Trying to manage me out?

[Wayeaye]

Brief background, worked for the company 15 years with an exemplary record. I was diagnosed with adhd 2 years ago and i had reasonable adjustments put in place regarding how much work i am expected to complete (basically less than my peers - no specific target was set), and also around ensuring communication is open and that I'm given notice of changes etc in advance wherever possible to assist me with managing change. This has worked well since although i do have to regularly remind them that they're reasonable adjustments and not favours. I'm more than likely also autistic but i haven't got diagnosed with that as waiting lists are 7 years.

I have had an incredibly stressful time outside work recently, and i have managed to keep it from affecting work except that in January my performance slipped in terms of how much system based work i completed, compared to my previous months.

This is not a measure that i have ever been given a specific target on. I've always just been advised it's something the managers keep an eye on to see if any support is needed. During January there wasn't much system work to do, so my line manager encouraged me to finish up any non system based projects i had on the go. None of that work would have shown up on that score.

Was informed in Feb by my line manager that i hadnt completed enough system based work in jan, and that my score was considerably worse than it had been in previous months. i immediately came up with a plan to improve that score, which i implemented and it did improve back to its pre January levels straight away in Feb. She knew that my mental health was fragile, i asked her to just trust me to sort it out and not put too much pressure on. I did sort it out straight away.

I was then invited in for what i thought was an informal chat with my manager last week only to be absolutely blindsided by an in depth, minute by minute investigation of every day i had worked in January with every system based task i had done, and i was asked to account on the spot, for gaps where no system work has been done for half a day or so. (I was probably doing non system project work - i havent had a chance to look at this yet as I've been off sick with mental health since). Apparently it had been discussed in a senior manager's meeting about how bad it was.

As i have adhd i can't remember what i had for breakfast yesterday, let alone what i was doing on a specific day 2 months prior. I was all over the place trying to work out what to tell her all the while she was jumping between days and spreadsheets trying to get me to commit to saying what i was doing so i was completely confused. I haven't really got a clear memory of what she would have taken away from the meeting.

It wasn't until half way through the meeting that i asked, because it was feeling very unexpectedly formal, and she confirmed, that this was an investigation and the decision was with senior managers to decide if they would be taking me down disciplinary route or not after she took my answers back to them after this. Afterwards she sent me a calendar invite for the meeting we had just had, entitled "investigation meeting". If i had accepted that, it would have then made me look as if i knew it was an investigation beforehand when i had no idea, so i left it unread.

Whoever decided to do an investigation, I don't feel that they would have considered any of my reasonable adjustments. They certainly didn't consider the ones that said i should be communicated with in an open and honest manner because i didn't know it was an investigation.

I also think if they've compared my performance to that of my peers, which was alluded to by my manager that my score looked very bad next to them, then they haven't taken into account my adjustments in that respect either. This is a score that has never had an agreed target attached to it. I think they were looking to see if I've been sitting around getting paid for doing nothing but if they had asked me i would have explained it all no problem - because of my adhd, i work differently to other people but i get the results and it's never been raised as a problem in 15 years.

There's also a potential GDPR breach as i believe there would have been at least one person in the managers meeting who didn't know about my disability, and who potentially does know now.

If they'd told me i was being formally investigated over one bad month, at least it wouldn't have been such a shock. As it is i was barely keeping my mental health together and that pushed me over the edge. I thought i was going in for a friendly check in with my team leader who i previously had an excellent working relationship with.

I feel that they've been really heavy handed and i wonder if they're trying to manage me out based on this one poor month. I also think I've possibly been discriminated against on the basis of my diagnosed disability.

Question is what do i do now? Unfortunately i wasn't in a union - i had been but i cancelled. I have now rejoined but it's a bit late to get help for this.

I am late 40s and diagnosed within the last 2 years as well. I don’t have any formal adjustments at work as I can already work flexibly. But I do at least as much and often more than my colleagues. (Work away from home and manage home stuff and studying on top of often 50+ hour weeks.)

Are you medicated? What are you doing to manage your ADHD better yourself? I appreciate that ADHD impacts people differently, but it’s not all on your company to just accept whatever you do manage to do. They’re paying you to do a job and have already made adjustments. There will be limits to what they can accommodate (hence the word “reasonable”.)

Presumably you hit the targets for 13 years pre-diagnosis. What changed?

That would be my immediate question too. You didn’t have “reasonable adjustments” for 13 years prior.

Was your performance ever called in to question over those years?

I’d get advice ASAP about where you stand and whether or not work are following their procedures appropriately.

Do you have evidence of being asked to do the other tasks? If not, going forward ask for every request to be emailed to you and keep it in a separate folder in your inbox. If it isn't emailed to you, then don't do it until they provide evidence they asked you.

Every year I tell myself to take more evidence related to work and i never bloody do.

It all sounds a bit odd, how there were no issues until very recently and your diagnosis only two years ago. Your best bet is probably looking at your home insurance to see if you get free legal advice or speaking to ACAS.

Now you’re off sick, I think you might struggle to resolve this positively. They’ll think you won’t come to the table, and you run the risk of being dismissed on the grounds of an inability to do the job if you’re off sick long term (which is a reasonable thing to do if due process is followed). In your shoes I’d be thinking about what kind of reference they’ll give you if you leave now and how that might affect a future role (assuming you need to keep working). The balance between that and staying and trying to get a resolution is what you need to weigh up.

Posted too soon

I’d go into the meeting with an open mind, it could be a single misunderstanding. Explain about the other tasks you were set, do you have evidence of these tasks (documents, emails, calendar schedule, Zoom chats)? If so, say you are happy to provide evidence.

You also need to talk to them about the reasonable adjustment, especially the fact that the output reduction isn't outlined. Was the reasonable adjustment officially documented? If not, it should be and needs to be very black and white about what is expected from both you and the company.

A reasonable adjustment of ‘less output’ is very unusual. Instead it would usually be, working from home, adjustment to schedule (longer day but with extra breaks), exclusion from specific tasks that your disability makes more difficult. But you’d be expected to still have a similar output, if then you still can’t manage the workload you’d be expected to reduce your hours and your pay in line with that.

@WayeayeI am really sorry this happened to you.

Are you a member of a union?

Did you even read the OP?!

Unfortunately i wasn't in a union - i had been but i cancelled. I have now rejoined but it's a bit late to get help for this.

I did but I missed that bit. No need for the snotty post. It’s pointless and unhelpful.