HR Help, first time signed off with stress/depression, where do I stand?

Missy1490

Hello all,

I!!!8217;ve been reading for a while and have finally decided to post to see if anyone has ever been in my situation and can offer any advice or thoughts?

I!!!8217;ve been employed since I was 18 (now 30!) and in my current job for 6 years with absolutely no performance issues or disciplines on record. All of my reviews over the years have been achieved or exceeded for my objectives.

I have a very stressful job in compliance, and it is my head on the chopping board if we breach any statutory laws.

When I first moved into this role, it was just technical, it then moved to having 2 direct reports (who were both fully trained and up and running so added to my workload but not hugely) and I was tinkering along ok, some long days, some stress but mostly I coped well.

However in the last 12-18 months the company expanded hugely, my responsibility tripled with no extra resources provided.

I was responsible for all the recruitment and full training and supervision procedures of all the new recruits which takes roughly 3-4 months to succeed, then every 6-9 months they!!!8217;d be !!!8216;promoted or move on!!!8217; up a level into another team (my roles were entry level on low wages so I honestly don!!!8217;t blame anyone for moving up at all!)

I started raising concerns with my line manager last year in person when I could find him, and over email - all was ignored.

I was then transferred temporarily to a new office to deliver training and supervision for most of December and no one covered my job/compliance or team management whilst I was somewhere else.

Come January, I started raising serious concerns over stress/not coping and I was very tearful at work - I struggled to get out of the car, I was a nervous wreck over how much I had to get done. I couldn!!!8217;t pin my manager down, I was frequently ignored even though I raised it all over email and noted how stressed I was (I never received a response) and I had no 1-2-1!!!8217;s since Sept 17.

It all came to ahead mid Feb after 7 weeks of working like this, and I was reluctantly (and I fought very hard with husband over seeing my GP) signed off, with work related stress and anxiety.

I logged on from home to delegate some urgent actions (I know I shouldn!!!8217;t have!) and received an email that called me unprofessional by a very senior person for being uncontactable.... (for being off sick) which resulted in very much a meltdown by myself.

I!!!8217;ve been signed off numerous times since, and I am undergoing counselling and been prescribed medication via GP (nothing from Work), and I am now signed off still sadly, which I am trying to deal with.

My concerns now are where do I go from here? I feel like all the trust has been broken with my employer, I sought their help and was ignored repeatedly.

Once I was signed off, they looked at my workload (I was told this during a welfare meeting) and there was a lot of people covering my role, and hat they agreed I was doing a lot and some of it should be re delegated however all the suggestions didn!!!8217;t really impact me (if hat makes sense).

I was offered no access to any help at work, nor occupational health.

We!!!8217;ve since logged 2 greviances today, and since those letters went via our solicitor I!!!8217;ve had contact from the same Hr lady to refer me to OH (this is he first ever mention of referral and only came after the solicitor letter).

I am so worried about my health as I have never had any mental health issues ever therefore I believe Work is the direct result of this, and how I move on from here I just don!!!8217;t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice if they!!!8217;ve been in similar circumstances? How did work handle it? Am I likely to agree an exit in a sense?

I feel very lost.

nicechap

Missy1490 wrote: »

Hello all,

I’ve been reading for a while and have finally decided to post to see if anyone has ever been in my situation and can offer any advice or thoughts?

I’ve been employed since I was 18 (now 30!) and in my current job for 6 years with absolutely no performance issues or disciplines on record. All of my reviews over the years have been achieved or exceeded for my objectives.

I have a very stressful job in compliance, and it is my head on the chopping board if we breach any statutory laws as I am the designated counter signature for the company.

When I first moved into this role, it was just technical management, it then moved to having 2 direct reports (who were both fully trained and up and running so added to my workload but not hugely) and I was tinkering along ok, some long days, some stress but mostly I coped well.

However in the last 12-18 months the company expanded hugely, my responsibility for compliance for say 100-150 individuals work, with 2 direct reports (admin type roles) over 1-2 offices grew to around 600-700 individuals work, 7 direct reports over 7 offices with me remaining the only counter signature across the business !!!128078;!!!127995;

I was responsible for all the recruitment and full sun off/supervision procedures of all the new recruits which takes roughly 3-4 months to succeed, then every 6-9 months they’d be ‘promoted’ up a level into another team as I’d sort of the ‘leg work’ on training (my roles were entry level on low wages so I honestly don’t blame anyone for moving up - but I was almost like a recruitment centre!)

I started raising concerns with my line manager last year in person when I could find him, and over email - all was ignored.

I was then transferred temporarily to a new office to deliver training and supervision for most of December and no one covered my job/compliance or team management whilst I was somewhere else.

Come January, I started raising serious concerns over stress/not coping and I was very tearful at work - I struggled to get out of the car, I was a nervous wreck over how much I had to get done. I couldn’t pin my manager down, I was frequently ignored even though I raised it all over email and noted how stressed I was (I never received a response) and I had no 1-2-1’s since Sept 17.

It all came to ahead mid Feb after 7 weeks of working like this, and I was reluctantly (and I fought very hard with husband over seeing my GP) signed off, with work related stress and anxiety.

I logged on from home to delegate some urgent actions (I know I shouldn’t have!) and received an email that called me unprofessional by a very senior person for being uncontactable.... (for being off sick) which resulted in very much a meltdown by myself.

I’ve been signed off numerous times since, and I am undergoing counselling and been prescribed medication, and I am now signed off with depression sadly, which I am trying to deal with.

My concerns now are where do I go from here? I feel like all the trust has been broken with my employer, I sought their help and was ignored repeatedly.

Once I was signed off, they looked at my workload (I was told this during a welfare meeting) and there was a lot of people covering my role, and hat they agreed I was doing a lot and some of it should be re delegated however all the suggestions didn’t really impact me (if hat makes sense).

I was offered no access to any help at work, nor occupational health. In fact I was told to drink camomile tea to help and that ‘everyone is busy’.

We’ve since logged 2 greviances today, and since those letters went via our solicitor I’ve had contact from the same Hr lady to refer me to OH (this is he first ever mention of referral and only came after the solicitor letter).

I am so worried about my health as I have never had any mental health issues ever therefore I believe Work is the direct result of this, and how I move on from here I just don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice if they’ve been in similar circumstances? How did work handle it?

I feel very lost.

Assuming you're not the latest incarnation of our resident dilema AI/ Bot, here's a few threads that may be of relevance.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.php?searchid=176632920

As ever, start with what your contract says about sick pay, then decide what it is you want (do you really want to go back to a company that ignored you and made you depressed?) and go from there. Its a big wonderful world out there once you start looking.

Missy1490

No reincarnation - genuine first time poster but have been lurking/reading to try and find my own advice first!

Thank you I will have a read of that thread now.

Exactly that’s my worry, I’m not sure I can physically go back there, I cannot stop worrying about work and it makes me nauseous amongst other things! My worry is I’m currently waiting their response to the grievance, then they want me to see the OH (which is fine for me to do - I’m happy it’s finally been taken seriously even if it did take 4.5 months!) but their wording was ‘to get you back to work!’ And I’m not sure I could ever put myself back in that situation Also it came about an hour after the greviance letter landed on them via email so it seems like a reactive response from there as they’ve never offered me anything before?

I am so worried about how this is going to effect me going forwards, my career will be shot, I have MH on my record and I’ve just lost all ability to cope with any kind of stress or pressure (at home as well).

I also have a long notice period which worries me that they might make me work it/not pay me or something (3 months) if I decide to leave (but I don’t feel I should leave because of their inabilities either!)

Never ever thought I’d end up in this situation for sure. !!!128543;

nicechap

Missy1490 wrote: »

No reincarnation - genuine first time poster but have been lurking/reading to try and find my own advice first!

Thank you I will have a read of that thread now.

Exactly that’s my worry, I’m not sure I can physically go back there, I cannot stop worrying about work and it makes me nauseous amongst other things! My worry is I’m currently waiting their response to the grievance, then they want me to see the OH (which is fine for me to do - I’m happy it’s finally been taken seriously even if it did take 4.5 months!) but their wording was ‘to get you back to work!’ And I’m not sure I could ever put myself back in that situation Also it came about an hour after the greviance letter landed on them via email so it seems like a reactive response from there as they’ve never offered me anything before?

I am so worried about how this is going to effect me going forwards, my career will be shot, I have MH on my record and I’ve just lost all ability to cope with any kind of stress or pressure (at home as well).

I also have a long notice period which worries me that they might make me work it/not pay me or something (3 months) if I decide to leave (but I don’t feel I should leave because of their inabilities either!)

Never ever thought I’d end up in this situation for sure. !!!128543;

There's an awful lot of reading in that link and you will need to sift through to get the better advice.

If you've decided to leave for your MH then your relationship with work should be about leaving on amicable terms that enables you to get new employment. For some, this will mean trying to get as much sick leave as possible, and try and engineer redundancy or exit/ settlement payment, but such a course of action is very stressful in itself so won't be suitable for many. In which case, perhaps focus your efforts on finding new employment, either in same field or something new you'd like to try/ train for. The sooner you focus on the future rather than the past, the better.