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Changes at work and life...
So remember my last post, where I was upset about my work and how it was super stressful? This week, everything came out. A little background: I work in mobile advertising sales, and joined my company in September as a junior sales rep. I have been in the digital advertising business for over 5 years now, so it was not hard to understand the product. But, I have never been a sales person, which is why I looked for junior opportunities where I can have less of an impact, but also less stress.
Unfortunately, this year, our company has gone public and our numbers are huge. Just to give you an example, in 2011 my book of accounts brought in $1.9 million in sales total. This year, I was supposed to bring in $3.75 million post split (that's when I have to share 50% of my revenue with the person who owns the client direct relationship - i mostly own agency relationships). Basically, I was asked to bring in triple what experienced sales people brought in last year.
No one at the company is hitting their numbers, with a few exceptions of the tenured sales people who have owned their books of accounts for over 3 years.
On Thursday, my manager's manager asked me in to her office and said: Ela, I want to offer you a new role. My heart sank. For second quarter I was at 42%, only 8% behind a colleague of mine who started at the same time as me.
To make the story short(er), the HQ told my VP to fire me, but she knows that I have the pre-sale skills that no one in our office has that she could put to a good use in a new role. She negotiated with the HQ on my behalf, and that's what she presented to me on Thursday. What worries me is that my base salary did not change, only my comission got cut in a half, but it's now based off the whole region's number, which is much higher than my small 42% - I will basically get paid more, realistically (I doubted I would hit my number this year). Why does it worry me? Because at some point HQ may realize that in my new role - Sales Strategy and Marketing, they could have a cheaper employee. So, I don't feel like I have a huge job security here right now. My role is made up and it's the first one in the whole company. I will have to work harder than so far, and justify my role every week.
So, as the subject of this thread suggest - what's the change in my life? Aside from working my butt off, and justifying my role, I decided I need another insurance and that will be..... drumroll.... pregnancy 
They will not be able to fire me if I am pregnant, I hope
Remember when I told you that DH and I decided to postpone it till next year, because of the house and because of my work? Well, we're back on our previous plan now Can I get a Woot Woot? I am actually really happy. And yes, I feel kinda bad that this is the reason we decided to change our plans, but it's really my company that changed their plans for me. And, I think I am ready - we wanted to have a baby early next year, and we may have one
Now, Kyersten, Lindsay and Molly - what's the prenatal vitamin that you were on? There are so many choices, and my gyno told me that as long as it has certain levels of key minerals and vitamins, I can get any one I want.
I know this was a long post, but I really needed to share this
Re: Changes at work and life...
They can def. fire you if you are pregnant, esp. if you are behind on sales now, they can easily point to the fact that it has nothing to do with your pregnancy. I think I would focus on getting my numbers up and/or looking for another less stressful job.
Once you have a baby it's going to be much harder to juggle being a parent and making your sales #s. If anything, this would make me want to hold off on having a child. It will be much worse to be jobless & pregnant than jobless & without child.
It seems like you are taking a gamble & I don't think it's the most logical gamble to take. Pregnancy doesn't preclude anyone from being fired. If they are really worried how it will look they can lay you off & give you severance/let you file for unemployment, but that's not exactly a great position to be in when you are pregnant.
I follow a blog and the girl was very pregnant and was laid off -- there was nothing she could do & still hasn't found a job. It's also more difficult to get a job while pregnant b/c most employers don't want to hire you & then have you go on maternity leave.
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