Set impossible deadlines while on sick leave...

[Summerartwitch]

I have a long term health condition (disability) and I have been on sick leave for a month after a flare up followed by complications.

I am starting to feel better so logged in to check what was happening with my organisation (I had heard nothing from my manager or HR after sending my first sick note).

To my surprise my manager sent an email to all staff stating that projects I am responsible for will now be delivered within a week or less rather than the usual 3 weeks that has been my target for the past 3 years to make things more 'efficient' from now on.

I work part-time and have the support of any assistant maybe 2 days a week so this type of turnaround is simply impossible. I also am furious that this was sent to everyone without consulting me and look at feasibility and the the email implies I have not delivered in an 'efficient' manner when my performance has never been questioned.

This is not the first issue I have had with this company and unrealistic workload and expectations, lack of support for my health issues and general toxicity.

I am thinking that this is their way to get rid of my by making my targets simply impossible to achieve...

Any advice on addressing this when I return to work?

Why are you checking work emails when on sick leave?

@deckchaironnabeach

As I already said in my post, I logged in because I have no contact from work to confirm they received my sick notes.

And after almost two months I would expect a quick duty of care email at least...

So I logged to check if there was anything unusual/a crisis in the organisation/if my manager was off sick themselves to explain the silence.

I am a manager myself and when someone goes on sick leave I acknowledge that their sick note has been received and send a brief message in the line of 'Thank you for sending your sick note. keep me informed and I hope you feel better' or similar. I think that is just common courtesy.

Have you given them any indication either by or email or via your Fit Note (it hasn't been a sick note since 2010! ), when you are likely to be able to return to work.

from their perspective if you have given them no clue as to when you'll be able to return to the workplace, they have no option but to keep things going without you.

to avoid you having to logon, you could be more proactive by arranging a meeting with your manager every couple of weeks just to give an indication of how your health is and when you think you'll be able to work. This could be something like "I'm starting to feel better, and I have an appointment with my GP on xxx date to discuss my current condition. I will be getting their medical recommendation as to whether a phased return to work could be useful, if so they will do a new Fitnote to describe what that looks like, so we could have another meeting so we can discuss it in more detail".

if you still feel dreadful and don't think the situation is likely to improve for some weeks, then that's something to communicate to your employer so they aren't left wondering.

all this depends on how much you care about the job and want to come across as being proactive and engaged.

the short term deadline change sounds completely irrelevant in your current situation if you have no ability to return to work for an extended period.

Re Fit Note / Sick Note you ought to know the correct term if you're a manager -

In the UK, the "sick note" was officially replaced by the "fit note" on April 6, 2010. This change was part of a broader effort to shift the focus from simply signing people off work due to illness to providing advice on how they might be able to return to work with adjustments

It sounds like someone else is delivering the projects you’re responsible for, which makes sense as you’re not there, so the pressure on you to deliver to those deadlines may not be relevant as other people are now doing it. I don’t see how they could consult with you when you’re signed off. This is why it’s best to not engage till you’re well enough to be back at work. I understand your explanation for why you did but it went beyond checking in and has made you stress about things you can’t deal with when off sick. When you’re returning to work, you can meet with your boss to find out about the changes to your role/responsibilities and deal with that as you would any change, depending on your contract. It’s hard to know until you’re back and have the full picture but try not to worry about worst case scenarios now while the point of being off is to recover.

Such a good point re sick leave being to recover @pinkdelight it is all too easy to start fretting about work during sick leave, and by keeping your employer updated on progress it means the person can truly switch off and not think about stuff happening that they can do nothing about!

Presumably, the person who sent the email has consulted with whoever is managing your projects in your absence about the revised deadlines and they have agreed them? They can’t consult with you because you’re signed off!

There is no one 'managing my projects'. The work just piles on if I am off sick or on holiday.

That is the one of the reason for the burnout.

The company made the choice to hire me to look after an entire area of work and to do a workload that in reality would need an entire team to deliver it.

@daisychain01

Talk about kicking people when they are down...

It is my manager's role to deal with staff long term sickness and arrange catch-ups. It is not a 'short term deadline change' either. It is a permanent one. So on my return I would have to both deal with the backlog of work and meet the deadline they just plucked out of thin air...

Who was the email actually sent to? It wasn't just you? This is why you shouldn't read work emails when you are off sick.

The email was sent to the entire organisation so now everyone will expect and demand the 1 week (basically 3 day as I am part-time) turnaround for project delivery.

I have already explained why I logged in. Not to read my emails but to check that there wasn't a reason why my fit notes were not acknowledged such as a crisis/issue with the office I was not aware off. It really is that simple.

It is not the usual procedure in this organisation to have no contact with staff on long term sick.

But at the moment clearly you're not going to be getting it done in a week, or indeed 3, as you aren't there and you don't have a set date of return. Someone else must be picking this up because it would be completely insane for your boss to send out a company wide email saying requests like this will be turned around in a week when there is actually no knowledge at all of when it'll be done as it'll wait for you. It would be very reputation damaging for them. I think you absolutely must have misunderstood something here.

I do think it's possible that the person covering has said that it could be done much quicker, and that might be an issue you'll need to address when you return as either they work full-time which is why doing it in a week seems fine to them, or perhaps they've had a few 'easy' ones and misunderstood the possible complexity. It is also possible that they have genuinely come into it fresh and seen that there were a lot of possible efficiency savings. But you need to know a lot more than you do now to know what the situation actually is and why that email was sent.

No.

No one is covering all the responsibilities of my role. Just like when I go on holiday.

I have not misunderstood anything...

You work part time and you are off sick so any demands for the completion of projects is pointless. If you hadn’t logged on, you wouldn’t have seen the email. What is the person who changed the timelines hoping to achieve?

But you've been off for a month with no return date in sight, so it makes no sense for him to have broadcast to everyone that these projects will be turned around in a week unless someone else is covering them now. Unless he said in the email that you would be the one delivering them to that deadline, then you don't know what the arrangements have been since you've been off, and can't go off past behaviour because the email itself shows that things have changed. As you say it's impossible for you to do the work in three days, and even more impossible to do it when you're signed off, please try not to worry about for now. When you're well enough, you can talk with him and HR about your role and what possible when you return to work, most likely with a phased return.

You’ve not got the full story. Someone else is covering your work and doing it faster than you, if you’ve not been in for months and that email has been sent. Don’t check emails when off sick. Use whatever contact method you used to phone in sick in the first place to confirm fit notes received.

Talk about kicking people when they are down...

I thought you posting on here was to get some objective advice. That's not kicking you, it's giving you a perspective and some facts about sick leave that you can take or leave.

Common courtesy isn't relevant here, they have to abide by sickness policy and procedure. What does your policy state they should do? They are unlikely to want to email you because they are assuming you won't be logging on because you're sick and unable to, if they don't have your explicit permission to use your mobile, then they won't want to do that. if you believe they haven't acted according to policy, then that's something to cover when you next communicate with them.

I recognise it feels very arms length and impersonal, when you expect them to give you a call and ask you how you are, but that's often not what happens nowadays. It is more proceduralised and less personal, but that's possibly to protect the employee and stop managers contacting them during sick leave. That's why I suggested you make the first move, so you can update them, and also clarify why they haven't been in touch.

What on earth do you do that you can be off for two months and no one needs to cover it but it sits there waiting for whenever you go back? I can’t picture the kind of role that that would be!

''@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · Today 06:28

What on earth do you do that you can be off for two months and no one needs to cover it but it sits there waiting for whenever you go back? I can’t picture the kind of role that that would be!''

A role in a very chaotic organisation...

They have a high staff turnover and have to halt services on occasion when they don't have enough staff to cover due to sickness/holidays.

When I took the role I got a 'handover' with 3 sentences on it. It turned out the person who was in the role before me also ended up sick with stress too and the role was then not filled for almost a year.

Hence the description of a 'toxic' environment with a big issue with a ridiculously high staff turnover and management who have convinced themselves it is 'normal for the sector'.

Can't say too much more than that.

Well if you've been off for a few months and theres genuinely no one covering your work then id expect them to question the validity of your role in the not too distant future.

Its more likely that they have had to find someone to do this project, and that they, for whatever reason, can complete it in a compressed timescale. It sounds like you arent getting on well with this company, maybe time to look for something new?