Pregnancy in the workplace: Does pregnancy affect performance appraisal ratings?

Abstract

ABSTRAC~ Archival data were collected to examine bias effects in performance evaluation related to employee pregnancy. Prior survey research has suggested that many supervisors and co-workers hold negative views of pregnant employees. Performance appraisal ratings were collected before, during, and after pregnancy for employees taking maternity leave over a four year time frame. In addition, data was also collected from randomly selected control subjects, which were matched on job title and observation period. Contrary to expectations, performance appraisal ratings were found to increase during pregnancy when compared to before ratings and control group ratings. Potential explanations as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.

‘We Like You, But We Don’t Want You’—The Impact of Pregnancy in the Workplace

“…Given the stereotypical association between pregnancy and perceived illness (Pattison et al 1997), respondents may have perceived the pregnant candidate who wished to take on the demands of a new role as being far more competent (defined as ambitious and assertive) that the typical pregnant woman. The latter may be viewed as performing adequately if she manages to remain working during her 'illness' (Pattison et al 1997;Gueutal et al 1995). As such, one possibility is that contextual features of the study, designed to disentangle the impact of pregnancy-related stereotypes and fear of future leave taking on discrimination, may have triggered within-group comparisons with regard to the competency of the pregnant candidate.…”

The role prioritization model: How communal men and agentic women can (sometimes) have it all

“…Gender and race vanguards are sometimes evaluated positively (Bettencourt, Dill, Greathouse, Charlton, & Mulholland, ; Dovidio & Gaertner, ; Hodson, Dovidio, & Gaertner, ; Jackson, Sullivan, & Hodge, ; Katz, ), and women elicit very favorable evaluations when they appear to balance work and family successfully. In contrast to the Maternal Wall Bias (Crosby et al, ), pregnancy can actually trigger positive evaluations and support from supervisors (Gueutal, Luciano, & Michaels, ; Halpert & Burg, ). Similarly, mothers report receiving more praise than fathers for effectively combining work and family (Deutsch & Saxon, ).…”

Expectant and Nursing Academics: The Interview Experience of Moms in Political Science

“…For example, research by Cunningham and Macan (2007) demonstrates a pregnancy effect on interviewer ratings of job candidates who were recent graduates of midwestern business schools who applied for computer programmer positions. They found that despite being rated as equally qualified and fit for the job as their competitors, “the pregnant applicant received significantly lower hiring recommendations from both male and female raters (504, italics added).” In contrast, earlier work by Gueutal, Luciano, and Michaels (1995) found that pregnancy had a positive impact on appraisal ratings for women employees, attributable to one of two factors: either women over-performing to mitigate concerns from colleagues, or to leniency on the part of the supervisor, or both.…”