What could I have done differently to save my job?

[lostandconfusedmh]

I was working at one of the Big 4 firms, but I began experiencing significant challenges after I went off my SSRIs, which I'd been on in high doses for years. The withdrawal symptoms were intense, and combined with the stress of my job, they led to me failing all six of my certificate-level exams. I felt too ill to turn up for work and struggled to perform my responsibilities properly.

During this difficult period, I was diagnosed with autism, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. My parents advised me not to disclose my mental health issues to future employers, so I only told my boss about my autism diagnosis and kept the rest to myself. My boss was skeptical and angry, questioning whether my autism alone could explain my struggles.

He even accused me of lying, saying my autism didn’t seem severe enough to cause all the problems I was experiencing. However, he did follow the Disability Discrimination Act 2010 procedure and gave me another chance.

I was then sent to Wakefield client-site to work in a credit control role, which involved making 25 calls a day, writing emails to angry customers, and liaising with a difficult client whose account management department was quite challenging. Unfortunately, this role heavily relied on social and communication skills, which are areas where I struggle due to my autism.

I made several mistakes, like canceling the wrong contracts, deleting files, accidentally CCing internal emails to customers, and even asking the client's CFO if he would renew a contract, which didn’t go over well.

On top of that, my boss was frustrated with me for missing timesheets, taking long PTOs, and working from home.

Eventually, he suggested that I leave the company. I decided it would be better to resign, and he agreed, likely to avoid any potential legal issues for the company.

The employment lawyer I spoke to told me I should have informed occupational health that I had all those anxiety disorders etc., and maybe argued with occupational health to put me off the Wakefield project and somewhere else.

Why have you contacted an employment lawyer?

Just focus on the future now.

It like your condition was being managed poorly - coming off high dose SSRs in the midst of exams sounds like a terrible idea. So get your medication sorted and manage any future changes gradually and not while you are in the middle of a key period in work.

It sound like complex client management isn’t for you - so yes, it would have been worth talking to HR about the Wakefield site - that doesn’t mean you have to disclose everything to work.

When I had the capability meeting before my resignation. I wanted to know if my boss can fire me as I had disabilities and if they could be linked to why I failed out.
I mean my manager at Wakefield told me if he knew I had autism he wouldn't have asked me to come to this task as I was very unsuited.

The thing you could have done differently is be completely honest about ALL your diagnosis and agree reasonable adjustments with them. Personally I also think you should have taken a few weeks off to get your head around your diagnoses.

I don't really understand why you've got an employment lawyer given that you weren't performing your duties well and kept making mistakes. This isn't your employers fault. Perhaps if they'd had all the information they could have helped you but without it you just looked like you couldn't do the job. The big 4 companies won't accept poor performance. When you get a new job, look for a more nurturing environment and be honest with them so they can help.

You didn't disclose your disabilities fully so it's unreasonable for them to be expected to make adjustments based on illnesses you won't admit to having.
You should have been fully disclosing all the diagnoses. Then they may well not have sent you to Wakefield.
So I think you've no case for an employment lawyer.
Just try and move on. Get your health in check and seek a role that's less high stress.

I did tell them I had autism but they still sent me on a complex client management task when there were more analytical jobs floating around

When i was at big 4 they would have sacked for the exam failures, regardless of the other issues. Especially if you didn’t disclose your issues.

You can still be managed out even if you are disabled. It’s more difficult and a longer process. But it can be done.

Having a disability doesn’t mean you can not perform in your job and automatically keep it.

But did you tell them straight away that it wasn't a good fit for you because of x, y and z conditions?

@lostandconfusedmh I guess that could be a potential angle. It seems you were struggling across the board with the exams and other mistakes though. So it's probably for the best that you parted ways. I used to speak to a lot of people quite new to the industry who were really burnt out by big 4 experience. It's not for everyone.

Sorry I have no useful advice to offer apart from what everyone else has said, your employer can't be expected to make reasonable adjustments for you when they don't even know that you have health conditions which require them to make those adjustments! However you need to remove the name of the site where you were working, That makes you and potentially them too identifiable.

@lostandconfusedmh are you the poster who had about 10 different threads about this employer, your mistakes and getting fired about 3minths ago? If so you need to let it go and move on

There isn't a Disability Discrimination Act 2010.

I'm surprised they let you stay on with the exam failures to be honest, they're normally quite brutal especially at the moment when most, if not all, are making redundancies. I think they'd probably fall back on this.

I am sorry Op, but everyone knows that working for one of the Big 4 will be demanding and standards high. You failed your exams and made lots of client facing mistakes.

I think you need to focus on the future and decide what path would suit your talents best and if you need to go on medication again. I wish you all the best with it.

You got bad advice from your parents. An employer does not need to take into account undisclosed conditions unless they were previously undiagnosed. (E.g. lack of concentration then diagnosed with PTSD after the difficulties emerge as opposed to someone who knows their condition causes challenges but does not feel they need to disclose this to manage this). Once an employer is aware however they need to put in accommodations.

From an OH perspective, if a person is on a performance plan, advice will be provided on how to support the individual in being able to do their role from a health perspective. This will include Reasonable Adjustments, reduced role demands (although this may lead into change in pay), redeployment or redundancy. If a person is still underperforming after a set amount of time (in my workplace 6-12 months) they will be taken down the capability route for termination of contract.

I would suggest for any other job be open and honest with your direct manager and get an OH case worker who will support and modify your job tasks as and when required (if your employer has agreed to having a holistic OH service). Unfortunately if your employer has only commissioned a box ticking OH service then none of my advice above would be relevant!

I was going to ask the same. This all sounds very familiar. If I remember rightly, you were advised to look for employment that was more suited to you away from these kind of firms. I think it's best to look to the future rather than what has gone before.

Was there a reason you came off your medication? do you need to review your needs?

Apply for analytical roles, not client facing. Turn up, the managers annoyance about long PTO and working from home stands out, not that you did them but that they were annoyed by this - did it buck normal working trend?

In interviews don’t dwell on the bad times at last place, e factual, length served etc. the role changes didn’t suit you, that’s a genuine reason to leave.

Try and seek more help for your mental health right now. That should be your focus. You start thread after thread on here but the answers remain the same unfortunately

Telling them about all your conditions might have changed the outcome or it might not have. It doesn't sound like you're currently in a place to work somewhere with this kind of environment anyway and maybe you'll neve be. It might be positive for the future to think that disclosing would have been positive, but there's nothing to gain from beating yourself up about what happened. You can learn from it, but dwelling on it is counter productive, especially when you're struggling with your mental health. You'd be better off focusing on getting your mental health stabilised and then finding a job that is compatible with your needs.

She's probably referring to the Equality Act 2010.

Working for the Big4 is client management. It's what they do. There is no Big4 job where you can just quietly do analytical things. I really don't think there was any scenario where you worked out there.

Look, you weren't capable of doing that job. You failed exams and made lots of mistakes. You have to be realistic- an employer isn't going to employee you to do a job you aren't capable of. Look for a new job that you are able to do.

You need to put this behind you and focus all your energies on sorting out your mental health. Then, when you're ready, move on to a more suitable role.

The Equality Act 2010 means employers have to make reasonable adjustments for disability. To do this they need to know about the disability - your manager asked if there was more going on than autism and you told him there wasn’t. And the adjustments have to be reasonable - from what you’ve described I think it’s unlikely complexity and pressures you found difficult (and led to significant mistakes) could have been removed from the job you were doing.

As others have said I suggest you try to move on from this. Think about what kind of job would suit you.