Speaker 1: It's time for the b A keep a heard what
Speaker 1: you say to you A man?
Speaker 2: Dad, b agg q A let me ag q a A.
Speaker 1: Hey, beautiful girl.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: I realized we were both like singing but like looking
Speaker 3: down like well, I wasn't singing so much. I was
Speaker 3: supporting it, supported bop. I love the support of black
Speaker 3: Girl blop.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we got a nice chalky email from anonymous,
Speaker 2: but we're gonna.
Speaker 3: Call her mm hmmm pregnant and needing a raise, pregnant Penny.
Speaker 1: Pregnant Penny.
Speaker 2: Okay, pregnant Panny says Hi, Mandy and Tiffany, this is
Speaker 2: pregnant eating a raise aka pregnant Penny. We're calling you
Speaker 2: that girl.
Speaker 3: First of all, I.
Speaker 2: Would like to say I love your podcast and habit
Speaker 2: of the voter listeners is discovering the podcast last year.
Speaker 2: We love that she's writing for the first time for
Speaker 2: some career advice. She's been with the same company for
Speaker 2: many years and held just a bunch of different positions
Speaker 2: on different project products projects.
Speaker 1: So earlier this year she transitioned.
Speaker 2: To a new role, and although her previous role was comfortable,
Speaker 2: she sought this new position out because she wanted more
Speaker 2: of a challenge and knew that she was capable, yes, capable,
Speaker 2: Queen of contributing more than what she was in her
Speaker 2: previous role, so when transitioning, she was just given her
Speaker 2: normal five percent merit increase.
Speaker 1: After being in that role for three.
Speaker 2: Months, the project, the product, the project experienced some funding challenges,
Speaker 2: especially this is last year.
Speaker 1: I get it because this was happening.
Speaker 2: With the contract and they were forced to make some
Speaker 2: personnel cuts, so they let go some people. They got
Speaker 2: rid of the project lead, her supervisor and put her
Speaker 2: in his role, okay, and she accepted without asking for
Speaker 2: more money because she felt lucky that she still had
Speaker 2: a job with some of her colleagues being moved to
Speaker 2: other projects or let go all together. Me and Manny
Speaker 2: kind of read this prior. We both said at the
Speaker 2: same time, like not asking for money during that time.
Speaker 2: After being in this project lead position for a month
Speaker 2: or so, another project lead resigned and then she was
Speaker 2: asked to be an interim project lead for that project
Speaker 2: as well, and they are looking for a permanent replacement.
Speaker 2: Now she's leading two projects and there's no clear timeframe
Speaker 2: of when the replacement for the second project will come.
Speaker 1: That's a lot for part one, many go do part two.
Speaker 3: I would love to do part two. So part one,
Speaker 3: she sets us up with what's happening at work right now,
Speaker 3: But here's real life, so she says, with the increased
Speaker 3: responsibility and extra workload. I want to ask for a raise,
Speaker 3: but I'm not sure how. I'm not sure or how
Speaker 3: to do so. I'm not Oh, she says, I want
Speaker 3: to ask for a raise, but I'm not sure how
Speaker 3: to do so. I'm pregnant with my set child do
Speaker 3: in November. I have a first child is fifteen months,
Speaker 3: so I'm going to have two under two. With daycare
Speaker 3: being so expensive two three hundred dollars per child and
Speaker 3: DC living expenses so high, my current salary of one
Speaker 3: hundred and thirty nine thousand dollars just won't cut it,
Speaker 3: even though I don't have any debt, car payment, student loans,
Speaker 3: et cetera. So without debt, one thirty nine is not
Speaker 3: cutting it. I'm nervous about asking for a raise because
Speaker 3: I know that I will also have to tell them
Speaker 3: I'm pregnant as well as and we'll soon be taking
Speaker 3: three months of maternity leave. Please advise on how I
Speaker 3: should go about this conversation when asking for a raise.
Speaker 3: Should I be upfront and tell my manager that I'm
Speaker 3: also pregnant and will be taking maternity leave, or try
Speaker 3: to secure the rais and then drop the bomb that
Speaker 3: I'm pregnant afterwards. Or should I wait a little longer
Speaker 3: to see if they bring on a replacement soon. Oh,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of g's and h's. I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: All I know is that I need more money to
Speaker 3: be able to comfortably so for my growing family. Whoo,
Speaker 3: pregnant Penny, there was so much here. Okay these I'm
Speaker 3: so glad that we're answering your questions soon after you
Speaker 3: submitted it, because I think we can be a lot
Speaker 3: of help. Yes, okay, this is such a common scenario.
Speaker 3: I just want to say first and foremost that often
Speaker 3: the opportunities for advancement come not in the traditional sense
Speaker 3: of like you're ready, here's your promotion. It's more like,
Speaker 3: oh shit, they just quit, or like oh no, they
Speaker 3: got let go, and now we got to like scramble
Speaker 3: and move things around. And you were positioned well, you know,
Speaker 3: for whatever reason they kept you, so you were positioned
Speaker 3: well to pick up the mantle and pick up this
Speaker 3: additional responsibility and show what you're capable of. I too
Speaker 3: have benefited from someone else's getting left getting fired, and
Speaker 3: you know you don't have to feel any ounce of
Speaker 3: guilt about it. And I also completely understand why you
Speaker 3: would feel because of the way that they were let go,
Speaker 3: like detective and like you just want to let's not
Speaker 3: make too much noise about this because it could be
Speaker 3: me next. That's completely natural. That being said, there was
Speaker 3: an opportunity for you to ask for more at the time,
Speaker 3: and you haven't, but you have another opportunity any time
Speaker 3: you choose to have. One. My biggest concern right now,
Speaker 3: and I want you to like really understand this is
Speaker 3: you do not have to tell them that you're pregnant.
Speaker 3: In fact, don't do it. It's none of their business.
Speaker 3: It has nothing to do with why you deserve a promotion.
Speaker 3: And I was a little concerned because she said, like
Speaker 3: I I'm worried because I know I will also have
Speaker 3: to tell them that I'm pregnant, says who pregnant? Pen
Speaker 3: Because it is not required and honestly, it doesn't have
Speaker 3: anything to do with the fact that you have a
Speaker 3: bigger title, more responsibility, and do not underestimate your leverage
Speaker 3: right here, because they need you, and in fact, they
Speaker 3: need you so much they're the only person they could
Speaker 3: think of turning to when the other project lead left.
Speaker 3: But be cautious because one of the reasons they may
Speaker 3: be turning to you is because, oh, turn to pregnant pen.
Speaker 3: They're not calling you that turn to Penny because she
Speaker 3: says yes, really, Fashi isn't ask too many questions. She
Speaker 3: hasn't caused me too much agree if she's not asking
Speaker 3: me to find more budget. And it's just an easy
Speaker 3: person to saddle something. It's an easy person to saddle
Speaker 3: with stuff. And if you become that person and they
Speaker 3: don't recognize that, they need to, like you know, come
Speaker 3: correct with how they're valuing your time. If you don't
Speaker 3: stand up for yourself, then you will continue to be
Speaker 3: so blessed with opportunities and additional workloads and so trusted
Speaker 3: and given so much and they couldn't bear to lose
Speaker 3: you ever, But they will not be actually matching that
Speaker 3: with dollars, which is what you want at the end
Speaker 3: of the day. Right, like you said, you got bills
Speaker 3: to pay.
Speaker 2: How soon an advanced before needing maternity to leave. Do
Speaker 2: you are you supposed to be asking like what's.
Speaker 3: The Well often in HR like they will have like
Speaker 3: it's not even something you have to tell your manager,
Speaker 3: Like you can ask HR, hey, what are the policies
Speaker 3: around parental leave and is there any you know, details
Speaker 3: you can share with me? And they may say that
Speaker 3: you have to fill out this form and you know,
Speaker 3: submit it such and such. But like, let's say you
Speaker 3: have no idea that you're pregnant. You're like on that
Speaker 3: TLC show, I didn't know I was pregnant, and all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, like you give birth, Well, you're gonna
Speaker 3: need to take maternity leave like parental leave at that time.
Speaker 3: And whether or not you gave them enough notice or not,
Speaker 3: it may not even matter. Federal Medical Family Family Medical
Speaker 3: Leave Act, which is a federal law, says that your
Speaker 3: job must be saved for you for twelve weeks. Doesn't
Speaker 3: mean they have to pay you, but your job is
Speaker 3: protected if you have a child, you know, while you're employed,
Speaker 3: so I think, But at the same time, that's the law,
Speaker 3: but you also want to be considerate. There's ways of
Speaker 3: being considerate for your own absence that have nothing to
Speaker 3: do with like telling them. You could do some pre
Speaker 3: planning on your own, like, Okay, I'm gonna be on
Speaker 3: Matt leave. I'm a leader now, so here's here's a
Speaker 3: three month plan. Like I'm assuming it's three months. Maybe
Speaker 3: you have less or more parental leave, but you can
Speaker 3: do a lot to lay the groundwork for your absence
Speaker 3: in advance. And it doesn't have to be like a
Speaker 3: you know, hey, I'm going on myce you leave, you
Speaker 3: better figure this stuff out. It's a good opportunity for
Speaker 3: you to show leadership and start planning for your own
Speaker 3: absence and start deputizing people. And this is a difficult
Speaker 3: time for the company, but that doesn't mean that your
Speaker 3: life has to stop. It means that you can find
Speaker 3: other people to delegate to or find out what resources
Speaker 3: you need so that things can get covered while you're out.
Speaker 3: They've told you that they want you to lead these projects,
Speaker 3: so lead them by figuring out the plan for you
Speaker 3: being gone for a few months.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think on the employer side, like.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, I mean, I get it why she didn't ask
Speaker 2: for the because it was like, yikes, the contract was cut,
Speaker 2: so there's no money. I've been there where someone has
Speaker 2: deserved the raids because of the work, but there's just
Speaker 2: not any money, you know, Like I've already done all
Speaker 2: the cuts, you know. I remember at one point, I
Speaker 2: was my salary. I cut my salary in half. I
Speaker 2: was making half of what everybody else was making, intentionally
Speaker 2: just to try to make, you know, ends meet. And
Speaker 2: I'm was like, oh my gosh, this person does deserve
Speaker 2: a raids, but I just we don't have it.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. Sometimes I guess.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know, she doesn't know they don't
Speaker 3: have it, or she doesn't ask.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 3: And if you fired salaried employees, which it sounds like
Speaker 3: there's budget that head count, like that money, if you
Speaker 3: chose to allocate it toward labor, there can.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you fire because you're actually in a deficit, like
Speaker 2: you know, meaning like it's not like, oh.
Speaker 1: I fired it and I have extra hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year.
Speaker 2: It's like, no, I was over one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 2: and so I fired to get myself. Yeah, So I
Speaker 2: don't know, I mean, to Mandy's point, it doesn't all
Speaker 2: that to say I've never been mad an employee asking
Speaker 2: me for a raise they ought to, and I told them,
Speaker 2: I know this is really hard.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of you for saying it. But let me
Speaker 1: show you how we don't have no money. But we
Speaker 1: worked it out.
Speaker 2: You know, y'all worked it out by giving them like
Speaker 2: a profit share because but I don't know that I
Speaker 2: would have come up with the profit share plan had
Speaker 2: they not asked for the raise.
Speaker 1: It forced me to be creative.
Speaker 2: So to Mandy's point, you know, because I saw so
Speaker 2: much value my employees, I figured something out. So yes,
Speaker 2: asking but knowing that, like you know, not everybody's just
Speaker 2: hoarding money. Sometimes it is like, yeah, you know, I
Speaker 2: mean not these big companies, they're all liars.
Speaker 3: But she just needs the confidence to ask, and at
Speaker 3: least even if the answer is no, the message is
Speaker 3: going to be clear. And that's what I was trying
Speaker 3: to get out earlier when I was talking about how
Speaker 3: be careful not showing up for yourself, because you will
Speaker 3: become you know, every house has that junk table or
Speaker 3: the junk drawer where you just kind of throw stuff
Speaker 3: because oh, well it's over there, they don't complain. That's
Speaker 3: what you can become. And it happens to women. So
Speaker 3: often because we are expected to take on additional unpaid
Speaker 3: work all the time. So people are really comfortable taking
Speaker 3: advantage of us for our time, and like we are
Speaker 3: also conditioned to just enjoy it to be needed. I
Speaker 3: love to support be a team player. Anyhow, you're playing
Speaker 3: yourself if you don't stand up and say, okay, I'm
Speaker 3: given these additional responsibilities. So when can we talk about
Speaker 3: compensation and how that'll be reflected. And if it's not
Speaker 3: directly able to be reflected in your compensation, then what
Speaker 3: about a discretionary fund or a budget that you can
Speaker 3: use to hire your own contractors, to outsource things, buy
Speaker 3: tools or software that could help you do your job
Speaker 3: a little bit better. You just want to stand up
Speaker 3: for what you need within reason, okay, so that they
Speaker 3: don't get the message that you're not going to complain
Speaker 3: or be a squeaky wheel. The question about like strategically,
Speaker 3: she has sort of two or three things she wants
Speaker 3: to raise. She also has the news about being pregnant
Speaker 3: and needing to go on maternity lead, and she also
Speaker 3: has the second project that they foisted upon her. I know,
Speaker 3: so if I were going an order, I would say
Speaker 3: focus first on the rais and the compensation for the
Speaker 3: job that you have now the second project to me
Speaker 3: that comes in the same I think the same conversation
Speaker 3: as the maternity leave, because that can be a justification
Speaker 3: for why, you know, I think for the long term
Speaker 3: good of this project, it's better to maybe find someone
Speaker 3: else to delegate this to, or I can. I can,
Speaker 3: I can be on this project for the next few months,
Speaker 3: but you know what that project timeline is, and if
Speaker 3: it's whether or not you feel like it's okay for
Speaker 3: you to sort of last minute or not so last minute,
Speaker 3: But is the project going to be completely thrown off
Speaker 3: the rails if you were to leave for a few months,
Speaker 3: Because if that's true, then the responsible thing is to
Speaker 3: prepare for that and let them know I'm happy to
Speaker 3: take this on, but we need we need some sort
Speaker 3: of transition plan because I'm not going to be available
Speaker 3: post like November or whenever you're having the baby. But
Speaker 3: I would say, like, get the title and the compensation
Speaker 3: squared away for your current role first, and then the
Speaker 3: other stuff can come after. And I would definitely not
Speaker 3: mention your pregnancy, so and the it shouldn't be part
Speaker 3: of the calculation. I know that to if you mean,
Speaker 3: you employ a lot of women, so you probably have
Speaker 3: been in that position. So I can see your face
Speaker 3: being like, but it's nice to tell us in advance.
Speaker 2: But well, I mean I get everybody. I haven't really
Speaker 2: I haven't been handled. No, we've all I mean, I
Speaker 2: remember there was a young young woman on our team.
Speaker 2: When she told us, she was like, we had just
Speaker 2: hired her, and she sounded nervous to tell me. But
Speaker 2: I was like, and I knew she was nervous, so
Speaker 2: I made sure to be like, oh my god, that's
Speaker 2: so great gratulation to be like, girl, we're going to
Speaker 2: focus on the blessing here and we'll figure the rest
Speaker 2: of this stuff out. Like and so if we did,
Speaker 2: we've had I'm trying to think how many women have
Speaker 2: on my team had like left from attorney leave at
Speaker 2: least two or three and so and we navigated and
Speaker 2: we managed, and it's like for me, it's nice to
Speaker 2: know ahead of time because then we you know, we've
Speaker 2: no one has come back to no job that just
Speaker 2: has not happened. You've come back, and you know, we
Speaker 2: were like, yay, we have more helping hands. We just
Speaker 2: navigate and manage around you. Yeah, and so, but it
Speaker 2: taught me to also create like a buddy system, which
Speaker 2: we still use today. Where is there someone on the
Speaker 2: job that make it do your job at least as
Speaker 2: a see at a C plus if you're not here,
Speaker 2: you know, so it allows you to go on vacation
Speaker 2: and stop checking your slack. It allows you to you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, because that worried me.
Speaker 1: I saw a lot of.
Speaker 2: People were still working when they shouldn't be working because
Speaker 2: they're like, if I don't do it, it's just going
Speaker 2: to pile up. And I'm like, there's always someone on
Speaker 2: a team that could do your job at least to
Speaker 2: a C plus so you can come back to be like, Okay,
Speaker 2: it's not so crazy when I've come back.
Speaker 1: So yeah. So, I mean, but you know you're you
Speaker 1: know that's me and how we navigate with my team.
Speaker 2: You know your you know your company and like how
Speaker 2: accommodating they are. But if you have some questions and
Speaker 2: you want to ask us, you get, oh wait, we
Speaker 2: have more questions.
Speaker 3: I don't think we did our we disclaimer.
Speaker 1: I was just about to do that. I was about
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 3: Before we could sued her.
Speaker 2: Right sound if you have some question, If you have
Speaker 2: some questions, we'd love to answer them.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. We're not your mother, not your father,
Speaker 1: not your sister, but your friends.
Speaker 2: We're not your doctor, your attorney, your financial advisor, you're
Speaker 2: any of the people that you paid for advice, honey.
Speaker 2: So what you're gonna do is you're going to listen
Speaker 2: to the podcast with the smallest and smallest of grains
Speaker 2: of salt, and then you're gonna moze on over to
Speaker 2: the people that you do pay for professional advice, and
Speaker 2: you're going to do what they say. And you might
Speaker 2: mention what we say, but you're gonna do what they say.
Speaker 2: And you're not gonna sue us because I didn't tell
Speaker 2: you to do that, right. Me and Manny was just like,
Speaker 2: this is what we think, But child, what do we know.
Speaker 2: We're just two smart, cute brown girls on a podcast,
Speaker 2: just talking.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: Random just came just showed up one day and there
Speaker 3: was a microphones here and people wanted to know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 1: Well, we're not We're not. We're not your advisors, honey. Okay,
Speaker 1: So take that disclaimer, But if you do have questions,
Speaker 1: please please please go on over to.
Speaker 2: Uh brannabision podcast dot com and there is a contact
Speaker 2: less button there, but we prefer brown a Vision podcast
Speaker 2: on IG Sliding.
Speaker 1: To the to the d MS.
Speaker 2: That's our favorite place to find them. Or you know,
Speaker 2: you can email us if you are a boomer and
Speaker 2: I'm just joking at Brodision Podcasts at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3: Be careful now, gen x Is are the new boomers.
Speaker 2: I know I'm a boom. Well I don't even care.
Speaker 2: I know I'm a gen xer, but I don't care.
Speaker 2: I email.
Speaker 3: So yeah, r NBA fan, thank you for listening. We'll
Speaker 3: see you guys Monday Wednesday Friday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Bye