Advice required - Am I being singled out

[TeaandChoc222]

Hi all, Lovely if you could give me some advice. I've been on a informal personal action plan since last November. It seems I'm not vocal enough at meetings and am not great at communicating with said line manager. I have a formal diagnosis of social anxiety which I'm working on and in a technical analytical role where quiet people are common place. I've been in this employment (NHS) for over five years so to be suddenly faced with a pap has shaken me up a lot. I told the manager about my diagnosis and told him I'd be more happy if I worked on any gaps through the standard monthly 1 to 1s, but here we are. I also asked him who initiated the plan and was told "why start a witch hunt?" No one else has received an action plan and we've got a few quiet ones here. I think I.might be being singled out not sure why but possibly my age-
I'm 53. I suspect its the department head (and not the line manager directly)that's causing the situation but I'm not sure how to progress.

what is your role and what is the importance of contributing at meetings? What is an informal action plan? Is it because you are being supported to meet the expectations of your role?

If you have a formal diagnosis of anxiety you should ask for an OH referral to support your plan - you can ask that they (employer) seek clinical advice on what support you can be given and if you have had the diagnosis for more than a year then I believe you will be covered by the Equalities Act 2010.

Nothing you have said suggests that this is due to your age or being singled out. Personal action plans are that, personal. You don’t seem to be questioning the claims such as you are not contributing in meetings.

I do think you would be better off trying to work on the highlighted issues than wondering why other people are not on plans (which actually you wouldn’t know anyway) or who put you on the plan (although normally that would of course be your line manager).

I think I partially agree with both previous posters. You could ask for an OH referral, but without knowing exactly what the issue is and how critical it is to your role, there is no way of knowing how helpful that may be. Protections under the Equality Act are much less than people assume.

But I agree that who initiated the action isn't relevant. Comparing yourself to others isn't helpful either, because this is about you and your role and the problem your employer believes they have with your performance. I can't see how or why age comes into it. What you need from this process is an explanation that clearly states EXACTLY what the performance standards they expect from you are, and how they expect you to meet them, and what help is available to you to do that (if you need help).

Make sure objectives are SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound). Often they are not!

You don’t seem to be refuting why you’re on pap? It reads like you just don’t want to be.

You can self refer to occ health for advice, there is usually a service provided to most nhs services, try give them a call to seek some advice 👍

Your managers, why start a witch hunt, imo sounds very defensive, I would question that too, your only asking after all and have a right to ask and be given a more professional response tbh