Published on 12, July, 2020
Having tough time of a tough time. Had meeting with Employer and my medical team, my employer asked to speak with my medical team. Which I agreed to in the spirit of being open and with the expectation that the discussion would be about my requested changes, with some discussion about my performance. Really angry with everything, I feel meeting was ambushed to set the scene to kick me out of the company. I feel my medical team would provide some support, but I feel they have made things worse. I have told my doctor that I am trapped at work, in that my skills are out dated so I am not marketable, so my best cause of action is to stick at work and gain the skills and experience I need to continue with my career with a different employer. My doctor in the meeting said well we aren't getting any where with frustrations and problems at work, and he can't progress anything with my mental health until that is sorted out. He also keeps asking me "are you working full time now", I have been working full time for years. Part of my reasonable changes was to work at home a couple of days a week, because I find the office environment difficult, they already think I am wasting time at home. Just hate this sick twisted world In the meeting I am given two options, either leave the company or undertake a months trial where I will be intensively and closely monitored which will be very stressful. There were several references to having the option to leave the company at any time. They wanted to be involved with my medical team because they want an indication as to whether I am fit to undertake this trial. Even if the trial is successful, I am told that the changes I have requested do not fit with their company plans anymore. They cited communication problems, but I don't know where they are getting these from, I don't have communcation issues with my peers. I do with this nightmare manager, but I am doing my hardest to not let that get in the way of my work, and suppressing a lot of anger that they are adding to the situation
Sorry to hear that your doctor was so unsupportive and didn't understand.
Do you have any union representation? It can be a big help in a situation like this.
As DragonCat16 says, if you have a grievance against the manager, you may want to document things and go through the grievance procedure.
You could point out that the stress of the trial period could affect your health, although I wonder if it needs to be so stressful and you can turn it to your advantage. If you can just continue to work more or less as normal, it may find something in the system that isn't working so well, and you may be able to request a reasonable adjustment.
Could you ask that they are more specific about 'communication problems'? What kind of communication problems? Could they be referring to something like not raising issues with the manager? In which case, having an unapproachable, hostile or unresponsive manager would be al least half of the communication problems. Of course there are very many useless and bad managers who do little more than throw their weight around: www.theguardian.com/.../i-had-to-guard-an-empty-room-the-rise-of-the-pointless-job. Or is it some personal characteristic that is irrelevant to getting the job done?
Thanks for your message, I don't have a union representative
I will add some detail to try and express what they mean in relation to communication. It is based on the agreed reasonable adjustments over a year ago. These are:
- Where possible give as much advance notice of meeting agenda.- Where possible give as much advance notice of meeting (date, location. attendees)- Where possible and practical, minimise instant messaging communication and shift to email. - Communications need to be consistent; people with Asperger’s take things that are said very literally. This causes a problem when two colleagues give a different opinion, or the same colleague gives a different response at a different time. This often leads to overthinking and mis-interpretation of the intended communication
The comment from the Director is saying the business is changing and we need members of the team to be more collaborative. That conflicts with the reasonable adjustments. I can't let the company put you in a situation you will find more stressful, the company has a duty of care.
As for some background, the team consisted three members who have been working together like that for eight years. Things changed over a year ago with the new manager. As part of my work I also have to occaisionally communicate with other teams, which I have had no problems. I did have problems with instant messaging with this manager, overbearing, too often, unnecessary.
I will try and get some clarification from them on communication issues.