Stress at work, what should my employer be doing??

[proudmary]

Hi, please can someone advise me? I work for a Local Authority and for the last seven months myself and a colleague (I'm the line manager) have been doing the work of five people( the rest moved to better jobs), my colleague has now left and a temp has been employed for the general admin work, I wrote to my manager two months ago asking formally when appointments would be made and his reply was that it was a priority for him, nothing has been done. My Doctor signed me off from work two weeks ago with 'work related stress' because I am not sleeping, my self esteem is rock bottom becasue I am juggling so many jobs I'm not doing anything proprerly but i'm so worried about what i'm going back too I haven't been to the Dr to get signed fit for work i'm just going back in tomorrow. I intend to see my manager and ask him to assure me the situation will be resolved, the Dr suggested I give him a time frame but I'm not sure how long, can you advise me please?

[AutomaticGal]

im only a student and i really dont have any work experience (unless u count the one u get from gcse's) but studying business studies and from following the book i would firstly adivse u contact a union and tell them ur situation. they will be able to help. but if ur not part of one then i suggest u take ur doc's advise and give him a time frame 3/4 weeks or longer depending how really bad the situation is. think about it this way. ur doing a job for him, u are his asset and without u he will be under pressure to hire more people to do ur job which is will be expensive to do. talk to ur manager, hes human and would understand. show no fear.
im sorry if this sounds reallllyyy bad, which is prolly is, but i say again im just a student still learning about situations like urs. other than that i dont know what to do.

[cascarelli]

Ok, I presume that your employer has taken on extra temporary staff to cover your sick leave? How many people have they taken on? How are they managing to cover your workload in your absence?

How many hours a week were you working? Have you opted out of the 48 hour maximum?

What is the time frame that you are suggesting to your boss supposed to achieve? If nothing happens with your time frame, what then?

If you go back and the work load is still the same, then I suggest you keep detailed records as to the hours you are being asked to work and the tasks. This will help you if you eventually bring a claim for a stress related illness. For a claim to succeed you would need to show that your employer failed to take adequate steps to prevent it and that the problem was foreseeable. Put your concerns in writing to your employer who should see this as a grievance and take necessary action.

[proudmary]

Thank you all so much for your help, I went to work this morning to find my desk piled high with work and 300 emails waiting!! No one had been even trying to pick up any of my work, I had a meeting with my manager and told him I couldn't continue to work under these circumstances and would he please at least start the recruiting process within the next four weeks, he said he will try so I will do what I can for the next few weeks and see what happens, once again, many thanks xx

[charlifarley]

dont go back to work till you have been signed off you need time to recover

[fiona.m]

i would be interested to hear what happens; i've just been signed off work for depression and have actually since quit my job. the hours and expectations were, similar to your predicament, totally unrealistic, and we also had huge staffing problems. this went on for months with no improvements. highlighting the issues, however professionally, does not solve them overnight and in the mean time you are still expected to carry on regardless. i have drawn a line under the whole thing and am taking some time out. i realise that this is not an option for everyone and certainly not an ideal one, but ultimately you must remember that your health, physical and mental, is of much greater importance than a job. i'm not sure what job you're doing in local authority, i worked in private care for challenging young people, but without a support network from your colleagues and managers things wont work.