BOSS BULLIES ME IF I LEAVE TO GET KIDS

Dear Coleen

I’VE been working for the same firm for eight years and during that time I’ve had two children.

My old boss was brilliant and let me negotiate part-time hours that involved a bit of work from home.

I proved I could be trusted and I work above and beyond my hours.

However, a new boss started five months ago. She doesn’t have kids and seems to be making life hard.

She’ll call a meeting when she knows I have to leave to pick the kids up from nursery and will make a snide comment as I go.

Now she’s started criticising my work. I’d always had glowing appraisals, now I have bad ones.

I don’t want to rock the boat by complaining. What can I do?

Coleen says

I THINK the boat’s already been rocked and, if it were me, I’d rock the boat so hard I’d make her seasick.

It sounds like this woman is jealous. I don’t know why some women pit themselves against other women. In this case, it sounds like she doesn’t have kids and she’s annoyed you do and that the workplace has bent a little to allow you to do a great job and be a great mum at the same time.

She might see you leaving earlier than her and feel put out, but she won’t appreciate how tough being a mum is when you get back home.

In the first instance, I think you should talk to her and politely and firmly say you don’t understand why she makes comments when you leave at an agreed time and why you’re getting bad appraisals.

If that fails, talk to your HR team. There’s a lot of protection and rights for parents in the workplace these days so get your complaint in writing.

The Government try to get more mums back to work but it’s attitudes like your boss’s that is making their job harder.