HR calling me on my day off

[Notsurewhatithink]

I have been experiencing some health problems which require reasonable adjustments in the workplace. I thought I was managing this well with my line manager. Today, however, I received a phone call out of the blue from the person who does our HR, to discuss "support" for me, as I had expressed "needs" to them (I have a formal diagnosis, which I think shared with management). However, I do not work on Wednesdays and the caller ID did not come up as my work, so I answered as I was concerned it was my son's school.

AIBU to be pissed off to be called about work-related issues like this on my day off? It can absolutely wait until tomorrow. I have not had more than half a day in a row off for this condition (or a full day for anything else since February), so it's not like I am never in work for them to speak to me! I was in the library with my toddler and now I am fucking paranoid they're trying to cut me loose!

Absolutely. Must try harder.

Meanwhile, in the real world, I saw an unknown but local number and immediately worried it was something to do with my son, so returned the call without thinking.

And that’s perfectly understandable. No one is berating you for calling the number back.

But that doesn’t mean that HR has done you wrong or railroaded you or any of that. From their perspective they called during your employer’s normal operating hours, left a message, and assumed that when you called back you had listened to it and that you (an adult professional) would and could ask to defer the conversation if you preferred to do so. Those are reasonable assumptions on their part.

This isn’t some zero-sum scenario where one of you needs to be the villain.

I'd be the first to admit that I am not at my best at the moment. Like I said, I am in the throes of PMDD. I will be back to normal in a few days. I don't think there are legit performance concerns, my absence rate is fine, I am meeting deadlines etc etc

I can beat that @Notsurewhatithink I got rung by my school on the morning of my mother’s funeral, to ask about some planning (they knew why I was off). I should have gone ballistic.

I think the fact you called them back has muddied the waters.

You can't really complain about it when as far as they knew you made an active choice to engage with them.

If they'd called you repeatedly then you'd have a point but a single call and voicemail, which you had a choice in whether to return, would seem reasonable. The fact you didn't mean to return the call and hadn't listened to the voicemail so expected the conversation isn't something they can magically know.

I'd assume the HR person also has a fairly full calendar to fit things in around.

I think separate out your frustration about the call and your underlying concern about whether you are being managed out in some way.

Your line manager has instigated this so 'all is fine ' doesn't really hold.

Kindly, I think you are overreacting.

I work part time and outside of my line manager and direct team I wouldn't expect anyone else to be aware of my working pattern. If someone did contact me on my non-working day I would just assume they weren't aware and brush it off (but had you picked up the phone you'd have been more than entitled to say 'can this wait until tomorrow please, it's my day off.')

EDIT: I don't think you're being managed out, this is anxiety talking and HR doing HR.

Wow, that is appalling!!! I am so sorry for the loss of your dear mum. I hope you've since found a school that appreciates you for who you are xxx

So you can't cope with being put on the spot on the phone but you'd be fine if they suddenly popped up in your classroom? I don't buy it.

Op, with respect, I am not sure fighting on line is going to help. You’re clearly angry, irritable and struggling right now. I think maybe take some time away , go for a walk, eat something nice, have a lie down, listen to some music, read, whatever it takes for you. As you’re going to extremes. There is no need to bring the unions in as hr offered support on your day off. I think maybe when you’re feeling yourself again you will see that.

Have only read the OP’s posts. I’m an HR professional of many years and also a school governor x2.

OP, your story is inconsistent, but I understand you will have muddled thinking just now. (E.g in your OP you answered the phone, but later on you rang them due to a missed call without realising they had left you a message.). You say you haven’t asked HR for support, but you have discussed support with your manager and most would want HR involvement in these situations (generally because line managers rarely have a full working view of employment law and policies and these situations usually crop up unexpectedly).

This is overwhelmingly likely to be your employer maintaining their duty of care to you, not some heinous plot to oust you. Notes should be taken to ensure any actions are taken. You should be referred to Occ Health for specialist advice, as your LM/HT/HR person are almost certainly not trained medics or psychiatrists.

Lastly, AIBU isn't a great place for this sort of thread as you’ll get lots of opinions rather than learned advice.

I hope you feel better soon.

I have worked part time for the past 15 years. It's a two way street - sometimes you need to show a little flexibility. If you couldn't talk at the time, it's fine to say "I'm just in the library with toddler so can't talk now, are you free when I am in tomorrow?". But not everyone will immediately remember your working days/hours so no point getting annoyed about the call itself.

They may also have thought, kindly, that it might be less stressful for you to talk on a non-teaching day.

OK, so it was probably an oversight. Just politely end the call. You don't have to make a big thing of it.

HR and LM trying to support you then getting slated, the organisation and your colleagues don't** revolve around you and your issues.

As to why they are reaching out now unexpectedly, in addition to the possibilities ofn ominous plotting or concerns about performance, other possibilities are: change in policy about how they record adjustments, audit picked up they have not been formally recording adjustments sufficiently and they're correcting, they are busy and it's slipped off the to do pile until reminded or has only just reached the top of the to do pile, etc etc. It's not likely to be sinister, although that possibility always remains, and if you feel happer with union support absolutely request it.

Reaching on your day off: not ideal but as other have mentioned, probably also not sinister. As they've said, they may have started the phone call with "is now an OK time..." or expected that if you rang back you were happy to talk, you do have every right to say now is not a good time. For some people needing adjustments, they wold want the conversation as soon as possible, for their own wellbeing, rather than waiting for a slot, but I do think an email asking when you are free would probably be a better approach. With respect to lacking assertiveness to say "oh, I'm busy now, can we catch up in work hours" - it's fine to feel like that, but that is coming from you, not HR - they couldn't really predict it. You could maybe use the meeting about adjustments to ask for an adjustment around this?