To hand in my notice while on sick leave due to my mental health?

[nononononononoooo]

I'm on sick leave due to anxiety. So far I've had 5 weeks off and am still feeling awful. I'm on medication but, if anything, I feel worse.

A lot of my anxiety was and is triggered by my job. It's an office-based job with lots of meetings, deadlines and incredibly fast-paced and stressful. I find it very demanding on me socially and have really struggled. It's not the type of job you can put your head down and work hard with, you have to be able to network with clients and know how to talk the talk and it's just not for me.

I need to hand in my notice and leave. Thinking long-term, I know that this job isn't for me and have known since my first week there but I pressed through it all thinking I needed time to settle, but it's now been 9 months and has just gotten worse. In the short-term, I feel like my mental health will never recover whilst I'm still worrying about work. Every time my phone lights up or makes a noise I panic thinking it's HR or my manager ringing, phoning or emailing me to tell me I'm fired. I've been living in a constant state of count down of my sick notes ending and worrying the GP won't issue a new one.

My current sick note ends next week. My notice period for my job is 2 months. I need to hand in my notice, but it would mean still working there for 6+ weeks and having to deal with telling my colleagues and having leaving drinks, etc. I just wish I could disappear. I toss and turn all night worrying about what to do.

Do I had in my notice ASAP, acknowledging that my notice period is 2 months and then hope my GP can extend my sick note? Or return to work and try and just push through those last 2 months?

I would contact them and let them know that you’re just not well enough to come back.
They’re hardly going to be annoyed about not having to pay you sick pay…

Hand your notice in and say can you agree for it to have immediate effect. They’ll realise it’s for the best for everyone.

I don't think there is anything wrong with doing so, but I'd be cautious that when you are unwell with a mental health difficulty may not be the best time to make a major life decision.

I understand this and have thought about this a lot, I think that's why I've hesitated to hand in my notice. However, I've known from early on that this job isn't for me, so before my mental health really dipped. The job requires confidence and very good social skills (think sales kind of talk) and I'm a very reserved, shy person. The job is a graduate job with clear progression so it's only getting worse as my manager is expecting more and more of me. I'm expected to lead meetings and I just don't have the confidence for that. I've seen the other graduates take to it like a swan to water, but it's just not in my nature. I'm trying to take all of the emotion out of it and think logically, and I think logically I know it isn't for me.

I've had previous jobs I've done well at, I know I'll be a lot happier somewhere else. In the mean time, I have enough savings to support myself for several months.

Just do it, it's not worth making yourself more ill over. Find a job you like once you feel stronger.

Just do it. Sometimes jobs just aren't a good fit.

Unless you have anything that needs handing over I doubt they will see any point in making you work your notice.

You've not been there a year yet either so most likely they will just say your last day is when your current sick note runs out.

If you are on sick leave due to anxiety, I would have thought that your employers expecting you to resign would be a strong possibility anyway. Everyone in my office who is off work due to mental health or anxiety always ends up leaving eventually. The sick leave they take is merely a step in the process.

I've seen your posts a few times OP about extending your leave and not wanting to go back. If nothing has improved and you feel this job is the cause, I would absolutely hand in your notice now and ask for immediate leave. It's not worth risking your MH for. Hopefully once this hurdle is crossed and you realise you no longer have to return, you will begin to feel better ☺️

If someone came to me in a similar situation to yours i would do everything i could to ensure it was made as easy as possible for you.

You are not approaching it from any POV other than your health which has to be paramount to everyone involved. Tell them where you stand and i would be shocked if the notice period isnt dropped immediately

You know that I have found from my own experience, that when I have been in a job that I have hated, once I resign and know the end is in sight, everything becomes more manageable because I know I wont have to put up with the crap anymore.

It's amazing how much lighter you feel when you know that you are leaving. You look after your mental health, be kind to yourself, get your confidence back and look forward to getting a new job - one that doesnt make you ill.

I've been there and it's not nice. Staying in a job that you hate and one that causes so much anxiety is soul destroying. You get to a point where you don't even have the strength to apply for anything else as your confidence and self believe is rock bottom.

Good luck - life is too short to dread your job - especially when you spend so much time there.

Been there, done that....just leave.

If your mental health is that bad you won't even need to serve a notice period, or if you do just get signed off for the remainder of it, they'll happily cut the notice short for you.

Your body is trying to tell you something, really important that you listen.

You will recover and you will get better. Try not to rush into another job quickly if you have the support network to do so and take some time to really reflect on what you want next.

When I was in this position, I paid for some sessions on that Better help app to talk about my work anxieties with a professional. It was a huge eye opener for me.

Been there too. All I can say is make sure you have a clear plan for what you're going to do next, otherwise you'll find yourself jobless (how will you cope financially as you'll be entitled to pretty much zero help from social) and if you are suffering with mental health that's not a great place to be. You'll also need to work out how you're going to explain your time off to potential new employers - all of the talk about how mental health matters seems to turn to nothing when it comes to employing someone who might have an issue.

I really hope you can find a way out of this and get yourself better.

it isn't for you today tomorrow or a year from now, so hand in your notice, it is possible that you are an HSP and are likely to burnout form being overwhelmed and over thinking it so take a bit of time out and work out what you can and can't do maybe being more frugal but more content with less stress may make you happier only you can answer that

Thank you all for your advice. I've had an email from HR requesting a meeting before I go back/before the last date of my sick note. I'm really panicking.

I'm going to hand in my notice, but how do I do it? Do I message my line manager on Teams and say I'm going to hand in my notice and then follow it with the email? Do I need to say why I'm leaving? Do I write 'my last day will be X' or just leave that bit out? I don't know how to do this

I can't stop crying. I feel like this is just such a mess

Leaving drinks? That’s not a legal requirement. Just leave. No need for fanfares. You don’t even need to tell the colleagues.

It's all going to be ok OP. If you have savings to last for a while just leave. Don't message anybody on Teams, just write an email saying that you're still unfit for work and will be resigning from your position. In light of your ongoing absence, you're proposing that you resign with immediate effect. If you've been off a while and there's no prospect of you coming back in the short term, or you're only going to come back to work your notice for a couple of weeks then they're likely to agree. Otherwise, you could see if you can get signed off until the end of your notice period. Either way, take action today so that you can stop thinking about this and focus on getting better.

Try not to panic. The meeting with HR will be quite a standard 'back to work' meeting where they'd ask how you are, what they might need to do to help you back, generally see what support you need.

All you need to do is email you manager with a quick thing saying you've decided to resign due to ill health. You'd like your last day to be the last day of your sick note.

Job done.

Sending hugs and good wishes your way OP! I have quit a toxic job in the past and have decided to quit my current job this week and I can attest to how much lighter and freer you will feel 🤗

Why do you think they’d make you work your notice period and not just leave now by mutual agreement?

Are there other roles in the company? They saw something in you that they liked, and you’ve been successful elsewhere.

I came upon a colleague crying at his desk one evening. We had a very numbers focused role and none of it made sense to him. He had a great style with customers, and had come to us from another company in a customer ordering type role. I spoke to our boss. Our boss spoke to HR. Next day, he was gently taken aside and asked if would prefer support on current role, or a switch to our customer team. He went on to be much happier on the other side of the office!

You are absolutely doing the right thing handing in your notice. Find a job you enjoy and plays to all your strengths and you will thrive. It may be crap now but you will get through this. Good luck💐

Thank you all. I've decided to hand in my notice tomorrow rather than today, today there is a work event and so everyone will be in the office together and I know it sounds silly but I just keep thinking of them all discussing it with each other in the office. I'm anxious that my manager will call me or ask for a meeting to chat through my decision which is making me feel even worse. He is a great manager and really supportive, but I feel I guess embarrassed and ashamed and would rather just leave quickly and quietly.

I've written a draft of the email to my manager ready to send in the morning. I've just written that I don't feel well enough to go back to work and so would like to hand in my notice - is that all I need to say/write?

I just reread the emails from my manager and HR now that the shock of them has worn off and the emails are very supportive. There are lots of resources for mental health including access to psychologists and counselling. It really is a good place to work, it's just not right for me. I feel so guilty.

How are you getting on today @nononononononoooo ?