Hi all,
I am hoping you can give me some advice. I started a new job in January with a 6 month probation period. In May I had 4 weeks of sick due to my mental health being poor (I have bipolar and starting a new job triggered a depressive episode). On my return to work I was told that my probation would be extended due to the amount of time I had off. I completely understood and accepted this. My manager wrote me a letter to make this “official” but in the letter it said my probation was being extended due to “absence and performance issues”. I tried to clarify with my manager about what the performance issues were as nobody had mentioned this. I had previously only been told about the absence issues (which I completely understood and accepted). My manager responded that I “need to be more creative and think outside the box” and that was about all she said. Now I feel completely lost. I really like the job but feel I am being set up to fail when nobody can give me a concrete explanation for what I am getting wrong. I suggested some kind of action plan that I could work against to improve but my manager just said that she doesn’t want to “micromanage” me. Anyone got any tips on how I can approach this? Obviously I am working on the absence issue and intend to have no more time off. I am feeling very unsupported. (It’s also probably worth mentioning that I had no manager from January to April because the post was vacant. My first probation meeting was therefor on my return from sick leave). Any advice?