Published on 12, July, 2020
I've recently came across this forum after doing some research online.
For the first time in my working life (I'm nearly 40) I've been on sick leave from work. I work for the Civil Service, never worked a single day from home but work on a public counter dealing with customers relating to applications for the department I work on. Shifts are rotated so one week I do 8-4, the following week it's 8:45-5 but I'm always in at 7 to avoid the rush of people and to have some quiet time before the rush of the day starts and I've worked there for 9 years.
Over the last 3-4 years I've been struggling more and more in the workplace and sought advice from my doctor. Initially believing it to be social anxiety disorder I went about my work as normal trying to deal with my issues each day.
After a while I was referred to a specialist for a discussion over my issues as I wasn't improving, this was completed early last August and they ruled out ADHD, Social Anxiety Disorder and other things but said there was clear evidence/experiences of autism. Was told it was a 4 year wait for an official assessment and that the local mental health team would be in touch every 6 months for a checkup.
A month after this appointment I had a breakdown on department, just felt like I was being used by colleagues as my performance and output is in the top 3 on the department. On this day I had served 35 customers by midday, the second highest person had done 8.
I pulled the manager (he didn't know my medical issues and my actual manager was on leave), told him he needed to sort things out before I said 'why am I even bothering with this' then took half days leave. Went home, tried to calm down but it took hours. I did return the next day but went after half day as I just couldn't cope any longer.
The following Monday I phoned in sick and haven't returned to the office since. Had multiple doctors appointment, was prescribed Sertraline since September and on Talking Therapies course. From my discussions they believe I've suffered from possible autism burnout from masking my traits for all my life.
My manager has been great and managed to get me an autism assessment through work which I completed last Thursday so awaiting final results.
Deep down I've always believed I had autistic traits and masked instances throughout my life. I'll take things literally, have a set routine, struggle with certain environments or places I'm not familiar with. I hate using the phone, will do everything to avoid it. On my department we are supposed to call every customer if a problem arises, I'll avoid this every time through means I've developed over the years. Even when in the house I will delay any phone calls I have to make until the last moment.
My workplace for example is very small, nearly 40 staff with about half a metre between us in the back office and when on the counter you are closely seated face to face with the customer. Customers can be as many as 400 a day, very fast paced. I've always struggled with temperature, department is minimum 22 degrees but gets to over 25 as the day goes on with no windows/doors available to open as its supposedly aircon controlled (its not). My house is usually around 15 degrees and we have windows/doors open most the time to allow fresh air in.
My issue at the moment is trying to sort out my return to work. I'm on reduced pay as they say my sickness doesn't fall under the criteria of full pay.
In the time I've been off my department has gone all digital so the job I've known for 9 years has completely changed. I've spoken to my manager and she knows my problems, what I struggle with and how I react.
I did a workplace assessment back in November but this felt like a waste of time. The person on the phone dismissed autism and said it was ADHD even though my report clearly ruled this out. She did state that they'd recommend I work from home 3/4 days a week but work said they can't accommodate this due to the new WFH policy in place by the Civil Service directors.
My manager said off the record that if I extend my sick note that my sickness case will be referred to an independent manager to assess if I keep my job or not due to my length of sickness so feel that I have to return in two weeks time.
I've been asked what I would like going forward relating to my work. I've said I'm happy to do a day on the public counter and WFH the other 4 days now that our work is paperless and this function is available. The other proposal she mentioned was working upstairs on production, which is paperless, in a large open plan office where each day the work streams are changed, people hot desk. I've sat up there before and I've been unable to function properly due to so many triggers. I've said if counter can't accommodate then I'd happily do full time WFH as other employees have been given due to their health needs but this discussion doesn't go any further than me mentioning it.
I feel like I'm being treated as a 'normal' employee to fit under the WFH policy of all CS must do minimum of 60% working from the office. I've read up on the Equality Act and think I've not been treated fairly in this respect as my specific issues are not being addressed and feel like I'm being pushed into returning to the office full time in an environment that isn't set up for my needs.
I've tried to see who I can contact in the CS for more advice but I can't seem to find any where like an HR department that could assist or give me advice on what I can do as my management chain have openly admitted they are unsure how to handle my case as its quite unique, which is understandable.
I'm just wondering if anyone can give any advice or pointers on what I could do.
Hi,
I didn't ask for any help until post my assessment at work, although people did ask why I hadn't asked for help before. I did find the OHS (Occupational Health Service) call odd and unhelpful and the initial assessment I had with a workplace adjustment team was ok, but they really weren't sure what to advise and I myself didn't really know what might help me.
I am now getting reasonable adjustments in place such as having a fixed desk as I explained how stressful I found hot-desking. I've been given software some of which is useful and noise cancelling headphones which definitely are. I am fortunate to some degree in that where I work these can be easily accommodated and not considered unreasonable. I also currently have a workplace coach. So, there are or will be options available. It is likely that you will need, post assessment, to jump through some hoops, like having another OHS and workplace assessment, whilst this may seem a waste of time, it's likely to be something your manager will need to do and post diagnosis your circumstances will have changed from the initial one you had in November.
It is also likely that your department will have people that have been in a similar boat and there may be a disability or neurodiversity network that can help, or a workplace adjustments team that is internal (rather than OHS or assessors that are external) who may have more of a clue. These are all options as well - others have already mentioned around the union, how helpful I'm assuming PCS would be, I'm not sure.
Cheers,
Joe
Hi @GPK26
I work a couple of days a week in a care home leading activities (shorter hours than caring) and I've just launched my own tutoring business which I want to do full time eventually when it picks up. Working part time in itself was a game changer. It's been a massive income drop and not ideal but doable with some careful planning.
When I work from home with the tutoring, I work solidly on days I have the energy and this enables me to loosen the reigns when I have days I just can't give 100%. On those days I just teach the students I have and that's it.
I'm still learning what works for me though but I could never go back to 40+ hours a week, no matter how much money you offered me.
I have been unwell for just over 3 years now with various conditions & symptoms - autism being one of the more recent diagnoses (Oct 2023).
During that period I have needed to take a lot of time off work - ranging from a day or two to several months (all signed off by my doctor). When I was able to work, it was at reduced hours which started off as 3 or 4 hours a day and increased to 6 hours more recently.
My employer was extremely supportive and fortunately they had a income protection scheme that helped financially.But it got to the point where the income protection ended (2 year policy) and my absence was causing problems with workloads and the team "dynamic". In 2022 I took 120 days off sick and then 60 days in 2023.
It got to the point earlier this year where my manager and HR suggested that it may be better for me to leave the company. They had concerns that there were significant changes in the company over the coming months and that I may struggle to manage. This is despite me having a high level of expertise in my area and being very good at my job.....when I was able to work. After a lot of back and forth we came to an agreement and I left the company.
Fortunately a support package was provided which includes financial compensation and the provision of a third party company's services to help guide me on my next career move. However I do have concerns about my "marketability" being in my early 50's, skills that are very specialist / niche (not much demand though), being autistic (whilst it is against the law to discriminate when hiring, it would be nigh on impossible to prove) and that my confidence has taken a battering due to mismanagement in my previous job.Maybe I am now at the point where I have my last chance for a complete career change (IT pays well, but can be very demanding).
My advice to you would be as follows
Hi @butteeflea
If you dont mind me asking, what job do you do now?
Despite the emphasis that the Civil Service has been putting on the 60% office attendance since it was first announced, there have been numerous follow-up articles and discussions that indicate that the policy is departmental guidance rather than being mandatory for all staff, and that any medical conditions/disabilities (whether formally-diagnosed or self-diagnosed) that mean the 60% attendance cannot be achieved must be taken into consideration. In my opinion, your request to WFH based on your autism is a valid reasonable adjustment that your line management must strongly consider. As Butterflea suggested, contact the Union if you're a member. If not, you should be able to find some relevant articles on your department intranet or on the internet that will help support your case. Good luck.
I was in a slightly similar situation with the autism burnout vs. job. I used my union to help me but even then there were some limitations. It makes me smile, looking back, because I worked in education and there's this whole big deal about supporting children with SEND needs and then you go to them as an adult and it's like the logic just doesn't click! Being an adult does not make these needs go away or less relevant but they just couldn't 'help' me... or wouldn't, but that's a different matter.
If you're in a union perhaps they could advise? Or Citizen's Advice?
I was a teacher (undiagnosed at the time) and things just went wrong. I'd barely been holding on anyway and just assumed I wasn't good enough at my job. Then one day I couldn't leave the house. I'd got up as usual and I couldn't step out the front door. Looking back, I can see the build up but at the time I couldn't.
Unfortunately, work were not supportive after the initial sickness note ended and I went to get it extended and things got quite nasty. I was in a union who were brilliant and handled the technical side of things. I began the autism route after several discussions with the GP. I'd also been seeing a counselor via work who'd paid for a few sessions. She was, and still is, my saving grace. The NHS talk therapy was offered to me after I ended up calling Samaritans but that's taken nearly 5 months for a follow up call and I felt like I was just left to it after they'd made sure I wasn't a risk. I suppose it's not their fault but if I didn't have the support from family, I'm not sure where I'd be as I didn't and still don't have a lot of energy to source help for myself.
It was clear though, that the job I was in would not be able to accommodate me enough even with the best will in the world. It's been hard learning that but it really isn't me and the structure of education and the trust I was part of were making me unwell. I had no choice but to change jobs.
I now work from home a couple of days a week and it has made all the difference. I have to be strict with creating myself a time table and to do list but the weight off my chest is significant. It's not solved everything, there's still the issue with phone calls and the emails checking then catastrophic thinking, plus I always find it hard to walk into work when I've had a couple of days 'away', but I keep trying to remind myself it's a stepping stone that I needed to get out of a job that was making me unwell. It doesn't have to be permanent. You know what's best though and if you don't feel like being moved to production is going to improve things then don't settle for it.