PREGNANT WORKERS
Since studies show that supervisors view female workers as less committed to their job to begin with, it's hard to imagine that getting pregnant is a good career move. That's why researchers were surprised by the performance reviews they found at one New York bank.
"We expected to find lower performance ratings for pregnant women," says Hal Gueutal, Ph.D. "We found exactly the opposite."
"Why would job ratings go up? It could be that women work harder during pregnancy to assuage coworkers concerned that they won't do their share. "They want to come back on good terms," observes Gueutal, professor of management at the State University of New York at Albany.
Another possibility: bosses judge pregnant workers more leniently to "assist" them. Thanks for the sympathy, guys, but we'd gladly trade it for some on-site child care . . . .
