Would you resent a colleague who has this ‘privilege’

[Resentedpumpkin]

Which is actually a reasonable adjustment?

Asd and adhd plus ME - I’m needing more and more breaks due to ASD and avoiding shutdown. It’s been agreed on my return after 2 weeks off (shutdown and selective mutism) . So now when it gets too much I’m able to log off (if WFH) or leave my desk for up to 30 mins as many times as needed per day.

it’s been once or twice a day but yesterday happened 4 times (10 mins, 30 mins, 25 mins and 5 mins)

Had some sarcastic and off remarks about it from others and now just feeling shit and embarrassed. Everyone is aware of my conditions so it’s not like they don’t know

You don't understand the law. Adjusting performance expectations coud be a reasonable adjustments.

Adjustments are to stop OP being placed at a disadvantage.

I am sorry you've been given such a hard time OP.

I wouldn't have a problem with it, it would be none of my business. I have had colleagues come back from sick leave with a phased return, reducing hours temporarily or permanently, drop certain aspects of their job either temporarily or permanently.

I know permanently reducing hours would result in reduced pay, as that was one option offered by my manager when I was struggling with some personal issues that affected my mental health, but apart from that I have no idea whether colleagues got paid less in those circumsances - I assume temporary changes wouldn't affect pay though.

The only thing that is my business is any impact it has on my work, but there my response would be to discuss that with my manager from a problem-solving perspective, not to tear down the person needing adjustments.

I couldn't give a shit what my colleagues do I just do what I can. If they have additional support needs that's for them and management nothing to do with me. People spend too much time fretting about what others do it's the worst thing about workplaces

Colleagues shouldn’t be making nasty comments.

Not enough information provided by OP to understand whether or not the adjustments could be having negative impact on other team members or mean that OP’s job weighting is lower for the same pay as others, which would be unfair.

If management have deemed it ok for you to take these breaks then your colleagues should take it up with management if they're not happy.
It's hopefully a short term measure to enable you to de-stress and recover so they should be more understanding.
If it was a regular occurrence on a long term basis then even then their issue is with how management are dealing with it not with you.
Can you request that you work from home more? Is that possible in your role? If so I would make this request so you're not stressing about everyones reactions and are able to disconnect from the resentment.

I was more thinking of the "we are having a one-hour all-staff day after tomorrow and $bigwig is talking" and no agenda sent out so you have to rearrange all your work and reschedule whatever meeting clashed with the all-staff at short notice and have no idea whether they are announcing a new CEO (here's the new boss, same as the old boss, who cares?) or a wave of redundancies (shitting trousers moment) so you're stressed rearranging things and anxious about the meeting.

The kind of meeting where you say to some peers "we need to talk about X, 2pm OK for a 30 minute Teams call?" or "I need a peer review on this change, can you spare 15 minutes now?" is a different type of meeting in terms of length, disruption to work day, prior notice of agenda, and power differential between the convenor and other attendees.

As a software engineer, you will know that quantifying productivity is hard and that the increase in lines of code often isn't in proportion to features added. You will also know that it's possible to spend a lot of time thinking about and carrying out trial and error iterative development on very few lines in order to get them right. And you will know that someone can spend ages fixing or implementing one thing that enables a bunch of other people to do lots more stuff.

What is really tricky is what is reasonable adjustments but you are still able to fulfill your role as long as these are in place - as if this is you - then it’s no one else’s business.

But what is reasonable adjustments if really you are not fulfilling your role, or not as much as other colleagues. That is not being able to do your job, and needing to actually not be in work or to do a different role where you are able to work to the same level.

I have read all your updates. First of all I am sorry you are going through this, it sounds really hard.

you should I think speak to your manager and make them aware that colleagues are making these comments. hopefully this will help so that, as you say, you can focus on easing back into work, rather than being affected by comments.

your colleague calling it ‘privileges’ is clearly very ignorant and has likely never suffered either shutdown, or ME. But that’s no excuse, they are being an idiot. And if multiple people in the team are making comments I do think your manager should be taking action to tell them it’s not on and could amount to bullying, frankly.

I’m not sure I explained myself well. So for example two nurses;

One needs reasonable adjustments. Fair enough.

However both nurses need to do the same amount of nursing if they are paid the same, reasonable adjustments are not there to lower the amount of work.
They are to make work more accessible.

You have a reasonable adjustment in place which is completely understandable.
I have one in place for long covid also regular breaks throughout the day. I would simply reply to colleague that it's a reasonable adjustment and the information is available in x policy should she wish to educate herself! If she continues then simply report for discrimination or harassment it's not acceptable.

My team is very supportive in the most part though and prefer I'm not off sick so they then get my workload ontop of theirs!

I would also use the proper terminology around colleagues though what your doing is pacing, with every activity requires pacing with understanding your baseline. Don't refer to it as taking yourself off etc. Simply explain you have to do pacing throughout the day as recommended for ME sufferers. Yes it's your asd on the overwhelmed aspect but your ME will be playing a factor in this.

You don't understand the law.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b346d40f0b66a2fc05dc5/Equality_Act_2010_-_Duty_on_employers_to_make_reasonable_adjustments_for....pdf

I've posted a link - it explains reasonable adjustments.

@Resentedpumpkin I really think you should find a job that's less stressful for you or wait and see if redundancy will be offered if your health continues to suffer.

If at the weekends you're hunkering down in your home then Monday will be an unpleasant jolt. Might I suggest that if this is the case that you push yourself and get out of the house. Yoga stretches, meditation will help too

Sometimes I do this and I’m not requiring modifications. My work gets done. Only small brains think the best path is bums on seats all the time. Ignore them

@Resentedpumpkin

I'm sorry your not having a good time right now.

As an ongoing scenario do you think working full time is going to be possible for you?

Reasonable adjustments will be reviewed and I guess at some point someone needs to make a decision because ultimately you are salaried to do a particular job/amount of work/hours so from a different perspective moving forward that the pressure and stress of trying to keep up is going to continue to cause issues for you.

Have you thought about working part time but claiming for help with pip?

Maybe you could speak to someone at the citizens advice

There is a calculator available online called entitled to so you could always pop some figures in there and see what it could come up with for you.

Well done for keep trying and remember if people have no experience of dealing with what you are having to they can't relate so will find it frustrating.

I would not resent you stepping away occasionally when you need to.
I would probably resent you not doing the same hours overall as everyone else and still getting the same pay. Especially if it seemed to be less and less hours and others are picking up the slack. Adjustments should not cause resentment but if financially benefitting from them, surely the resentment isn't completely unfounded? .

It's also ok if this is no longer a job you enjoy. It happens, people get burnt out, regroup, move on. Maybe it's time to look around for something else?

For me, I cannot always function during the workday as I would like so I'll often work out of hours to ensure I am doing the hours I'm paid for. TBH, I find it relaxing to work at my own pace and I'm lucky I can. I care about the impact on my team so I ensure I get my work done. I don't think it is unreasonable to be pissed off if someone does less hours with no corresponding adjustment to their pay. Your colleagues are not going to understand how you managed for 4 years and suddenly you cannot any longer. I don't know what the answer is there because realistically it is not their business but again, all they see is someone being paid the same and doing less whenever they feel like it 🤷‍♀️

Nobody, NT or ND, likes what you've mentioned in your first paragraph. Out of those who have a more visceral reaction, it's not necessarily limited to 'ND' people those with other conditions like anxiety might also be extremely affected. Equally, not all ND people are overly anxious.
Your second paragraph is irrelevant. You just said 'short-notice meetings' you didn't specify between who. And in any case, everyone's logic is different. A last minute meeting , even between peers where they actually have to contribute is more nerve-wracking for some people than an all-hands where they just listen. Still some others cannot cope with any meetings at all without a few hours notice at least.

No idea what the point of your last paragraph is. I already said hours don't matter it's the output. I know the required output and drivers of said output. Whether an adjustment is reasonable is determined by the extent to which it influences output. Of the team as a whole, not any single individual.

FWIW I do think working 'at the same level' isn't the correct standard because there are always variations in output across people. Let's say reasonable adjustment person is 'adequate', or a few other including them for that matter, everyone else is 'outstanding'. That's fine. Unless someone's gunning for promotion doing what you're paid to do is fair.

The issue really is the interdependencies and that's the job of management. To, erm, manage these things.

What happened to everyone all helping as best as each other can to supporting, assisting, working as a team, ????

Sometimes i weep for humanity.

Absolutely.

Swings and roundabouts.

certainly makes you wonder at times with people

The problem with adjustments for mental health is that it’s such a slippery slope for employers.

I know that in some workplaces you’d have an awful lot of employees turning up saying they need long breaks because they’re depressed or ND. Huge numbers of people are now diagnosed with depression, anxiety, ASD or ADHD so that these are not niche conditions. They’re going to be present in more or less every workplace.

It makes such a difference when you're in a supportive workplace and get treated like adults to get the job done as best you can!

excatly, with me , you see or know x team or person is struggling then you offer help and teamwork,

Genuinely I don’t feel you are well enough to be in work right now. If you were my colleague I’d want you to take time off to focus on your mental well-being and then return to work when you can cope with the demands of the working day again, as you say you were able to do previously. Perhaps you have returned to work too soon after your health problems?