Look alright, sound alright *
I am sure there is an element of the 'siege' mentality at play here, but if I hear one more fucking person even vaguely suggest that I "look alright, sound alright", I feel there may be violence. Which could be a bit of a problem since it is likely to come from my employer! And as anyone will notice who has had the recent misfortune to visit a GP, hospital, dentist etc, is all the posters pointing out that NHS employers have the right to work free from abuse ... zero tolerance. I wonder if this extends to colleague relations ...
I am pissed off this morning. Although I cannot go into specifics due to the "private and confidential" nature of dealings with HR, I can point out that I am less than impressed by the way in which my situation has been managed.
I appreciate that large employers have standard policy 'hoops' that need to be jumped through, but there is a way of doing things and a way of doing things. Employer alarm bells will naturally start ringing when a member of staff has extended leave for any reason; in my case this previously documented throat problem. There will need to be meetings, reviews, assessments about long-term ability and viability to do the job one is being paid for - all noted. But boy HR letters are expertly penned - what I see as subtle inferences, could easily be dismissed as my own paranoia. Bases covered.
From the point of basic courtesy and good management however, I especially resent the 'reminder that I am still on probation' in a letter recommending I attend a health review, to see how my employer can support me in anyway they can in my return to work. It goes on to point out that the matter of probation is a separate matter that should be dealt with at a separate meeting. If it's a separate matter, then why is it even being raised as an issue at all, in this letter. Might a person, paranoid or otherwise, find some space here to read something between the lines. A matter of interpretation I suppose, and in the UK at least we are all still entitled to our own opinion.
I've been off sick 3 times since joining 6mths ago - 3 periods of sick leave, totalling a 27 days - regrettable; very regrettable for both myself, since I consider myself a diligent employee; and obviously for my employer. 3 episodes of illness; 2 illnesses; one requiring a double hospitalistion (it's a shame I cannot prove, or at least convey to a sympathetic ear, that the recurrence might possibly be linked to the fact that I returned to work too quickly ...). These three episodes have morphed into being 'unwell 27 times in 5 mths' constituting 'a large number of absences'. Poor grasp of English? Maybe. Conveys a grossly distorted picture of my pattern and behaviour of illness? Well, what do you think.
Anyway - I love my new job as a Physio and sometimes am even excited about the good work I can do for patients and experience I can gain in the health service. But as I sit here in Norfolk, struggling to understand the causes for my chronic fatigue and inability to overcome recent infections ... this kind of interaction is the last thing I need to 'support my return to work'.
So (in true 'siege' style), I think I'll bring down the portcullis, batten down all hatches and hide myself back to fitness, impervious to the grayscale, compassionless impersonality that is the 'modern' employer.
* NOTE: I'd like to point out that, to my knowledge, none of my colleagues have implied, adopted or expressed a 'look alright, sound alright' attitude towards my recent illness, but I've experienced it on a number of occasions over the last 2 mths from other health professionals I've come into contact with .. and even my own father (!?), although hopefully the latter was being tongue in cheek ...