Excessive sickness and applying for another job

[MaryBS]

I've been in my current job for the past 4 years. They are shutting the office and making everyone redundant.

I've had a lot of time off sick, in short bursts, mainly due to stress, for reasons like migraines and stomach upsets.

The job is very stressful, there has been a lot of pressure on, to complete tasks, to take on extra work, to bring stuff home.

Many staff have come close to breakdowns.

On top of that, my son has been dx'd with Asperger's (18 months ago) and I was (6 months ago), so it has all been a bit much for me.

My reference are already been taken up, I've put my former boss as reference, although he left in December (quit due to stress, no job to go to), since I've worked for him for most of that time. He is sympathetic, so that may help, but I've had 1-2 days of sickness on average per month for the past couple of years.

I guess the question is, how do I handle my sickness record at interview? I plan to tell them about my Asperger's as well, although I haven't told them as yet.

Sorry, SHOULD say, I've got an interview.

I guess you will need to present it as something that isn't likely to happen in a new job, explain the reasons why the job caused the sick leave and why those reasons aren't likely elsewhere iyswim.

They will need to be confident that your previous sick record is not one that will become their problem in the future.

If they've taken up references before interview they obviously know about the sickness absence record and still want to see you, so that's obviously positive.

They will probably ask you about it, and as ZoeC says, they will want reassurance that the problems causing the high absence rate are either resolved or under control now. You could blame it on the previous job to an extent, obviously in terms of reassuring them that it won't happen in a future job, but on the other hand you don't want to come across like someone who goes off with a headache everytime it's a bit stressful at work iyswim?

They may send you to an OH person or similar, to get an opinion on to what extent they should be concerned about it. This would be a good thing for you as it will give you an opportunity to explain all this to a health professional.

Well, they've contacted the referees, so they don't know YET about the sickness absence. But yes, I think the key here is to reassure them that its under control. Given that one of my referees (my boss) quit because of the insanely high demands made of him...

Thanks

So they've asked for references but haven't actually received them back yet, you mean? I'm assuming the reason this is an issue is that they are asking about attendance record at your previous jobs in the references?

Yes, thats right. Although one of my referees has said that he doesn't have all the details, only HR does (and he left the job at Christmas, although he'd been my manager for 4 years prior, which is why I put him down as the referee, rather than my new boss, who was my boss for 2 weeks before we were told we were being made redundant). So he MAY not make a big thing about it, given the circumstances. The reference he has been asked to provide is answers to a series of questions on a standard form.