Nuerodiverse colleague

[moana35]

I am having a few problems with a colleague at work. She is neurodiverse so adjustments have had to be made but these adjustments are meaning that myself and my colleagues are doing alot more than we did before she was employed.

She is very black and white about time so she will not be at her desk until her digital smart watch says the start time on her contract and again she leaves at the exact time she is supposed to finish even if in the middle of something. Lunch is an hour but due to needing to re compress for the afternoon she needs to take 75 minutes as she needs to go for a walk and eat. She has to sit in front of a window which means all our places in the office have been changed.

From Monday we are not allowed to drink coffee at our desks anymore only tea as the smell makes her gag.

Aside from this she is a very good worker and gets her work done to a good standard but it is impacting on the morale of the team. She is also exempt from training mornings if they are "small room " based as she can't sit in a room with a big group of people. She will be allowed to do her training online.

Management say as she declared her nuerodiversity at interview these adjustments have to be made for her I get reasonable adjustments and I have an autistic son but are these adjustments reasonable to the rest of the team.

If we took 15 mins extra for lunch or asked our colleague to not drink coffee I am sure we would be spoken to by management,

Has anyone else come across this in the workplace.

How kind.

Even though it’s the law.

YABU the employers are doing it right, mostly, apart from banning coffee drinks. I'd make a coffee in a travel mug with a lid, perhaps she won't smell it then? I'm neurodivergent and work from home partly due to that, but I still do the same amount of work as everyone else.

She’s probably not paid for those 15 minutes. Does that stop the whingeing?

Love her boundary on start and finish 👸🏻

I can’t really understand how this fifteen minute extra break is having such an impact on everyone else.

You say she’s a really hard worker.

I think you are whinging unnecessarily.

Going against the grain! But I don’t think the coffee thing is that unreasonable. I get migraines including vomiting from certain smells like maybe strong perfume eg opium and also new car smell….id hate to be trapped with these smells at work.

15 mins between 3of you is 5 minutes each. How can this have an impact?

Quite.

The coffee thing is not reasonable. A poster's suggestion of a closed cup is great.

My main issue is she is being paid the same amount of money as us for an hour and a quarter less time than all of us and if we all turned up dead on time and left dead on time I am sure management wouldn't be happy as it takes at least 5 mins to log on and I thought it was just common courtesy to finish a job before leaving the office.

As others have said, it’s about reasonable not unreasonable adjustments. Dictating what drinks others can have is unreasonable. Having a longer lunch is unreasonable. Missing meetings is unreasonable.

She’s a hard worker, who is giving you a hugely increased work load? Make it make sense.

I think she needs adjustments that as a team you’d prefer not to make, reasonable or otherwise. Too complicated. Would be easier to have someone not ND, who came in 15mins earlier rather than on time, drank coffee and was perhaps more communicative. This is interpersonal and not actual work related. Point is though, she’s a hard worker.

There’s only the coffee at desks thing I can see would impact you personally in any legitimate way - the rest of it is just noise.

Your issue is with management then, Op.

“Stop being so miserable”….@arseinthecoopwindow. Is that the atypical ‘how dare you be an actual person with thoughts and feelings!!! You are nothing but a prop or bit part in the important persons life. Shut up and do what you’re told. ?

The world has gone mad. And I say that as someone with Asperger’s.

I don’t expect anyone to adjust for me. I take jobs that suit me/or I learn to adapt to the job or aspects of the job that I find difficult. I absolutely would hate that my colleagues were doing extra work to accommodate me!

I’m sure I’ll get jumped on here by people but I was raised to learn to find way to get by and I find it an alien concept to expect people to adapt for me.

People moan when ND or disabled people don’t work, but then they moan when they’re given reasonable adjustments that allow them to work.

In terms of the extra 15 minutes and you taking more calls, you can only take the number of calls that you are free to take. It’s 5 minutes extra each so I really can’t see it’s an issue.

The coffee thing, would you really be happy to sit and drink it knowing it made a colleague gag? Then she’d have to be away from her desk and miss more work and you wouldn’t be happy again.

Some people do just seem to dislike ND people getting the adjustments they need to be able to work and you sound like one of them. Take it up with your employer if you’re unhappy but I don’t think it’ll be received well.

An hour and a quarter? You said 15 minutes.

It isn't her fault the rest of you have poor boundaries and work when you're unpaid.

@ could you have your coffee in the travel mugs with lids perhaps?

No, it’s pathetic.

Ive worked with loads of disabled colleagues with adjustments. We just pulled together and helped each other.

Sounds a horrible team at your place.

An hour and a quarter sounds like it the weekly amount of time 15 mins a day

Id be taking a nice hot coffee to my desk. They can't stop you drinking that. There would be outrage where I worked if that happened.

But I bet if she couldn’t work you’d be one of the first saying she’s not that bad / doesn’t need disability and out of work benefits etc. Disabled people just can’t win.

@ArtTheClownIsNotAMime I assume the op is referring to the hour and a quarter it adds up to over the week.

The coffee is not a reasonable adjustment, the other things are beyond your control and nothing to do with you. If there are issues with your workload then you need to address these with managers separately.

If everyone minded their own business and stopped worrying about what everyone else got I think they'd all find it less stressful!

It’s fairly standard practice nowadays to remove breaks from contractual hours.

The bulk of my team are paid for 37hrs, they’re in work for 42. They also all leave work on time. 5pm on the dot, the office is getting locked. It’s called a work life balance, and some employers encourage it.

It is quite/very likely she’s not being paid for those 15mins, and she’s entitled to only work the hours she’s contracted for.

Poor you. I used to work with someone who got migraines from perfume. She was our colleague so we stopped wearing it. It wasn’t really a big deal. She was very grateful and it was life changing for her really as her migraines could last 3 days with sickness, blurred vision etc. I think sometimes you have to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and if you can do a small thing to help them out, why not?

I think this would be horrible thing for you to do. People will soon get used to having coffee away from their desk or having tea. I hate how it's suddenly become OK to hate on disabled people who are just trying to do a job.

sorry an hour and a quarter a week