Informal Warning - can I go on sick leave due to mental health problems or should I leave?

Was your manager specific about the improvements he/she wants you to make?

Are you able to improve?

Hi, but how would going out sick with a mental health issue follow you when getting mortgage protection, life insurance, travel insurance etc. ? If you simply just dont disclose it when applying how would they ever know ?

To go out sick, you need a cert from a GP.

So your GP records show you as having been diagnosed with a mental illness.

These can be checked at various later stages.

This exactly @ OP ^^

Take it from me, was thru all of this, was off sick with mental illness due to job for 6 months, went back and made redundant - happy days (was there 13yrs)

Take one step at a time - if your feeling stressed / depressed - go see your Doc, but also if you are in a bad way, a week or 2 off sick aint goin to change a thing. I wudnt worry about company doc, they really cannot contradict your own GP.

If it is a bad situation the only thing you can do is leave really..

No. References these days are mostly generic and of little real value e.g Joe worked in X company for Y years from ZZ to ZZ.

Overall, your real issue is your manager’s expectation relative to your capacity to do the job. There are many variables contributing to this scenario.

Firstly, are the manager’s expectations of you reasonable and, if not, why? If you are being asked to do things you weren’t trained for or which require certain skills that you never claimed to have, that’s not your fault. The manager has a responsibility to do more to bring to up to the level required up to and including a performance improvement plan. An informal warning should be one of the last resorts, not one of the first.

Secondly, if your performance is being called into question, you have a reasonable entitlement to specific examples rather than vague “impressions” or “feelings” on the part of the manager.

You should have something akin to a role profile that outlines the required tasks against which your performance will be measured. This process usually takes place near the beginning of the year. It’s an opportunity to discuss expectations relative to skills with an opportunity to discuss training requirements. Dealing effectively with several layers of authority within an organisation sounds like a fairly significant task that, if it doesn’t come naturally, would require at least some element of training.

Without knowing the manager’s take, it’s difficult to be conclusive but if you’re being set up to fail you may need to assert yourself a bit more and respectfully challenge the manager’s position rather than just accepting it.

no they didn’t bother me.. out of the six months think I had to go to company doc 3 times, odd update from HR that’s it…

You would have a case against the company if they forced you to go to work despite GP sayingg otherwise!! Companies can’t / should not get away with that behaviour

Indeed - as the poster earlier said, HR and unions will represent ALL staff, so bullying will go on unchecked.

In any case HR dept's are inherintantly biased, they work for the company, NOT your interest.. And that is a fact..

Despite what the previous poster advised, if you feel HR is not taking this seriously I would leave if possible.. They are only the cases you know abt, HR dont go around spreading information like this..

When I had my issue I took a case against the manager, in hindsight what a waste of time.. they only interviewed colleagues (who of course are not going to say anything and make their life difficult)., You might say well who else can they talk to, but how are they going to make an informed decision if they do not..

Talked to solicitor at the time and he was saying that it was pointless as how is the investigator qualified to carry out a fair, thorough investigation etc..

and of course when I spoke to the investigator at the time, when she explained over the phone and then what she actually wrote in the report were very different… the whole process was just a complete farce..

Any grievance policy that a company has is not worth the paper it is written on, unless of course if their is actual physical evidence i.e. bodily harm etc.. being treated unfairly, bullying etc can very difficult to prove.. in most cases it is you word against theirs, so who do you think they will side with?

For me it ended up in redundancy, so happy days. unfortunately other ppl might not be so lucky, and are forced to resign.. which is very unfortunate but it is the way it is..

…………………….

A company doctor after a week is ridiculous.

They're "managing you out".

Update your CV and start looking for another job, asap.