Has anyone else had a welfare meeting with their employers?? What might I expect?
I received a letter saying they were ‘concerned with my health and would like to discuss my condition and how they can support me in my duties’, forgive me for feeling paranoid and like its a secret ploy to judge me not employable.
Although I am currently off sick for a few weeks, if they really are trying to support me in my duties, they might find something to help me go back… but at the moment work makes me feel super anxious and i just cant deal with going and feeling so useless there!!
Can they even get rid of you if they think you are not up to the job anymore??
I had one meeting with a manager to decide what duties I would do etc… and I went back… after 3 shifts i felt anxious, useless and mentally exhausted and was signed off sick for 3 weeks and put on citalopram. So that might be why now we have the ‘official’ welfare meeting.
I think i underestimated how tiring going back to work would be, and how useless it would make me feel. i can do 2 positions now, one of which is cctv, so kind of limited anyway… not to mention if my eye starts going patchy! Feel like Im more of a burden than a use being there!!
They can eventually get rid of you, if it becomes clear you are unable to do your job any more, there are no alternative duties you could do, and there’s little prospect you’re going to improve. However, please don’t be paranoid, at this stage, that that’s already what they’re trying to do, as they must explore ways they could support you back into work, and that’s what they’re trying to do. So I would take it at face value, at the moment - they don’t want you to feel abandoned with your illness, and want to examine any steps they could take to make it easier for you to return. So you might want to think about anything that might make it less daunting. Are there any tools or equipment that would make life easier? Would a change of hours or duties help? Is your workplace up a lot of stairs, so it would help if you moved? That kind of thing.
I think it is strongly in your interests to cooperate, even if you feel you won’t be going back just yet. The more constructive and open to ideas you appear to be, the less chance they will conclude there’s no realistic prospect of you ever doing your job again. Think of it as a problem you’re both trying to solve - you don’t want to lose your job, they probably don’t want to lose an employee (it’s expensive to hire and train a replacement!) So have a look at ways you could both get what you want!
You have had hell of alot to contend with recently, not only with yourself going straight onto Tysabri,giving birth and then your littleones health issues…you may remember many of us were suprised you were going back so soon.
You arent useless look at all the balls you are trying to juggle. I think you maybe haven’t fully embraced that you have a new you now.
Work I guess have seen where you are at healthwise now and yes they need to formally agree new working practice to support you and themselves.
I really feel for you and admire your desire to get back to work, but is it worth damaging your health over at this moment in time?
As you know I have just gone through the work retiring me off process, so I have been in the fears over paying the bills/losing the house situation,and it all adds to the melting pot of stress.
You are signed off so sit back,enjoy your littleone and when you can face it have a honest discussion with yourself about what you can realistically do that isnt superwoman and is achievable.
It might be easier now you have tried it to work out what bits of the job are doable (is that a word?),what you could do for short periods,whats a definate no and realistic hours etc.
Thats what I did via risk assessments as I worked with vulnerable adults and we all reviewed and tweaked it weekly.
I would suggest you add rest periods within your work schedule that are non negotiable whatever your colleagues say.
ur health comes first,to heck with work giving you stress,if you ca afford it get a redundancy packaage,and look after yourself,or they will eventually do it for you
More breaks would make things harder in my case lol… I either take a break in my work area… or I have to go across the busy shop floor, wait amongst all the pushchairs to be able to get into the lift, up 2 floors across a bit of the stockroom and round a corridor… and the same process to go to the toilet if i need it! There are no toilets closer either. So goodness knows the embarrasment I face if I have an episode of urgency prop up!
But… I will speak to them tomorrow and see what happens. The bosses Im seeing are actually very nice and understanding… I think its just me overthinking and over worrying… as usual! lol
Well it wasnt too bad… bosses were nice. Not sure how things will go tho, as its clearly not a suitable job for me now. But… I am still able to do a little. Apparently the notes from meeting will be sent to me, and to their legal team, and my nurse / consultant will be contacted to ask if they think im fit to do those parts of the job!
Hi, glad meeting went ok, I’m just wondering, you say that the job isn’t suitable for you anymore and I think your job is security in a retail establishment, I can understand how that won’t be the easiest of jobs in any circumstances, never mind with ms which you now have. I’m guessing that the company that you work for must have other jobs that are not security, a retail establishment sounds to me like a place that sells things, do you think you could move to something like a checkout role or even better are there office based staff, perhaps a job like that might be (for want of a better word) easier for you to carry out. Btw, well done on even trying to go back. Cheryl:-)
No I work for an actual security company who are contracted to the retail store. So all the other store jobs are an entirely different employer, Unfortunately the only job my company does is security… and none of the othe establishments they are contracted to are even remotely suitable. So unless an admin role props up within the company, which isnt likely… this is as good as it gets. Realistically i think i should be looking for alternative employment!
