Should I be sharing my sicknote/diagnosis of anxiety and depression with my employer?

[waydownwego]

So, today I received a sick note from my GP which states that I have anxiety and depression and I may be fit to work with my employer's support.

I have thousands of questions running on my mind right now!

It has been only a couple of months since I joined a new company, so , if I share this document with my employer... Is it gonna affect my work? Would I be taken lightly?Would it leave an impact on my workplace environment? Will people start treating me differently? etc. etc....

Refer to the image attached.

Can someone please advise? I will be extremely grateful for a sane advice.

[Dolphin14]

I don't live in the UK. I was hoping I could help you with this.

This could be written much differently and not disclose a diagnosis at all.

I hope someone else can help you

🐬

[012703060610]

Hi there - I have a lot of years in corporate experience and dealing with HR. I am not going to lie, HR is there to protect the most highly paid employees and to ensure their butts are covered with employees. So the good news is that your employer should be supportive no matter how long your tenure has been with the company. Mental health is going to the top of the list for most employers. If you have an empathetic boss, then sharing should be easy. If you have found a mentor not on your team or totally affiliated with your boss, you may ask for advice. Otherwise, I'd try to share with your boss and HR at the same time. Companies must view mental and physical health in parity. This was a change under Obama. Our healthcare plans cannot discriminate against mental health. Period! Now the hard part, you cannot control unconscious bias. Meaning, people will develop their thoughts and you won't know the true cost either good or bad of taking an extended leave. However, I am and advocate for you doing this because I am the prime example of the employee that never did. I worked 70-80 hours a week, had three kids, then lost my entire physical health which then wrecks your mental health. We live once! If it goes poorly for you, it was never the right place to work. The only question I have for you is if you have access to short term disability with your employer. IE - you won't lose your pay. Sometimes there is a waiting period for new employees. Just something to keep in mind. I've often seen it be 6 months. Also consider your rights under the FMLA....I'm not sure if it could apply here (think yes), but that will protect your job when you return after three months. This means they must hold your position. The length of time FMLA applies varies by state. Hope this helps! Great post.

[012703060610 in reply to 012703060610]

Sorry you are UK....but there would be a version of job protection too I would hope!

[ElephantsHear]

Do you have anything like the family medical leave act (US) that could limit hours without disclosing the reason to your boss. I would look into short term disability versus sharing something like that with your boss. I absolutely would not share that unless it’s with short term disability and confidential. Good luck/ Best wishes.

[ElephantsHear in reply to ElephantsHear]

Could the doctor write a more confidential note? Or get the same request, but for migraines- it’s not her or his business. Everyone has headaches- ask you General doctor. Wish you the best.

[MadBunny]

I really feel for you as it's a difficult area to negotiate, especially as you have only been in the job for a short while. Can I suggest that you have a look at the Equality Act to see if it covers anxiety and depression. If so, then I think there is a requirement for an employer to make ' reasonable adjustments' which seems to be what your GP is recommending. Also, it would mean that you should not be treated unfairly because of it. Are you a member of a union, or have an HU department who can advise you ?

You will need to discuss it with your employer, to see what can be done to help you, as these are only recommendations.

'Would it leave an impact on my workplace environment?' that's a very valid point, and your employer would need to take that into consideration - indeed, the nature of the work is a factor in what adjustments can be made.

A tip I learned- make sure that you have someone in the meeting with you , to take notes/ witness what is said. And get everything in writing .

I hope this helps a bit- apologies if you know all this already , and I'm just stating the obvious.

All the best 🤗

[Hidden]

At least in US doctors cannot disclose medical diagnoses to employers. It's considered a privacy violation.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Right. Quacks can't share information like that. Here in the United States they can't. But we don't know about the UK. any road, it seems the young lady is wrestling over whether or not to disclose the info her SELF. As I said to her, maybe yes. But not in the present form that sick note has been churned out from a generic "sick note template"

[Tara52]

Personally I wouldn't share a mental health diagnosis with an employer. It follows you everywhere. I agree with others on this site to have your doctor write another sick note not disclosing the diagnosis.

[Hidden]

Agree with not reporting unless things have really changed since I retired. Was labeled as inflexible partly due to my spectrum issues and that label followed me throughout my career.😥

[Hidden]

I read your initial post a couple times, and I can't find anything about whether or not you HAVE in fact missed any work days. Wow. tough question. to share or not to share. I would say Yes. BUT I agree with many other who have replied. I don't care for the assembly line manner in which your GP has written this sick not. If you can't get a more personal note from your GP, I don't know. maybe hold off for awhile? sharing with the employer I mean. I am a semi retired pro musician. I had a tremendous amount of trouble with anxiety and depression, on stage and off. Onstage could be terrible. towards the end, I could not stomach it any more. I took Social Insecurity way early. the day I was old enough to start receiving "benefits" I took it. it's not really enough to live on, so i will likely need to go back to work. Oh Goody....................now then, what kind of job do you yourself have at the moment, and is your immediate StupidVisor a decent enough human to actually TALK to you like a real person? And how does your depression and anxiety effect your work? For me, it was just a matter of sucking it up, and doing it anyway, even though it was the last thing on earth I would WANT to be doing. Enough about me, for heavens sake. What is your work day like? Do you have to interact with a lot of other people? What is it that you do? and again, I don't like the way that note from the GP was written. Is it possible to get a more humanized, personalized version of said note?