I’m very close to handing in my notice. I’ve taken today off as breathing space but yesterday I was just concerned about how a few things went down.
- New manager throws a completely new system at me to use for something urgent. When I’ve asked for a Teams session to go over the basics she suggests I track down a manual somewhere on our shared drive. Spoiler - it doesn’t exist. It’s something that needs training on - finance related and if it’s done incorrectly it brings in complaints from customers and clients. She’s had this in her inbox for three months and the closer she gets to the deadline she realises she doesn’t have capacity and throws it to me.
- The office has had a refurb, but the internet is awful. I couldn’t physically do anything yesterday and when I suggested I would WFH the rest of the day I got some very weird looks from other teams - it’s like I shot someone’s dog. The HR Manager who was in asked me to use my own phone data as a hotspot (?!)
- My mental health is terrible because of this job. I’m actively looking to go (and obviously keeping it on the quiet from anyone). It’s got to the point where I have work dreads every single day and I’m incredibly emotional. The longer I carry on the more ill it’s making me - so I need to go see a doctor at this rate.
- Policy-wise I need to either let HR know or my line manager. The nature of some of my work is that if it’s not done, there are operational circumstances. Thats fine - I’ve drafted a short handover based on being off for a few days, I make sure relevant external people know and they have points of contact and I arrange a call with my line manager. I’ve told her I’m unwell as per the policy - she then tells me she doesn’t know the policy themselves, I need to speak to her higher up and I cannot log off until I do so.
- Higher up then calls me on Teams and grills me for 15 minutes on how I’m feeling. I don’t feel comfortable declaring anything bar mental health - I’m conscious that employers have a duty of care to their staff, but this wasn’t anything welfare related. This was overly aggressive where she tried to pick apart what little I said.
- She then tells me that to be off sick I’d need a doctor’s note from day 1, I need to be conscious of the time of year and HR will be in touch on Monday after I have a day’s annual leave. You self certify for 7 full days and then after that period it’s a note…even though this is in writing nobody knows this?! She even asked me if I had annual leave left and can I use this for if I'm ill - what?!
This is the same company where someone’s parent died and they expected them to still be logged on a day after working.
Other teams have observed that I’ve had absolutely no training and getting some very baffling treatment (from a team that never come in the office at all - yet I’m expected to always be there unless if I have a “genuine reason”). It’s an absolute shitshow and the closer we get to the the incredibly busy period end of July it’s getting worse.
I respect that some companies need to think of their operational needs (I am not expecting a company to fall at my feet and give me unlimited time off while I recover - business is business). But Jesus Christ, I don’t even feel comfortable anymore having the audacity to follow a policy when I’m very unwell. I’ve always had my notice drafted on my personal email - I’m feeling I should be ready to send it across when HR speak to me after the weekend. I now feel that I’ve stuck my neck out too much by doing what I thought was right for me and I’ve got a target on my back.
And what I don’t appreciate is that I’ve raised this with my line manager, they’ve fobbed me off onto someone senior who has little dealings with me and clearly doesn’t even know any bloody HR policies!!!
