So, here’s the thing. The way my employer works is that if your absence percentage is higher than 3% over 6 months, you are called into a meeting to discuss why, and what to do. After that, every absence is taken to another meeting. Over the last 6 months, I have had 5 missed shifts, putting me at 8% … 2 due to depression and 3 for physical health issues, one of which he claims was for a “headache” that I honestly don’t remember - I’m not the type of person to call in sick over just a headache.
My manager has said he’s lost his paitence and is done “being leniant” - note: he said we’d trial an adjustment and if it didn’t work we’d try something else.
We tried cutting my hours a little to see if that would help, and it did for a while, but then stopped working so well, and so I suggested something that I think would really help me, more than the cut of hours… Thing is, even thought that’s the only thing we’ve really done, he said he’s at a point where they’ve done too many things for me (which, as I said, is not the attitude he had before).
After a meeting today, he refused to take any action himself, and said he was going to pass it onto senior management, who are the people that can make the choice to let me go, or keep me. The idea I mentioned will be propsed to whichever manager takes the meeting, but I don’t know how that’s going to go because they seem to want me to turn my depression on and off accordingly. I have an amazing union rep who will support me and help me out with management, I just don’t know how this is going end and it scares me.
I can’t lose this job. I’ve been here for more than 4 years, and I’m one of the highest performers on the team… If I lose it, I don’t know how my parents will react, what they’ll say… It seems that all they care about is me keeping my job, whenever my mental health is raised, they start talking about what that means for my job and tell me to do whatever I need to do in order to keep it.
I know that whatever happens, God has a plan for me, but, right now, I need this job, I also just can’t control my depression the way they want me too. I really don’t know what to do or how to even start approaching this.
Any advice would be helpful and appreciated…
Hi Kayla, I’m sorry this sounds like such a tricky situation. Work-related stresses can be some of the worst, especially when you feel like you have such little control over them. It’s also disappointing to read that while you are one of the highest performers on the team, it seems to matter little to your manager and that’s really unfortunate. If I had any advice to give, it would be to keep in close contact with your union rep as it is that person’s job to make sure you are treated fairly in your workplace, and to also compile a file of evidence documenting how you are one of the “highest performers on the team”, because with management it comes down to a numbers game most of the time so I would want you to make sure you can back yourself up with evidence of your work ethic.
Know your rights as an employee and don’t give them any ammunition against you Kayla! You’ve got this!
I have Crohn’s disease and I’ve lost more jobs because of it then I can count now I haven’t had depression but i have had a lot of friends that have depression and anxiety and other things and the advice that I gave them it’s pretty simple we all have to work we all have bills to pay we all have important things that we need to take care of but sometimes it’s best to just step back and really take care of yourself because in the long run if your mental and physical health isn’t where it needs to be then you’re not going to be able to hold down the job long enough what I suggest is maybe go in and talk to whoever does the schedule and see if maybe if you can get a few weeks off explain to them the situation and just be upfront and honest with him that you really need this job I’m in you want to keep working there you just need some time to take care of yourself. And I’m also with somebody that has depression and I’ve learned that mental health is one of the most important things of off to take care of so take care of yourself believe in yourself and see if you can’t take some time off from work I hope it doesn’t come off as being mean but your parents shouldn’t really care if you lose a job or not what I’ve read your you’ve done everything the professional way to take care of yourself and continue to be at this company and I think the best bet is just to be completely honest even if that means you have to speak to the higher up people if you’re able to do so I really hope everything works out for you in the end and I really do hope that what I’ve said gives you some clarity and is able to help you.