Published on 12, July, 2020
I became aware of autism (I'm not diagnosed) in lockdown when I didn't know what to do at all - when to eat, when to read, when to wash & bathe - my whole structure collapsed. I was forces to look into this and all those steps brought me to where I am now. However my company wants us to start hybrid working 2 days in office. I think this is a great offer, but the upheaval and change for me will so so hard and really stressed about it now. I just feel really scared about it. I've had my job for 15 years and I told my boss about my suspected autism. Although he was very sympathetic, this isn't a point he will budge on. As I'm a supervisor, I can't not go back as it would make my team resentful if I didn't have to, and they did.
The change scares me, the possible change back to 5 days scares he, and he won't rule that out. I don't think I could handle that at all.
Anyone else facing this right now? I imagine that isn't a rare situation due to the immediate push back to work in the UK right now.
didn't use my real name obviously!!!
I had another strategy several months back. Whenever a job advert came up at a competitor firm etc. I would email the contact asking about their working strategy. If they said anything more than 2/3 days in office I said thank you, that doesn't work for me, and left it there. wanted HR people to realise people care about this stuff! recommend doing the same!
Thank you for your reply. I think you are right about strategies. I think the panic made me forget I had strategies, but I do. I have been in a couple of times last year, but I was working in an office due to Covid measures. That felt a lot easier.
I think I'll be OK, but I think I'm concerned that no one can say if we will ever go back to 5 days, which will be another change that I'll have to work on getting used to, even though I'm not sure I could do that anymore.
That sounds very positive. Thank you. I know I will adjust eventually, but the hardest part is now. This the time when I have to prepare my brain for the change. This is when I usually become still! I'm trying to accept this as just my preparation, so I think this will be OK eventually. Thank you.
I relate to this. I worked in an office c 4 days a week before the pandemic struck, and since March 2020 I have been into my office a grand total of four times! It was scary going back the first time but in the end it was fine, and I had the usual strategies in place - headphones for the journey and a calming audiobook, v early train so quieter, one of first in office so I can settle in nicely and keep tabs on who comes in and where they sit, that way I don't get anxiety when in an open plan office. Once I'd done it once it wasn't so bad the next times, but need the strategies in place for sure. Our hybrid working trial is suspended but commencing again in March, will be >= 3 days a week in the office. I would much prefer 2. No-one at work knows about my diagnosis, which happened in December, so I think I will start off with a positive mindset and see how I cope. Problem is while I know I 'can' do it - because I've done it before in my life, pandemic has changed everything and I know how much better I am in wellbeing working from home, not to mention the money saved. If it's too much I will have to be honest with myself, and try and see if there is something unofficial I can request. If that doesn't work I may have to risk revealing diagnosis. Thankfully I now work in public sector which is v up on disabilities and non discrimination so I may be ok. Good luck!
Our return isn't so imminent, however I do relate to the stress you're experiencing over the move back. If it's any consolation, I wnet through a similar thing a while ago when we reorganised our office and moved to hot-desking. It really stressed me as there was a lot of uncertainty (which I am not good at dealing with) for example not knowing where I would be sitting each day, would it be the same, and would I have a loud crisp or apple eater sitting next to me sometimes. AS it turned out, everything was fine. There were normally enough desks for everyone and most people stayed in the same place. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in my case the initial worry was way worse than how it turned out, so I hope this is the case for you too. Good luck with it, and try to remember that you've had way more experience working in the office than at home so once you get over the initial change hopefully things will fall back into place.