To think that allowances should be made for mental health conditions and neurodiversity in the workplace?

[FromTheSoul]

I have complex mental health problems and am ND. These things are known about at my place of work but I don't think allowances or considerations are made in the same way they would for a physical illness perhaps. Even though many mental health conditions can also present physically.

I feel like when you say to someone that you suffer with anxiety, SOME people will not take it seriously or will be dismissive. At my workplace I've told a couple of trusted people how bad my mental health can be. For example, recently it's been very bad. I've lost weight, had to increase my meds, seen a private psychiatrist. I have a mix of health anxiety, ocd, ptsd, pnd and a history of panic attacks. As well as that I'm neurodiverse. These things have been clinically assessed which my medical notes will show. So it's not just anxiety at a lower level, mine can be severe.

Up until the last couple of years, post having my children, I've masked these problems at work but it's become harder to do that. I feel that I can do my job, I want to do my job but every so often, I might need allowances to be made. But does this mean I have to let everyone know? I don't really feel comfortable with that. As it is, I have about 5 people at work that know. I also don't want management thinking I'm not up to doing my job because I can do it.

I don't want to say what the type of workplace this is as it could be outing. But the pressure is on in the type of work.

But I just wonder if mental health and ND was better known about (still!... in 2023) and considered in the workplace generally, then things would be different.

You are protected in law if you have long term condition which affects your daily functioning.

As PPs have said you are entitled to reasonable adjustments and n the workplace. You will need to go through Occ Health or HR to get this. Be clear about what your personal requirements are as it's not a 1 size fits all.

The law says “reasonable adjustments” must be made. A teacher being able to leave the classroom if overwhelmed, a surgeon being able to stop for a break mid-operation are NOT reasonable adjustments. But an accountant being able to have a break somewhere quiet would be perfectly reasonable. So the law in fact does apply to all workplaces but what varies is what counts as “reasonable”.

Hugely problematic is that what I think is reasonable and what you think is reasonable will be different!

All managers should have the knowledge and training to listen to your view of your needs at work, and to access occupational health and HR advice to support you (if in a small organisation i can see that might take longer but they should set up a route to get advice imo). If your employer is crap at this stuff, maybe get your own advice from a union, your GP, Access to Work or a specialist charity? Then you can go to your employer with a proposal.

Telling random colleagues all about your health and ND needs is going to achieve nothing in terms of work support. If you're friends then of course this stuff will come up in normal conversation but if you expect your workplace to make adjustments you need to engage.

I live with a chronic mental health condition and my work are very supportive. When I first disclosed my disability to my line manager her response was "I'm so glad you've told me, what can we do to help?" I put in a flexible working request, which she supported. A couple of aspects of my role were changed in order to make my workload more manageable but these did not impact on anyone else, and I was offered free counselling through our employee assistance scheme. I work hard and do my job effectively, the organisation haven't lost anything by putting a couple of reasonable adjustments in place for me which they know I am entitled to by law.

What reasonable adjustments do you need? Ask for them through HR. My partner has an adjustment that he is provided with a brief agenda prior to I internal meetings for instance.

Ask your manager to do an occy health referral. You'll have an in depth discussion around your condition, what you struggle with and recommendations for reasonable adjustments.

My adjustments are working from home full time, bar 2 days a month in the office, active noise cancelling headphones, and having a manager who helps me break down complex tasks into smaller chunks. Before these were in place, I was very mentally poorly. I'm now better than I've ever been cos adhd meds! I have audhd.

@FromTheSoul I agree it can be difficult to put in place reasonable adjustments.

Part of the issue is you understanding and articulating the barriers you face and what helps to minimise or remove them.

As pp have said OH can help.

This may sound harsh but saying you have anxiety to your manager doesn’t help them to put a reasonable adjustment in place. Saying “ I have anxiety and this means I find change difficult so where possible please send me an email asap setting out what is going to change and when, so I have time to absorb it. I may need to ask a lot of questions” or “Please tell me asap by having a 1:2:1 to explain the change in private so I can ask questions. I mask and may not be able to hide my reactions, which is why I need to be told in a 1:2:1.”

The law requires employers to make “reasonable adjustments”. What is reasonable will depend on the specific workplace, and the kind of work which is to be undertaken.

Union was very helpful to us as an employer when dealing with this - ours did understand that we needed the job to be done and we managed to work together to do what we could. Sadly it didn't help long term.

Depends what you need. I worked with someone recently who wanted to be able to have their regular negative outbursts ignored as part of their anxiety, which was unrealistic.

Yes this is very important.

Agree with pp. Legislation protects against discrimination. Adjustments and allowances should be made. But it depends what they are and what your job entails.

This is excellent advice. If you can think of the solutions or adjustments then I'm sure HR will help you put them in place if they work for the workplace and aren't unreasonable. I've worked with someone who needed to sit in a certain spot in the office to help with hearing difficulties, someone else who needed regular toilet breaks, and like I said my partner likes the agenda to meetings in advance due to ND. Just telling someone you need allowances doesn't help unless you specify what the allowance is.

Echoing the 'depends' of pp.
There was a recent thread where the poster was unhappy her employer hadn't promoted her to a senior role, and wanted reasonable adjustments made where, they didn't have to meet with face to face or speak on phone or zoom with clients, they didn't want to attend meetings, do presentations and wanted all interactions on email only. Understandably as the post was a project manager these tasks are the actual role, so not doing these tasks would not be reasonable.

Not everyone needs to know your private health information. But your manager needs to know. What adjustments do you need? Have you asked for them?

It certainly is provided for where I work in the NHS. I have complex PTSD and I'm given time to see my psychiatrist, I've never had any problems with work because of it.
A colleague and friend has autism and there is a hospital group she is given time off to attend, she also has various workplace aids to help her because she is dyslexic as well and a mentor (me) who is there to guide her and tell her if she is being inappropriate. We work together and are very good friends as well outside of work.
We are both healthcare professionals.

Exactly this. No workplace can make adjustments it doesn’t know it needs to make. You need to speak to your line manager, who should make an occ health referral. Potential adjustments can then be discussed (and should be agreed if acceptable to your employer, sometimes adjustments cannot be accommodated).

Yes. We had very similar and also wanted to be able to call in the morning and say he couldn't face work over and above normal sick leave- it was a manufacturing position so this was impossible.

Sometimes I don't think it's people being dismissive, it's just that they don't want to have to deal with a colleague's issues on top of their own. I have a really stressful life and so many issues that nobody at work knows about. I am only there to earn money, I just want to go in, work hard and come home again. We WFH most of the time but there have to be two people in in every day so there is an unofficial rota of sorts.

A colleague who has anxiety asked to be scheduled to work on the same days as me every week as she said this lessened her anxiety. They accommodated this and I tried to make the best of it but having to be someone's comfort blanket in the office was not good for my own mental health.

So yes I do think employers definitely need to make reasonable adjustments for all disabilities, but only if these adjustments do not disadvantage other colleagues.

I think it depends, because where does it stop? What do you specifically mean, and if so would you then think it's fair if someone would then not want to employ you over someone who doesn't have these requirements?

This sounds ridiculous, there's no way you could be an effective PM like this. I'm not even sure you could be an effective office worker. This blows my mind that people can even think this!

I don't think that is a "reasonable" adjustment at all

I think this is a massive issue. I work somewhere where accommodations are made very liberally for people with mental health issues and all too often these accommodations come at the expense of other people’s mental health and / or workload.

As an experienced manager with a physical disability I need to point out there is a lot of factually correct information on this thread about what should happen and what rights you have.

In practice, the world is very different. It's not that simple and you will not get the adjustments you need or are entitled to. You will get fired or managed out instead. They will call it redundancy. You need to be in a union at all times.

Every adjustment has to be negotiated, no matter how reasonable. And every adjustment 'costs' you something, you need to be more flexible about something else in return or demonstrate you are worth the extra effort somehow. That's the reality of working with a disability, seen or not.

As a wheelchair user, I have been denied an accessible desk. I've been refused a shift pattern that would enable me to take medication at the specified times. I've been refused a shift pattern that enables me to finish on time every day, rather than unknown unplanned for extra hours of up to 90mins after a 9hr day. I've been refused access to the company car park as it's reserved for directors only, even though I have a blue badge and a wheelchair and there is no other places to consistently park. I've been refused a desk fan, not allowed to bring in my own or have one provided, even though my medication is heat sensitive and could cause an overdose if I get too hot. I've been refused meetings in ground floor rooms when there is no lift in the building and I'm in a fucking wheelchair. I asked for a pot plant to be moved, as it was blocking the wheelchair access in to the building, I was getting a face full of fern every day. Denied. The list goes on.

Yes it's all wrong. No. I never went to tribunal. Every time I complained I lost my job. The largest payout I got was around 15 months salary, the smallest was just 3 months. But I was still out of work because I tried to assert my rights. And my CV is a shit show.

My advice to anyone who needs reasonable adjustments is to start being incredibly reasonable yourself first. Negotiate and make your request a win/win for the business. Be really clear about what you need, why, and how the business will benefit from doing this. It shouldn't have to be this way but the laws are not enforced and there is no one to protect you.

This sounds harsh but it’s absolutely true in some cases.

I’m not saying this is you, OP (I really don’t think it is), but…

Unfortunately there are a small minority of people out there who may well have MH issues, but exaggerate them to the aim of “getting away” with piss poor work. Not showing up, not showing up on time, unprofessional behaviour when they have showed up, a real lack of good quality work when they are there and constantly wanting to go home early.

Absolutely get in contact with HR and OH and see what they suggest. See if there’s a way you can both come to a good compromise where the work is done but you feel supported. The main thing is both parties are happy. If there’s any imbalance in this then it won’t bode well for anyone (the wider team included, as they’ll be the ones having to pick up the slack).