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.
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!
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.