Hi all,
I was recently diagnosed with autism (with ADHD highly probable; I'm just waiting on the assessment).
I've worked for the same company for the past four years and have been in my current role for nearly three.
In terms of people and environment, when I started, I really felt like this was the best place I'd ever worked. I previously worked for a dreadful organisation for a year, which constantly restructured itself, resulting in me having five line managers during my time there, the majority of whom were micromanagers as well. It was just a horrible experience.
When I moved into my new workplace, I really loved it. The rules and expectations for my role were incredibly clear, and I had a really great line manager with whom I had an excellent working relationship. We also got on well personally.
I then moved into a different role in the same organisation for more money.
Since starting this role, I have had what I can only describe as the worst line manager I have ever had. They do not micromanage, but instead, literally do nothing.
We have no guidelines or any real idea of what we are supposed to do, when we are supposed to do it, what the work is for, or why we are doing it.
My team member, who is also autistic, finds this equally frustrating. We will often pick up the slack. For example, our LM is currently on annual leave. During this time (and this happens a lot), we have had multiple messages from colleagues asking for confirmation on various things which our LM didn't bother clarifying with them before they left.
The difficulty is that our LM has a very unique home life. One of their children is severely disabled and has a rare condition. This obviously means their child is their priority. To clarify, we have no issue with this. We are incredibly empathetic towards them and give them a lot of leeway and help where needed.
However, their children attend school during the working day, and our LM mostly works from home. During this time, as far as we can see, they do not do any work, or at least any work that is related to our team. There is also zero communication from them. We will often hear about things we're working on from other colleagues that we have not been told about.
They also do not have professional boundaries. They will regularly tell us quite traumatic anecdotes about their caring responsibilities, presumably because they don't have anyone to talk to about this. I was a young carer when I was growing up, so I do have a lot of empathy for them. However, I don't think it's unreasonable for me not to want to hear these triggering anecdotes when I'm at work.
There is zero communication, zero transparency, and we practically had to beg to have regular catch-ups and team meetings.
I am completely done, as is my colleague, who is moving to a new role in January. I am also desperate to move on and have started seeing a careers coach to try and determine the best fit for me since my diagnosis. However, I'm also contemplating a temporary move just to get out of this situation, even if that means taking a pay cut.
Our LM has been here for 10 years and is clearly well liked by senior management. Basically, they're not going anywhere. They have an incredibly jammy deal.
We have previously spoken to the HR manager off the record about our concerns and shared an email with the LM asking for some accommodations, which they sort of implemented (giving us catch-ups and team meetings). But mostly, it's been the same.
Last year I was signed off work for over a month. I now realise this was autistic burnout triggered by my line manager. I need to move on for the good of my health.
I can't tell if this is just a case of me not being in a role that suits my values and needs. I suppose this could partially be true, but then again, my last role was fine; I just got a bit bored of it.
I appreciate this is a long post. To clarify again, I do not have any issue with our LM regarding their caring duties. I am completely understanding of this. The issues stem from what they are doing during the working day, which, frankly, appears to be nothing.
Does anyone have any advice on a situation like this?
