Reasonable Adjustment and wellbeing at work

[Regenallotment]

For anyone else struggling in the workplace with hypothyroidism and multiple symptoms.

I realise I’ve been very lucky, I do worry about being labelled but my only other option would be to reduce my hours which I can’t afford.

I’m a teacher in an FE college, almost full time (0.92). A couple of weeks back I raised a concern with my super lovely Deputy Head that I wasn’t coping too well with workload (weeks behind with marking), exhausted from a run of evening commitments, parents evenings, open evenings etc.

Nothing happened.

I then approached HR to explain I had numerous hospital appointments, blood tests coming up, dealing with unknown health outcomes and was struggling to manage.

HR coached me to approach my line manager with a specific request and the staff wellbeing policy.

This worked, 3 weeks on, one of my tutor groups has been reassigned. It costs them 1 hour of another teacher to cover and I gain about 4-5 hours of admin time a week as a result (because pastoral tutoring is very time consuming). I’m so relieved.

HR asked if there was anything else, I asked it this temporary arrangement could be extended, I was daunted by it being back to normal in January.

Job done - agreed till end of summer term. Thanking my lucky stars. 🦋

[TiggerMe]

Well done you 👏 a great result all round. Not an easy thing to do, must be a huge relief 😅

Let's hope others see your shining example... I'm a crawl away and hide sort 😔

[1tuppence]

Delighted for you. You've handled the situation well, and have been rewarded with the relief of knowing you can relax and recuperate, and enjoy as much as you can of the Christmas break. Breathe xx

[Imaaan]

Glad to hear things got sorted out. As they say, all is well that ends well.

[FAB-jellybean]

That's brilliant Regenallotment , it makes such a difference when you have a supportive employer. I think many of us have to learn to advocate better for ourselves, people can only help support us if we actually speak up.