Burned out again...what next? unsupportive employer

[Greenartywitch]

I work for a really chaotic, understaffed organisation that expects me to do a full time job over 3 days a week. I have been with the organisation (a charity) for 3 years.

I am on the autism spectrum with a history of depression which I declared with HR. A year and a half ago I had a complete breakdown with suicidal ideation.

My GP and the Crisis team got back from the brink. I am on medication and had counselling. My employer was unsupportive when I came back and Occupational Health had to become involved to get them to put in place reasonable adjustments.

I started to feel unwell again last month and I am recognising the sign of another burnout. This week I had to go off sick. When I checked in today to let them know I was still unwell, my manager simply replied with a curt email about how it was 'a shame' I would not attend a work event.

I have many issues with this organisation such as differences in pay (I was recently 'promoted' but only got a new job title but was not moved to the relevant salary band so I am paid less than everyone else at my level), never being offered any training opportunities, random critics without evidence provided, I also found out that my manager never shared with senior management/the board any of the achievements of my function for the past three years in the regular progress reports they have to provide and focused instead on the rest of the team.

What do I do next?

I am planning on seeing my GP next week and getting signed off for another week to avoid reaching crisis point this time. But obviously this is not a long term solution.

I am exhausted and sleeping half of the day which makes it really hard to think clearly and plan what I can do next.

Could anyone who has been in my situation or work in HR share some advice?

You may or may not have relevant gripes here:

I have many issues with this organisation such as differences in pay (I was recently 'promoted' but only got a new job title but was not moved to the relevant salary band so I am paid less than everyone else at my level), never being offered any training opportunities, random critics without evidence provided, I also found out that my manager never shared with senior management/the board any of the achievements of my function for the past three years in the regular progress reports they have to provide and focused instead on the rest of the team.

But I wouldn't focus on that. If you are burning out because you're being given a full time workload to achieve in 3 days, you need to demonstrate that and take that up with HR first.

Im going through exactly the same thing OP. The last week in particular has been awful and I ended up phoning the Samaritans in the early hours when everyone else in the house was fast asleep. The lady I spoke to was brilliant and for the time I spent on the phone to her it felt like a weight was lifted. We came up with some tactics to help me deal with the stress. It was things such as self care, sleep. She said that ultimately it’s the work situation that needs to be dealt with. If that isn’t possible and you don’t move on and get another job then nothing will change.

@Birdsinginginthetrees

Sorry to hear you are going through the same thing and I hope it gets better for you.

I am planning to speak to my GP next week and will ask to be signed off work for the next two weeks.

I have so many symptoms at the moment from constant migraine to stomach cramps, feeling like an elephant is sitting on my chest on top of the exhaustion (my usual anxiety symptoms).

Funnily enough I realised I was getting downhill last week when I started thinking about calling the Samaritans. When I had my breakdown two years ago I called them quite a few times so it was a sign that I was starting to head towards a crisis again and I realised I had to do something...

@heemmadilemma · '' If you are burning out because you're being given a full time workload to achieve in 3 days, you need to demonstrate that and take that up with HR first.''

Unfortunately they are not the type of organisation that would respond to this type of common sense approach...They have the worst staff turnover I have ever seen for a charity (and I have decades of experience in that sector) and I learned a few weeks after I started that my predecessor in the role had quit after going off sick for a good while so I think the issues with staff burnout are not being addressed by management.