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In an average company that would mean maternity-leave and so on. Some companies might not be supportive of such information especially if you started the job quite recently.

So should you tell him/her straight away when you know or wait when until later on during the pregnancy?

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    If you are pregnant, you are pregnant. Whether the boss finds it "amusing" doesn't matter, and it is none of his business to decide if it was "too early". You only need to tell him that you would be applying for maternity leave sufficiently well in advance.
    – Masked Man
    Commented Dec 31, 2014 at 13:10
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    When do the medical benefits kick in? Don't say anything until the medical benefits kick in.
    – Vietnhi Phuvan
    Commented Dec 31, 2014 at 18:07
  • @gbjbaanb ya, had this explicitly written in the original question, but was advised to remove it, due to inappropriateness. Assume he is Not the father.
    – G.Rassovsky
    Commented Jan 1, 2015 at 11:40

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I would suggest waiting until either:

  • The second trimester (for the same reasons that people are generally advised not to spread news of a pregnancy too early)
  • It's visually obvious that you are pregnant

The important part is that you need to give your manager and team enough notice that they can plan adequately for your being absent for at least 6 weeks.

If you have a physically taxing job, you should probably expect to be relieved of those duties before beginning maternity leave, and always be prepared to leave earlier than expected due to early labor or unexpected and unfortunate complications.

Be sure to offer to cross-train people for your tasks and complete documentation well in advance of your departure to cover the possibility of an early or extended leave.

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    +1 for waiting until the second trimester. This helps avoid any awkward future conversations.
    – Brian
    Commented Dec 31, 2014 at 16:32
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    @Brian: I dunno. If (god forbid) something goes wrong then you are going to want to speak to your manager anyway. You'll need time off to recuperate physically and emotionally. I'm not saying that the advice is bad or that you should instead say something right now.. I just don't quite buy the "it'll save an awkward conversation later" angle; it won't.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jan 1, 2015 at 3:48
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    Also remember to take your local work laws into account. Depending on where you live, reporting too early might endanger your protection against dismissal and reporting too late might mean that you miss out on benefits you could already have had.
    – Philipp
    Commented Jan 1, 2015 at 16:14

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