There is a new trend among young women who are unhappy at their jobs to get pregnant and go on maternity leave, rather than quit their job or transfer out of their current position. Yesterday I was talking with my friend and co-worker who is extremely unhappy at our bank branch. She has been working at our bank branch for 5 years and feels that the new management strategies are unfair to employees. I asked her why doesn’t she just quit; with her experience and education she could easily find a new position with another financial institution. My co worker replied “I don’t want to quit, I just want to get married and get pregnant.”
Going on maternity leave is an option that allows women to get a break from their current position while still receiving an income, which is usually a percentage of our previous salary. Upon return from maternity leave we are guaranteed to return to our job level, but not necessarily to our exact same position. Using Maternity Leave as a strategy to get out of our current position (rather than quitting our job) only works if our position is replaced permanently, and not just temporarily during our maternity leave. Women go on maternity leave hoping that they are replaced with a permanent employee, this way their position is not available to come back to after maternity leave and they must be transferred to a different department or location.
I had a former co-worker who was unhappy in her position but she was so valuable to our branch that the bank manager would not approve her transfer request. So she got pregnant and went on a 12 month maternity leave. However, the branch manager valued her so much as an employee that her position was only replaced temporarily during her maternity leave. Upon her return from maternity leave she was placed back in the same position at the same branch. She promptly applied for another job in a different bank branch, but once again her transfer request was declined. 4 months after returning to work from her first maternity leave my co-worker once again found herself pregnant and only months away from her 2nd maternity leave. Hopefully the branch manager will be inconvenienced by her repeated leaves and this time she will replace her permanently.
If we are unhappy with our job, the odds are that our employer knows that we are unhappy too; or they at least they should have an idea. Employers can also change or eliminate our role while we are on maternity leave, since only our job level is guaranteed and not our specific position. This strategy is used by Employers who do not want us to return to the same position after maternity leave. They change our current role in hopes that we may not want to come back to a different role. This ensures that the bad relationship stays broken and a fresh face (and attitude) is placed into our (former) position.
I am not sure if I want to have kids, and I admit that the strategy of having children to get out of a job that we hate seems a little bit dramatic. However, if you are a person who wants kids, I guess that there is no time like the present.
Photo by Lina
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
I would rather find a different job than find a permanent solution to a temporary problem! Kids are definitely permanent — a job isn’t. You can always job hunt and find something else…but of course, if you are ready to get pregnant then as you said there is no better time than the present!
Best wishes for your upcoming baby! I consider that everyone should be confirming job for future generation. Thanks a lot :)
Wow…what an interesting strategy! I think it only works if you really want to have kids…otherwise you are actually screwing yourself over.
Kids are definitely permanent, but I guess the strategy of getting pregnant is that a job with the same company where she may already have several years of service will be waiting for the woman when she returns to work from maternity leave. Hopefully it will be a different job at the same pay level. If the mother to be quits her job and hopes to find something else after her maturnity leave there are no guarantees that she will find a job right away. It’s not my strategy, but it is a stragey that is becoming very common among young women in the workplace.
Who in the heck gets paid maternity leave? Oh wait – Canadians. Us Americans are lucky to get 60% of our income for 6 weeks post-birth and then it’s back to work or no $$.
It’s hilarious to me that you wrote about this. The woman in the cubicle next to me at work HATES her job. She is now pregnant with baby number 2 which she is having partially in a bid to get out of her current job. :) It’s hilarious since they wouldn’t transfer her but they’ll have to hire someone when she goes on leave because the other person in her department just quit.
I am not a fan of my job either and if I felt like I was ready for a kid this would be the place to do it. Let’s call it the strategic pregnancy.
The best way to solve a problem is to overcome it, not to hide from it.
I’m a guy, so this pregnancy strategy isn’t an option for me. The owners of my last company were disrespectful and unprofessional, so I found a new job and then I quit. It was one of the best decisions of my life. Not only do I now have the best job of my career, but it was very empowering. I am in control of my career, not the people who pay me to do work.