Published on 12, July, 2020
Some of you may know, I'm underpaid at work and on the verge of burnout.
I work for a small business, 5 of us, and we all get on. Marketing.
I sent an email mentioning feeling burnt out, would like to clarify my workload on an upcoming project, and a review of my compensation. I mentioned my mental health, that this burnout feeling is getting worse and I'm struggling to manage it.
Work know I am autistic, they have been supportive of me, and have accepted that I struggle to do things such as socialising, networking, and phone calls.
I worked on an email with my dad today whilst working from home, and the reply I got... I just burst into tears.
My boss referred to me asking for support with phone calls as "grievances", nowhere in any email had I even brought support up in the first place. I simply asked for support with my workload, clarification on responsibilties, and a review of my pay.
I had (obviously wrongly assumed) that requests for support, which wer happily accepted, were reasonable adjustments. But now they are being classed as me having "grievances."
There is a paper trail to back what I'm saying up, and I have a meeting on Monday to discuss everything.
My head is spinning, and honestly they are making me feel like my disability is a difficulty that the business has to navigate, and that because I'm disabled, I'm not good enough at my job.
I feel heartbroken, I love my job, my boss said she classes me as like a sister to her, and then this... I'm not even sure what to say.
I'm terrified about Monday, I don't handle any of this well.
yeah i think they tried to see a purpose to your email, so saw you say your struggling, and so a purpose behind mentioning your struggling is to request for support. so thats likely how they came up with you requesting support... it may also be something they just do to try get you support seeing you may need support as you said your struggling.a review of compensation can be seen as the grievance. as a review of your compensation/pay is like saying you dont agree with your contract and you wish it to be changed and so it becomes a grievance against your contract and may be seen as a request to renegotiate your contract. which is all fine and normal still..... happens all the time.... infact i might do that myself sometime in the next few months after i pay my mortgage off and renegotiate my contractual hours and change it from 5 days to 4 days. i think your thinking too much and worrying too much over it and it will be all fine when you speak to them in real time.