Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I am on a secondment at work which means I have got a contract in my workplace in another department, however the secondment I am on is a 'taster' so to speak.
I was diagnosed as autistic this year (looking for an ADHD assessment as well!) So I sent my work amendments to my work place in May and still nothing has been put in place. I was assigned a mentor, however things have been very off and on and due to how busy work is, this person is juggling their own work load so I am sometimes not the first priority.
I was on annual leave for a week and came back to chaos! So many tasks at once, queries hadn't been answered even though a colleague of mine tried their best. I'm not even joking about 6 different tasks had deadlines of that day and it was just too much. I couldn't remember what I had said, what I had done and I was basically a cabbage because my brain just couldn't take the overload of tasks and expectations. I think this has been made worse by my annual Leave and the time of year at work but it doesn't help.
I sent an email to my leads explaining there were too many tasks for my brain to handle and they know I am autistic and they didn't even reply to my email. I understand people are busy however it was very disappointing.
I keep worrying that I would get penalised for taking time off work due to autistic burnout and I have PCOS which has caused me to have a period for a month straight and heavy at that. I have anxiety, depression, autism, possible ADHD, PTSD and BDD. Being on a secondment as well makes me worry that they will think I cannot do my job but I can! Just coming back from tha annual leave has really been too much.
They cannot penalise me for the autistic burnout and time off work can they?
Thanks x
NAS89050 said:I sent my work amendments to my work place in May and still nothing has been put in place. I was assigned a mentor,
They did assign you a mentor so they have made progress on their side of the deal.
That mentor is not going to give you top priority as they have their own job to worry about but it is better than before so that is a good thing.
I would join a union and speak to them about what help they can offer in negotiating and chasing the adjustments. This is much more likely to focus management attention than it being just you.
NAS89050 said:They cannot penalise me for the autistic burnout and time off work can they?
They will be able to treat it like normal sick leave - this will all be defined in your contract. There wil be a number of days on full pay, more on reduced pay and finally the rest on statutory sick pay levels - not much really.
I don't think they can sack you over it unless it drags on for months, but this is another thing to discuss with the union.
NAS89050 said:I have anxiety, depression, autism, possible ADHD, PTSD and BDD
Looking at it from a management point of view this now makes you a liability to them compared to a neurotypical. I would make sure that you do everything by the book and don't give them any legitimate change to kick you out on a technicality.
As for managing the priorities and workload when you return, this is expected of any employee. You need to work out what needs doing first and how to keep the other tasks informed of the delay while you deal with the top priorities.
Some multi tasking is probably expected but unfortunately having all the issues you have are no excuse (in their eyes) from being able to do what everyone else does.
How have you managed in the past with conflicting priorities and heavy workload? Maybe try the same techniques and see if they still work for you..