To be struggling to prepare for work evaluation? TW: family bereavement

[Sabrina145]

Hi all,

We lost a young cousin recently in sudden circumstances. (Tragic accident). I missed a couple of days of work when it happened. My cousin’s funeral is the day before an external performance review that we have at work. I will be off work for the funeral obviously; this evaluation is the next day. It requires us to prepare presentations, there is an interview etc. They decide which to staff to visit and not everyone will be visited, so I know they might not meet with me that week due to circumstances. However, I am finding it so difficult to focus on the prep given that we have the funeral etc coming up. I still feel so sad. AIBU to not be able to focus on it? Any advice to get me to focus at this time please. I am feeling so anxious knowing it is the next day after I go back to work. Thank you.

Can you get yourself signed off for a bit? It sounds like you are struggling.

If that's not feasible, just be honest. Have a conversation with your line manager and basically say what you've said here. See what they advise with regard to moving forward.

I have never come across a work evaluation such as you describe, but I would have thought a quick word with your line manager would take care of the issue. Tell them you won’t have time to prepare and ask to be removed from the list or whatever it is they are working too.