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Bereavement

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Return to work after bereavement

13 replies

TheGlossy · 11/01/2022 13:24

Hi all,

My dad passed away two weeks ago and I took last week off as "compassionate leave". At the start of my leave, my manager and their manager (someone I deal with daily) sent me their condolences via text/email and told me I could take all the time needed.

I returned to work yesterday after a week and my manager called in sick the same morning (they go on sick leave for a week literally every month). They texted me to tell me they'll be off for a few days. Now, I'm back to work, no one sought to schedule a catch-up me with to see how we can best manoeuvre my current situation (not even their manager or any of the other team leads in the department) and to top it all off, I'm now in a situation where I have to cover for some of my manager's work because that's the work I absorbed when they went sabbatical for 6 months last year.

I can barely get through my on work and spent yesterday's lunch break sobbing and now I have to absorb someone else's work. I came back to avoid my work piling up and it seems I'm expected to be back to the way I was before my parent died with no active outreach or support from anyone. No one has proactively reached out to me since I came back yesterday and I feel completely isolated.

No manager called me after my parent died, it was literally three texts to express sympathy and that was it. I can appreciate they want to give me space, but not even scheduling a catch-up on my return to discuss how we can best handle my return to work or offer assistance and expect me to be back to "normal" is unreasonable.

Prior to my dad's death I was living on 10-12h of work per day + weekends at times (all overtime unpaid).

Am I unreasonable in thinking this is being poorly handled? I'm not asking for pity because I know work is work, but I didn't expect to come back to complete silence, no support and cover for my manager's work on top of mine.

OP posts:
HarlanPepper · 11/01/2022 20:17

Of course you're not being unreasonable. I don't know what to suggest really but just wanted to say that you are right, this is not OK. It sounds like a stressful work environment at the best of times.

Is there anyone at work (in your manager's absence) that you can speak to about your workload and the total lack of support?

morningstruggles · 11/01/2022 20:21

Sorry OP that sounds so tough Thanks just wanted to offer a handhold and say sorry for your loss

LadyWithLapdog · 11/01/2022 20:22

I'm sorry for your loss and that you feel so unsupported. It sounds like a chaotic environment. Has it been getting worse recently and do you have plans to leave?

LoveFall · 11/01/2022 20:28

You are absolutely not being unreasonable. Similar happened to me a couple of weeks after both my parents died.

People do not understand the impact of parent loss until they have experienced it. I found work started assigning me difficult tasks dealing with difficult people right away. Yes it was my job but I just could not do it that soon after the loss.

I did say no a couple of times when it was too much. You need to do that too.

A bereavement does not heal in a week or two. It takes ages to learn to live with it. The sense of loss and grief never goes away, but you do learn to live with it.

If you can OP explain how you are feeling and say no if a job is too much.

I am very sorry for your loss. 💐💐💐

NotTheGrinchAgain · 11/01/2022 20:41

Im very sorry for your loss, losing a parent is incredibly hard.

No I don't think you're being unreasonable, but I think you're being unrealistic based on what you've told us. It appears you habitually work long hours, sub in for your flaky manager, without anyone being overly concerned for your welfare... why would you expect them to give a crap now? They haven't exactly demonstrated their strong management and commitment to work-life balance thus far, it's not a massive shock they are lacking any compassion now.

If you are unable to work you have the option to call in sick too. You don't have to step up to cover your manager. You just say No. You do your own work and you email the client, copying Sick Manager and copying the senior management , telling client to talk directly to senior management about covering the gap.

Then you work to rule.

You've let them exploit your goodwill, making the mistake of thinking they will reciprocate. That is unfortunately often the case. The company doesnt care about you, nor does its management. They just want to get as much work done, as cheap as possible. You feel betrayed, quite rightly, you thought you had a good relationship with the company but it turns out it is just transactional after all. They take what they can, they give as little as possible in return.

Sobbing at random times of the day and night is very normal whilst bereaved, I regularly break off work to have a cry (my mum died in October and I had to be back at work the next working day, so I just had the weekend to compose myself). It requires nerves of steel to keep going. After my dad died I was a real mess, but this time with my mum I anticipated how awful it would be, and just kind of willed myself to get through it. Occasionally I look in the mirror and dont recognise the haggard blob bleakly staring back at me. I'm a wreck. For now. Give me a few years and I'll be coping again though.

Sometimes people find that being at work is respite from their grief - a distraction from the utter hell of living in the real world which brings nothing but painful thoughts, memories and a seemingly endless list of family and friends to inform and practical jobs to be done when someone close to you has died.

Other times people find work is just impossible and the emotions of grief preclude any constructive activity. If in addition you have experienced the exhaustion of a bedside vigil, hospital visits, organising a funeral, and even the idiotic things like going to your deceased parent's house to empty the bins and water the houseplants or tend to the cat... it is just so much. Work can be unbearable on top of all that.

So it's on you to tell your company what you need. Understandably you feel angry right now, but simply inform them what needs to happen, then make it so.

Maybe as a result of this you will be so angry you will do a better job of asserting yourself so you arent exploited and taken for granted so much in future.

Good luck. X

TheGlossy · 11/01/2022 22:05

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate the kind words of advice and wisdom.

My flaky manager should know what it is like to lose a parent because from my understanding, they too lost their dad some time ago.

I had a feeling the company had no consideration for its employees, but now I am convinced it is indeed the case.

They were working me to the ground right before my dad passed. I experienced a severe burn out and I was only able to take one full week off in 2021 (Christmas week), which was the week before my dad passed. In 2021, they threw project after project, ad-hoc work on top of ad-hoc work my way when the rest of the team had far more capacity than I did. I had back to back deadlines all year meanwhile everyone else was taking 3 weeks annual leave in one go.

I'm very disappointed in the fact that not one manager has reached out to have a chat with me or even ask if the workload is too much because no one covered for me during my absence aside from my manager who literally pick up on two minor items.

Getting an email at 9am from a random stakeholder for me to handle my manager's work and another chaser at 1pm is unacceptable. I can appreciate that I am the only one who has been trained on this specific material and therefore no one else can cover for my manager, but it is still unacceptable given the circumstances.

Some people who know about my situation kept sending me instructions during my bereavement leave without even acknowledging it and have increased their chasers as soon as they saw me online yesterday.

I can appreciate a the main purpose for a business is to generate revenue but we are not client facing at all. There is no client or revenue loss at stake here, so the lack of humanity is really appalling.
One does not get over a parent's death in one week. I can't even express the magnitude of my anger.

OP posts:
BlueSky8 · 11/01/2022 22:14

I'm sorry for your loss Thanks

I returned 3 weeks after my dad passed. And like you when back to a shit show.
I lasted a week before breaking down at my desk, they shit themselves and realised how much was put on me so soon.

So my advise, address it. It's not going to get any better as they'll just be happy your working.

Put yourself first.

Darbs76 · 11/01/2022 22:16

That’s really not ok. I’d email your countersigning manager and ask for a chat. Explain that you’re still struggling and can’t take on your bosses work too. Also in our work it’s essential to do a return to work, the counter signing manger should have picked that up really and checked in on you

TheGlossy · 12/01/2022 13:08

I agree, it is definitely not OK. I'm still getting pestered by some people to handle some of my manager's work and I'm asked to get it done "today" as if I didn't have my work to catch-up on already.

I will escalate this issue to my manager's manager given my own manager has disappeared. I was not going to ask for a catch-up because I wanted to see how long it would take for them to realize it is their job to set-up a catch-up call.

At this point, I am beyond done with them because the way my situation has been handled is downright disrespectful.

OP posts:
AvonCallingBarksdale · 12/01/2022 13:13

Companies can be so shit at this stuff. When my dad died I had a call from a peer colleague on the Wednesday after the Saturday that he’d died asking if I was coming into the office the next day Shock. I didn’t get any condolence messages from the organisation and people sort of avoided me when I returned after two weeks Confused. I brought it up with my manager at the time and she wrote in our meeting notes “Avon was very cross not to get a nice card from work” Angry 😂😂
Flowers to you OP

Bendyandthestinkmachine · 12/01/2022 13:19

I'm sorry for your loss OP.

I lost my sister in 2020 and her death along with covid really made me reevaluate my situation. I left my last job that was making me ill. I returned to work, the day after her funeral to hand my notice in.

In your situation, I would go off sick. Ask your GP to sign you off. Then look for another role. Life is far too short for this.

TheGlossy · 12/01/2022 18:48

Thank you so much for all the help and insights provided. Your posts really make me feel as though I'm not totally alone.

Another day has gone by and no one from management has reached out to me. It's very clear at this point I need to forget about them having a bit of common sense and scheduling a catch up with me.

I have a doctor's appointment to tomorrow with the hope I will be granted a few days off starting Monday. However, if management even dares to suggest a catch-up whether my direct manager returning from sick leave or his manager, I'll politely decline. The return to work meeting should have taken place on the same day I returned, not a week later. Too little too late.

It's shocking that during my performance review I said I was "happy" to be part of the team despite the fact that they were working me to the bone. I regret saying that and they will be very surprised when I finally resign because during my performance review, I said my career goals align with those they have for me.

I think they're also taking advantage of the situation thinking I just lost my dad and we're in a global pandemic, so they can treat mean however they like and I will stick around nonetheless because I need the money. Except, it won't work like that because I realize now there is no way I can stay in a company which does not align with my personal values.

Someone kept pestering me today to deliver something my manager was in charge of. Given we're just an internal department, I just decided not to answer. The manager was in cc', he can pick up on it when he comes back from his fabricated sick leave.

OP posts:
Kitkat151 · 12/01/2022 19:02

You can self certify your sickness for up to 28 days....of course you can see GPif you want..,,but you don’t have to

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