ago and I still crack up thinking about her not wanting to tell him. He left and we have a female boss now but I had to tell a bunch of male coworkers and it was fine. We're all just humans anyway

mhickey426 · October 2014

snegde said:

mhickey426 said:
who is a nun because last time the first words out of her mouth was "all I'm thinking is maternity leave" even before congrats
She might be a nun but she might have missed something in the teachings of the Catholic Church.

I was shocked and yet wasn't. I should have said I was being a good catholic and not using birth control.

Ereynold · October 2014

aszul said:
Is anyone else nervous about telling their male bosses? I am and I'm not even sure why?

Aszul check your bump inbox.

knjzacher · October 2014

I had to tell my male boss around 7 weeks because I started with the violent puking and running out of rounds and patient rooms to ralph in the garbage. He is very sweet, understanding and I had no problem talking to him.
I've never really worked in a professional office setting, so I guess I don't know what it would be like to work for a male who would be more on the chauvinistic end of the personality scale. Good luck to the ladies having to deal with that!

keifekm · October 2014

I told my male boss on Friday and it went really well. He seemed genuinely happy for us and was already asking about the sex. Good luck, I am sure it will go fine.

skinamarinkadinkado2 · October 2014

I didn't have to tell my supervisor as one of my coworkers beat me to it while all three of us were talking and I just looked at him and said surprise! .. hes been pretty generous given the fact that I don't think he had any clue what's actually going on with me and my body. He's as single as you can get with no children, sometimes his comments are irritating and insensitive but he's also very curious as well. It makes for an.interesting work atmosphere. I wouldn't be nervous if I were you unless you just don't like him.

lilann2011 · October 2014

I told mine and it wasn't bad

I just made sure to take him aside and tell him that I have some "exciting news" to share. I think they like when you tell them first before others...as long as you approach it as a happy thing I can't see them coming back negative. Good luck!!

Want a personalized experience?

Telling your male boss

Re: Telling your male boss

Choose Another Board

Search Boards