To wonder if being if I'm being to cruel and unfeeling to colleagues?

[LadyGodiva4]

I have 2 colleagues, one who is my direct report who suffer from depression/anxiety. They often take days off, including extended time off. I have huge sympathy for their situation, and don't blame them at all. But it means that I then have to shoulder the work that they can't do. With my direct report, she'll say that she's feeling overwhelmed with workload, and then take a day off - which inevitably means I have to cover her work.

This in turns makes me miserable - I'm not saying it's mental health, but it affect my mental wellbeing, and means I'm essentially covering 2 people's work quite a lot of the time. As part of 'reasonable adjustments', I take back some of my colleague's work when they're feeling anxious - but I feel that my own mental health is being totally disregarded. I've also had both colleague's (and some other junior members of the team) calling in sick several times over the last few months.

I'm probably being unreasonable, but I do wonder what the fair outcome is. I don't think it's fair that me and other colleagues constantly have to do more than there fair share - but also I don't think people with mental health struggles lose their job. If anyone has been in a similar situation, or can give advice, I'd live to hear it.

Start logging these mental health days she takes off as sick days. After a while this will trigger enough of a picture to start managing her out.

Reasonable adjustments are fine. This isn’t reasonable

Meant to add: I'm assuming that both colleagues have a proper medical diagnosis? And that they've declared it as a disability? In that case, you can discuss with them (individually, of course) 'reasonable accommodations' - but these have to be reasonable for both employee and the business.

If they haven't declared their chronic illness as a disability needing adjustments, then I assume it's a normal performance management matter re levels of sick leave, or unpaid leave.

What if they're disabled and they just need some reasonable adjustments? (Which they're legally entitled to consideration of)

‘What if they're disabled and they just need some reasonable adjustments? (Which they're legally entitled to consideration of)‘

This is not relevant to the OP’s situation.

Doesn’t sound to me though like this is what the problem is here. OP gives the impression that their direct report is hardly ever at work. What adjustments would you suggest making?

"It is not fair that your health suffers. I have been in a similar situation - colleagues in denial about the impact their illness has on others, and expecting the work-horses to shoulder extra load."

Is it the ill person who is expecting others to do their work, or is it management?

Persistent sickness is a hallmark of an unsupportive and damaging work environment. How can it be the fault of the staff who aren't management and have incredibly little opportunity to make any changes that would make it easier to fulfill their duties and therefore not go off sick?

Again for those at the back - if these people being ill or disabled is causing inconvenience for their colleagues, it's a management problem.

If in a small company, 2 people are off regularly with stress of the job which then impacts a third, then what needs to happen is a management meeting to look at whether the staffing levels are appropriate for the work needed, or can the work be reduced/automated/changed so that less people are having to take time off with stress.

You mentioned your colleague is overwhelmed by work - could that be a fair reaction to an excessive amount of work?

I ask because I had a colleague who kept going off on short term stress leaving the rest of us to pick up their work. It was the result of our team going from 10 colleagues to 6 with no significant reduction in work and this colleague being the first one to burnout.

Reducing workload by hiring more staff. Allowing extra breaks. Adjusted targets to allow for them needing extra time. You can't just overwork people and expect them to cope. This person has raised their workload as being the cause of their poor mental health, yet they're the one who is the problem?

We know nothing about the ill person aside from they are off sick due to their anxiety caused by workload. Yet everyone already decided they're not capable of doing their job and they need to be got rid of. No consideration for whether the employer is actually at fault.

It's time to start looking at the employers and holding them accountable, not the individual who has been made ill by their work place. And to stop assuming that anyone with a mental health condition is a workshy lazy git.

as for stress on colleagues - you think someone who is ill should be coerced into coming into work for the sake of not stressing their colleagues out? Is that only for mental health conditions, or would you expect someone with a physical health condition to struggle in and work so as not to cause their employer any difficulties too?

Can the slacker job share? Make them take the hit, not the company. If they aren't on full pay they may be less inclined to have so much time off plus you can phrase it as an adjustment for their mental health.

Slacker. Nice.

How do you know?

You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

If long term, you're having time off sick due to your mental health, then arguably the person does have a disability and therefore would be entitled to the consideration of reasonable adjustments. You don't have to have a diagnosis to have a disability in the eyes of the law.

My manager is sympathetic, but ultimately they are not affected, so it's hard to impress the issue clearly.

You manage at least one person so you must have something about you?

Say to your manager "I can do x and y when person a is off, but that is all I can manage"

And stick to it. If your manager is too stupid to notice you have to make them notice.

Agree with pp that there needs to be a meeting with HR about reasonable adjustments.

This
Either you need to look at work loads and see if they are reasonable across the team or start to manage her!

People like that need managing out, you need colleague’s that are reliable & dependable not flaky & lazy.

Is it possible the workload is actually too big for you and your direct report? Which is why she is burning out/ needing breaks and you feel exhausted shouldering her workload on top of yours? If this is happening often, it is worth looking at whether you have as a team been allocated an appropriate amount. If the staffing levels are too low for what is being asked of you, this is only going to continue. If she leaves, you are likely to face a similar issue with a replacement months down the line if so.

This. First step. Is the workload fair and reasonable?

Making adjustments for her doesn’t mean that the company does not have a duty of care for you. I’d be going from that angle.

I get what you’re saying, but I think this is a very difficult situation. Things like extra breaks is fine, but we don’t know the nature of OP’s work. The company may not have funds for more staff. The nature of the job may have deadlines for a reason, for example, my job includes communicating to customers during emergencies.

I empathise with OP as I have been in a very similar situation.

I had a new manager who was totally incompetant at the job. We believe her ability was impacted by her illness/disability, in which she struggled to take in information, struggled to plan anything, and made constant mistakes I had to correct, that could have got the company fined. If we ever called her out on it, she bullied us. It meant my work life was hell, I had a horrendous workload and was doing her job, which included many tasks above my paygrade. My company didn’t do anything about it. So I left.

you think someone who is ill should be coerced into coming into work for the sake of not stressing their colleagues out?

So the healthy person is coerced into becoming unhealthy?

What we don't know, ad only @LadyGodiva4 does, is whether the workload is too much for any employee to be expected to handle. If it is a reasonable workload, that others are handling, then the issue is with the employee who isn't coping.

Then there needs to be an investigation about what might be done.

Hopefully, this thread will give the OP some ideas about taking action to get to the bottom of the problem, and then suggest actions to her manager.

I agree with this, but they also have to look at whether the person is exaggerating, whether they just can't cope because they're not working at the proper rate and whether they are generally a good fit for the business.

If you keep doing her work, then they won't see someone else is needed.

People.

Looks like they could lose 3 to stress and sickness.

Agree. It looks like management solutions are not being properly looked at. Whether you have an underlying MH condition or not, work related stress due to excessive/ poorly managed workloads can become an endemic issue.

As another poster has said.

Either:

• the workload is wrong
• the person does not have the tools/ training for their workload/ is not managing it well
• the person is too unwell to compete all aspects of the role

All of these points require management input to fix.

Assuming the workload isn’t unreasonable I would talk to your manager and see what they say. If the response you just have to deal with it you need to leave this persons work undone. If you keep doing it all, you will always have to.