Feeling Undervalued at Work: How to Handle a Difficult Manager While Pregnant?

Seeking Guidance on Handling Managerial Challenges

My manager is not appreciating my work at all. During my performance review, he involved the HR team to update them on my performance. I have always tried to complete my work before the deadlines. I am very sincere and hardworking in my role. I handle HR and Admin responsibilities in my company with a team size of over 280 members. He has pointed out a couple of mistakes I made, which I consider to be minor and can be overlooked rather than escalated into issues. I don't receive a positive response whenever I try to discuss things with him. Additionally, I am more than three months pregnant and would prefer to avoid unnecessary stress. This situation has been ongoing for the past month.

No one else in my team seems to have any issues with my performance except him. I find him unsupportive in my situation. Despite approaching each day with a positive attitude, he consistently reacts negatively. At times, I contemplate leaving my job, but I am hesitant as I don't want to jeopardize my career. I am unsure how to handle this situation. I am unable to discuss this with my family as I don't want to worry them.

Could you please guide me on what to do in this situation?

Regards,

Jyotshna

When the quality of work is not appreciated or when constructive feedback is not given, it frustrates an employee. This is exactly what is happening to you. Nevertheless, you could have been a little more specific. Within HR, what type of work do you do? What are your KRAs? What is your score? What value addition did you make?

Could you identify what exactly are the expectations of your manager? Could you identify his strengths and weaknesses? Could you identify his likes and dislikes? Please treat your manager as your company. Tune yourself to his expectations and try to reduce his tensions or stress. Have a tête-à-tête once and understand his expectations.

In the initial days when you joined this company or when your manager joined, did he get disappointed because of your work, and is he unable to eradicate those memories? You need to investigate the reasons for the mismatch in expectations between both of you.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar