Celebrate your pregnancy at work

Is it true that some ladies take advantage of their pregnancy to go slow on their performance at work or is it always that it is the body that decides to naturally slow down a lady at that season? Joyce Mwangi, the HR Manager at Help Age International, provided some insights into this dilemma. She starts by indicating that the behavior of a lady during pregnancy is usually determined by two factors, mainly the bodily reactions and the work environment. 

As much as it is true that the hormonal imbalances within a pregnant woman’s body naturally slows her down, there are documented cases of women slowing themselves down and taking advantage of their situation. According to Joyce, when the work environment is appreciative and supportive to a pregnant woman, the tendency is that she will push herself beyond limits to remain productive and an active team member. However, in situations when the work environment does not seem to respect her and appears inconsiderate of her state, the pregnant woman would easily decide to take advantage of her state to fully withdraw from the workplace. Such ladies have been known to take time off to visit the antenatal clinic for long hours and severally fails to turn back to work or reports very late in the afternoon.

There also seems to be a difference between how majority of private sector and not for profit sector players treat women who are expectant. Through observation, Joyce notes that the private sector tends to exert more undue pressure on pregnant workers as compared to  the not for profits. As much as the not-for-profit sector, and this includes the government, would consider hiring temporary replacement to fill in the gap when the pregnant woman is immobilized, the private sector insists on saving costs by distributing the roles to the other staff. No wonder the rest of the staff do not approve of a pregnancy among the team members since it implies more work at no extra pay.

Getting pregnant while working should be a reason to celebrate. Celebrate life and celebrate the opportunity given to you to bring up new life. This is sacred. There have been cases of women being discriminated against at their workplaces by virtue of being pregnant. This is against the Employment Act (2007: 5:3a) which expressly states that a worker shall not be discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy.

Due to the concerns above, it is however important for the pregnant woman to be considerate of the welfare of the other staff, as much as all life at work ‘revolves around her’. The lady should ensure she sets up and implements a clear handing over and coaching processes to ensure the staff who are left when she departs for maternity have a seamless transition. This is important for both the woman and the company as the results are sustained while the lady ensures her work flow is not significantly disrupted by her brief maternity leave.

Finally, in the process of adjusting to the new found state, the pregnant woman should consider potential risks at work and discuss suggested means of avoiding them with her supervisor. She should be keen not to lift heavy luggage, not to sit or stand for long hours and also avoid working for long hours or working in areas with heavy concentration of industrial chemicals. All these have a potential effect on the pregnancy and could lead to regrets later on. Consider your health and the health of your unborn child even as you navigate your way through the job tasks.

Don’t let your High School scores squeeze you into a box

The results of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) are out. Jubilation and disappointment fill the air in almost equal measure. Some parents feel like they have received the greatest of the expected rewards from their children by virtue of good performance. For others, the results seem to be an indicator of lack of honor. The happy parents are up and about telling all and sundry about their impressive performance while the parents of students who did not perform as well could be tempted to hide their faces from society due to the self-instilled shame and disillusionment.
 

It seems the pressure to perform well in the national examinations seem to be gripping the parents even more than the students. No wonder, parents wait for the results with more anxiety than the students. The reason could be that the students imagine at the back of their minds that regardless of their performance, the parents will scratch their way to getting a way past the exam results.

Not all parents however get through this season unscathed. We have overheard parents tell their children that if they perform poorly in the national exams, they should seek for other persons to call mummy or daddy. This clearly indicates that for some parents, their attachment and love for their children is highly dependent on the results of the exams. In other words, some parents’ love is conditional. You perform well, you are my child; you perform poorly, you call another person your mummy or daddy.

This can be height of great levels of frustration among the candidates who fail to perform well. The irony however is that in some cases, bright students perform poorly in national examinations due to the tension they experience as they sit for their exams as a result of the pressure piled on them by their parents. Such students get into the exam room under threat and easily leads to loss of memory or concentration. 

Our education system has placed more premium on the passing in national examinations even when the playing ground is not fair. Some students undergo learning experiences in more endowed environments than others yet this is never a consideration when setting the national examinations since the national examinations are set based on the expected ideal situations.  

This is hence a perfect time for parents and students to take a break and reflect on the life past and the life ahead. With the grades in your hands, what can you make out of them? Remember that the grades should never be a determinant of your future life as a student, whether they are impressive or not. The exams could just have served to indicate that you are not wired for the academics. Since the verdict is out, seek for vocational opportunities or creative arts that you could be best wired for. Dare I mention that the fact that you have scored the highest of the marks does not necessarily mean that you squeeze into the box prepared in advance for you by the society. Getting an ‘A’ does not necessarily mean you can make an engineer or a doctor. There is more to career choice than mere KCSE grades. 

The grades could simply be a sign that you can remember what you learned. Your personality and interests matters in career choice. Open up your world and explore the limitless opportunities that exist. Thank God for KCSE and seek guidance from professionals as you make the next move. It might just be what will eventually determine your satisfaction for the rest of your life.

Give your employer adequate notice period

This may sound like a fiction but it is an actual experience as narrated by a HR practitioner. One Monday morning, she realized that one of the staff had not reported to work by 11am and since the said employee had not indicated he would be reporting late that day, the HR Officer picked up her phone and called the staff. To her shock, the staff received the call and indicated that he would not be reporting to work that morning as he had gotten another job the previous week. This sounded like a dream. How would a staff get a new job opportunity on Wednesday and with no notice whatsoever, fail to report to his workplace the following week and only let the employer know about the change when called to check on his whereabouts?

This was a shocker. The staff went on and informed the employer that he was considering passing by the office the same week on Thursday to collect the cheque for the number of days worked that month and the accruing benefits. This does not sound real but believe it or not, some of the staff working for companies are not aware or are just ignorant of the expectations of the notice period as part of their employment contracts.

Most of the employment contracts have a requirement that the employee gives agreed upon notice of intention to resign. Failure to provide this notice requires the employee to pay an amount equivalent to the notice period otherwise referred to as payment in lieu of notice. The expectation of the notice period is important as it helps the employer make proper plans to replace your function or to reorganize the team so that the work flow is not affected. This is good practice.

Let us have a quick shift to the work environment that is your own home. For those of us who have engaged the services of a house helper, it is usually mayhem and distress whenever the house help has left over the weekend and fails to turn up on Sunday evening as expected. Women are especially worst affected as they are forced to quickly call their bosses requesting for a few days off to sort out the challenge at home. And you would bear me witness that even with the few days, you are still not guaranteed of getting a helper who well fits the bill. The pressure is real and you would not want to go through it, neither would you then want to take your employer through the same.

I have overheard some employees indicate that they would hand in their resignations immediately after receiving their monthly pay cheque, especially those with no benefits to tie them to the employer. As much as they feel they have won a score against their ex employers, it serves as an effective way of burning bridges. This is a truly small world and you never know when and where your paths will cross again. As long as you are in the society, seek to treat all people with all due respect and honor as you would also not wish someone treats you with dishonor, not even your house help.

At the point when you are being hired for a new position, the interviewers always seek to know about your availability to take up the new job. In common practice, many potential employers would expect you to provide for the notice period to your current boss. In the event you do not indicate you would have to provide this notice, it could easily lead to your failure to get the job as the feeling would be that if you claim you would be available immediately, the potential employer should also expect the same treatment when your time to depart comes.

Keep Your Private Life, Private.

Doris was getting a bit anxious as the interview date drew closer. She wondered whether she would have to indicate to the panel that she has a child who desires close and tender care. Her boy child has some disability that resulted from a birth defect and this has been a key concern as she engages with a new workplace. She is a great staff with enviable skills but would appreciate being considered for preferential treatment to enable her take care of her child and at the same concentrate on her tasks. She went through the interview process successfully without having to mention to the panel anything about her private concern.

A few months down the lane, she is however considering telling her boss of her need for flexi-time to allow her to address personal matters. The boss, out of curiosity has requested if he could know the main reason why Doris wants to be considered for flexible working hours. This has thrown her into a spin. Should she tell the boss her personal matters or should she just insist the issue is personal and must not reveal the details? This is one of the tensions that staff go through at work. What should they consider telling their bosses and what would rather be kept private?

When it gets to private life at work, consider keeping them to yourself. There is no need to let the whole office know the ups and downs of your personal life. Keeping your home and work lives separate ensures that your personal matters never jeopardize your position in the work place. You do not want to influence the perception of your workmates about yourself by revealing to them information that would rather have been kept private. Not even your boss has the right to know what private issues you are facing. 

There are however incidences where you feel like you need to share with a senior about your experiences. In this case, schedule a meeting alone with your supervisor especially if you feel that your problems are negatively affecting your performance at work. He may have been wondering why you haven't quite been yourself lately. Tell your boss that you're dealing with a difficult private matter that you'd rather not discuss in detail. Ask for adequate time off in the form of leave if you need it and be sure to use this time to deal with your personal issues so that you return to work refreshed and ready to jump back into your routine.

It is always important to note that not all persons at your work place are your secret admirers. Some of your workmates are eagerly seeking for leaks on your life challenges to splash your struggles in public in their bid to shame you. As much as you may be telling your boss some of your challenges in good faith, not all have the gift of keeping secrets. Some have been found sharing with other members of management ‘as they seek for advice on how to best support you’ and with this; the cat is ejected out of the bag into the corridors. In cases where you are personal friends with the boss, there is room to share such personal information but away from the precincts of the office. Look for other forums where you could sit and chat from an informal perspective. In a nutshell, keep your private issues to yourself. You can rest assured; your bosses have managed to keep theirs away from you.

You could search for a job jointly

We are undoubtedly in a competitive world. From the early years in school, we are pitted against each other. We even hear of some schools that grade the performance of children from as early as kindergarten. Through school life, we get through a system that keeps us actively competing for positions and our parents make it worse by insisting we have to be number one. Would you wonder how many number ones we would have in a class if all the parents had their way?
 

It is usually interesting to see this competition flow into adult life when people living in the same estate compete to acquire the newest model of a car or the hottest fashion designs. We are truly deeply sunk in competition. We have no space to complement what others are doing and have no hope to find support from others since no one wants to share opportunities with us, lest we grab them from them. This trend has resulted in high competition at work with staff hiding information from each other and backstabbing each other to ensure they gain an edge against their colleagues.

Imagining that you could consider joint job search is hence out of this world for many people. How would you even imagine that you could consider involving a friend in search for a job especially if you possess similar qualifications and aspirations? How would you react if a friend seeking for a job like yours invited you for a joint effort towards the process? Would you imagine the process would be to your disadvantage or would you hope the process would lead you closer to clinching your dream job?

Joint job search is an interesting mechanism. It involves joint search for adverts and available opportunities and support for each in the development and packaging of the CVs and cover letters. And since we all have our own unique traits and qualities, joint job seekers send their applications to the same potential employers and hope both of them or one of them would be invited for the interview.

Then, the second level of potential competition sets in. Would you share information about the expected questions at the interview? In case you know something about the interviewing organisation that your friend does not, how far would go to share that information with her? Would you want to consider the information you possess as your competitive advantage or would you willingly share the information wishing each other the best?

The experience I have had in recruitment suggests you can rarely develop a script of how an interview process would run. Interview processes take their own shape depending on the responses of the interviewee and so some questions are not necessarily asked to all interviewees. The fact that you know something about a company does not necessarily place you at an advantage. The interviewers may not value the extra bullet knowledge you possess.

Drop your guards; look around for other people seeking for the same kind of jobs and form a job search team. Share all information about available opportunities and coach each other on responding to job adverts and bask in the glory of friends getting employed one after the other. You may just be shocked at the possibility of some of your friends calling you on board once they get employed.