I’m pregnant! how do I announce it at work?

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

My husband and I just found out that I’m pregnant, after trying for several years! I’m extremely excited, but also realized that I have no idea how to announce this at work. I’ve only been at my company for about 18 months and, in that time, no one else on my team has had a baby so I’m not sure how this is normally done. I vaguely remember people doing it at previous jobs, but I never paid attention to how they announced it or even when in their pregnancy we were told.

Complicating matters (maybe), I’m a manager and so in addition to having to tell my own boss and my peers, at some point I need to tell my team too and they’ll probably have their own set of worries about what it means for them when I’m on leave: who will be filling in, how things will be handled while I’m out, etc.

I’m also a little worried that this isn’t great timing. One of my counterparts is out on a long-term medical leave, and I know my boss’s workload has been higher as a result. I know she’ll be happy for me, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not exactly welcome news from a workflow perspective.

Anyway, what’s the etiquette here? When do I announce, who do I tell first, and what else do I need to know?

You can read my answer to this letter at New York Magazine today. Head over there to read it.