This has been eating away at me for some time and I need advice how to handle this in the best way. I am in the UK.
I work for a company that is divided by multiple teams that cater to different languages. Ever since I started working in this company over 3 years ago, it was always 3 people supporting the customers in my language, therefore, I am part of a team consisting of 3 people. During quiet periods (spring and summer), 3 of us are more than needed but during busy periods (fall and winter) the work gets overwhelming and it can feel understaffed.
There has a pretty big turnover of staff in the past 3 years but in the end it was me and 2 other women. One of those women has left for maternity leave 2 weeks ago. So now it’s me and another girl. I am currently over 24 weeks pregnant. They are trying to find a new person but it’s challenging plus training takes 2 months on average. Now here is the deal:
My manager asked me if I would be willing to work one week this September 6 days in a row with no break, meaning Monday – Saturday, because the other girl (2 of us left as the 3rd is on maternity leave already) will be on holiday since next Monday and will come back on Tuesday. I appreciated her checking with me and agreed to this. Usually in our company, working weekends is a rare occasion and is done either on the last day of the month or if there is some sort of event. Also working 6 days in a row is not a practise that is accepted in my company. I completely understand that the other girl needs a holiday and as hard as it would be, working on my own for 3 people, it’s only a little longer than 1 week. Plus, that other girl was scheduled to work the Saturday on the last week of September which seemed fair.
Now I check my schedule and without speaking me to, the manager put me to work on that Saturday, last week of September, instead of my colleague. On top of that, my colleague will be on holiday during the last 3 days of September. The last days of the month are the busiest, hence having to work some Saturdays. So all in all, I will be working 6 days in a row, twice in the same month, completely on my own during a busy period. Beginning of October, my colleague will be off for 3 weeks in a row, – 1 week due to participating in the work event + 2 weeks of holiday. This is not something I would be able to handle regularly, let alone pregnant. End of September is when I reach the 3rd trimester.
The less people working, the more calls and after 8 hours of non-stop speaking, the throat can hurt like hell. We get up to 30 min of personal time off per day to use toilet, get water, etc + 1 hour of unpaid lunch so if you need to pee a lot of vomit, chances are you will exceed that 30 min. But truly, it’s not the physical part of the job that is the issue for me. It’s the angry clients who get even more aggressive after having to wait hours to get through with their call. When it’s 3 of us, we each get 1/3 of the aggression and negative emotions and even with 2 people, – you share it together but when it’s me and me alone, all the issues fall onto me. If you ever worked in the customer service industry, you know what I mean.
For maternity leave, I get 90% pay for 8 weeks and the rest is government pay which is around 172£ a week. The SMP (maternity pay) is calculated on the average that you’ve earned in the past 8 weeks. The earliest that one can take maternity leave is 11 weeks prior to due date which for me would mean the beginning of October. If I take leave beginning of October, this would save me from working 3 weeks on my own but would also cost me 11 weeks of pay!
Here’s a kicker, – I am seeing a GP on Monday to discuss my blood pressure which has been elevated for the past 2 months. On top of that, there was protein found in my urine. Physically, I am not exactly doing well. And lastly, I had a missed miscarriage beginning of this year which work knows about so I am more worried.
What do I do? Asking to work part time doesn’t seem worth I because they pay SMP on the average of the last 8 weeks earnings. Do I just leave early? Would be good to have the money coming but I’m scared that being over-worked + constantly dealing with screaming customers could hurt my baby. Or would it not hurt him and I should just push through?