Working up time due to having to eat and maintain good control.

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I work a stressful job (Chartered accountancy practice) at the beginning my diabetes didn’t affect my work life much at all I was able to keep on top of my work and charge my 7.5 hours a day 5 days a week. However as I progress the stress of work has meant my control of blood sugars is not as stable as it once was. I eat small and often and my hba1c was sitting at 6.2 but has slowly started to increase due to work stress. If I go low in work my employer requests I work up the time after hours and the same for if I take 5 minutes to eat I need to work up the time after hours. We are allowed 1 hour for lunch which i find myself most days having to eat and work through in order to just keep on top of my workload. I am completely lost in this battle and the more I dwell on it the more stressed out I get and the worse my control is. My question really is, my employer views making my time up at the end of the day to cover my need for injecting, testing, eating and going low as a reasonable adjustment. However I have no argument against that as I am unsure as to what a reasonable adjustment actually is. Could someone please shed some light on this for me?
I train daily to ensure my health is as good as can be therefore requesting me to work up my time after work puts pressure on me to make the gym in time to get home and prepare meals for the next day.
Vicious circle and I probably sound like a right whinge..:(


Thanks
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I also forgot to say my employer also asks me to make up my time for diabetic related appointments. P.S I have 2 a year and if I need an appointment for general health of course I would work up my time no questions asked.
 

slip

Well-Known Member
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3,523
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Do they ask someone who has a cold to make up time for blowing their nose?
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
haha no. Obviously if I don't mention that I have gone low and taken 5 or 10 minutes to settle myself they would be none the wiser however as I have to account for every 15 minutes to charge to clients in the day you can see my dilemma. I then freight over overcharging for example and stress which then sets me into even worse control.
 

zebs

Active Member
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Diabetes is a condition recognised by disability discrimination act - think its now called the equality act. Employers are required by law to make reasonable adjustment for disability. You may get assistance through your union, ACAS (0300 123 1100) or Access to work (0345 268 8489). Your employers are not making reasonable adjustment.
 

noblehead

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@Jamesgib22, you should make your employer aware of the Working Time Regulations and the DDA as @zebs says, unfortunately they don't have to give you paid time off for appointments and this is usually done on a goodwill basis.

As for dealing with stress and increased bg levels, in the book Think Like a Pancreas the author covers this subject in detail if I remember right.
 

AndBreathe

Master
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11,321
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
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I think you need to take specific advice, perhaps from ACAS, or alternatively a suitable lawyer. You may have legal insurance cover with, say, your home insurance?

As far as time off for appointments, they are obliged to to allow you time off for an appointment, but not obliged to pay you for that time.

Your additional wrinkle is your employer's expectation of saturated chargeable hours. What is your required chargeable saturation; surely not 100%, of every single day you work?
 

zebs

Active Member
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@Jamesgib22, you should make your employer aware of the Working Time Regulations and the DDA as @zebs says, unfortunately they don't have to give you paid time off for appointments and this is usually done on a goodwill basis.

As for dealing with stress and increased bg levels, in the book Think Like a Pancreas the author covers this subject in detail if I remember right.
The reasonable adjustment would be in relation to working back time when she is hypo in this case
 

catapillar

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3,390
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Are you contracted to work 9-5? Is your target really to charge 7.5 hr per day with an hours lunch? that seems like a very high target, as in you should be charging half an hour more than you are actually contracted to work for! Can you not record on non chargeable codes for training/admin etc. if your target might be to record 7.5 hours rather than charge that might be a bit more reasonable (still v high though to be honest).

What is the impact of not making your target? Are you staying to make up the time to hit bonus or to not get sacked?

It does sound like a reasonable adjustment would be to reduce your target, but I don't really know how realistic/achievable that is. Or if your target is to record 7.5 they might consider giving you a code to record dealing with diabetic stuff - I'll sometimes record 5 units dealing with IT failures when that has impacted on my day so I can show I haven't just been sat twiddling my thumbs. [edit: I mean when I actually have been on the phone to IT for half an hour, I don't just make it up lol]

It is worth speaking to ACAS and seeing if you can get any proper advice. And it is worth doing it now as (as I'm sure you are aware) if you are going to get adjustments made to your target you have more chance of success well before the new financial year starts.
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Sorry our working day is either 8.30 - 5.00 or 9.00 to 5.30 we always need at least 3 in the office from 5.00 to 530 to answer phones ect. No bonuses or points I just need to make up my 7.5 hours a day like everyone else in the office. (with the added time of testing monitoring eating extra toilet breaks) Again I feel it would be unethical to charge the clients I am working on the time for my disability why should they suffer extra time added on due to my disability? @zebs do you believe it is a reasonable adjustment then to make up my the same time as everyone in the office even tho I may go low have to monitor and eat ect??
 

slip

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So no one in the office spends 10 mins checking their personal phone/emails or have a normal person to person chat about the weather or last nights football whilst 'charging' a client?

Your health is the most important thing in all this, I wouldn't worry about charging the clients I'd be worried I can't go all morning or afternoon without having to take time out to sort my sugar levels out - how much time on a daily basis are you having to make up?
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
That's the thing even the person telling me I need to work up my time if I go low or need to eat is one of the people I see regularly standing talking for periods of time. Now don't get me wrong I don't know if she is making her time up for that. I am very rigid in the fact I come to work I do my work I'm here to work and I believe I pull more than my fair share however there is no give what so ever from my employer for my disability. We have to have 7.5 hours charged to clients on a daily basis. between the hours of 8.30 - 5.00 or 9.00 - 5.30.

For example I allocated 25 hours of overtime to our busy period January there and it made me ill doing it (did I take any sick days no) however as of today I am told they only approved 12 hours of this overtime due to being a professional job we are expected to work above normal working hours. 7.5 hours a day. now my time sheet more than cover 1 extra hour a day on top of the overtime I requested. I have already raised this with my employer and I am waiting to hear back. I feel like a bundle of nerves atm but I feel if I take a day off to settle myself then I am just giving in.
 

tim2000s

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So a couple of suggestions, if seeking advice doesn't result in any helpful changes, although I do believe that your employer is acting unreasonably in expecting 100% of your time to be chargeable on a weekly basis. When I worked in a consulting role, my target was that over each three month period I was chargeable to clients 90% of my contracted hours and achieving >100% was how you got paid more.

You have an 8.5 hour day but have to charge 7.5 hours of this. Are there any rules that say you have to take an hour in the middle for lunch, or can your lunch time be reallocated by you to use as you wish? If you are having to allocate break hours to do work then you are in a position of being given too much work. This is where the working time directive kicks in.

It does sound as though you are being taken advantage of in this scenario. I think I'd look very carefully at my employment contract and determine what they are asking for versus what I'd signed. You sound like you are starting the initial stages of work related stress and I'm sure your employer doesn't want that on their record. It does seem rather more like a workhouse than a modern work place though.

Secondly, your meal preparation - I work considerably longer hours than you do - 6.30 am to 6 pm. It's part and parcel of the job and I accept that, but to have my own food, I prepare batches at the weekend and take them into work - it saves time during the week.
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I too also prepare my meals as you can see I am a competitive bodybuilder in my spare time (what I have). You are paid to work 6.30am to 6pm you would be astonished at my wage as a trainee chartered accountant. (Miserable) lol I need to make up 7.5 hours it is then up to my superiors as to whether charge the full amount to the client or write it off type thing.
 

Jamesgib22

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
:D then you understand the pain of working and studying and getting paid astonishingly little.:) Keep telling myself look at the bigger picture. over and over again.haha
 

AndBreathe

Master
Retired Moderator
Messages
11,321
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
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Diet only
Many many employers simply don't allow overtime for their professional staff, so you do get some at least. When I last worked for a large corporate, I spent some time working in the Finance areas, including Management Accountants, and all the other variants. At month end, Company year end and fiscal year end they worked ridiculous hours, and just had to suck it up. In fact they were also not allowed annual leave at these times, which made summer holidays a bit of fun, with everyone fitting them in without impacting on month end. Some things, unfortunately go with the territory.

One thing that does strike me though is that you appear to be working literally to the letter, whereas others you describe as working to the spirit of things. I am absolutely not suggesting you flaunt the rules and just do your own thing, but perhaps you should be considering how you manage yourself a little more comfortably in alignment with others in the office.

It could be your boss see you have made a rod to beat your own back, and he's just helping you along with the beating.

Perhaps, as Tim suggests, you could have shorter lunch break, thus allowing you, say 30 minutes to spread across the remainder of the day.

This, I think, requires a two pronged approach:
Firstly, seeking expert advice from ACAS or an appropriately experienced lawyer. This could be pretty specialised, so don't just pick anyone saying they do "Employment Law"
And secondly, you consider the bigger picture and how others manage their days.

In corporate life, I rarely manage to work my contracted hours. I always over-ran by a huge margin, and as I had direct reports in multiple locations, I also travelled a lot. At one nightmare stage, my commute was 4 hours each way (thankfully usually only once a week), and more routinely I did a 2 hour each way commute twice a week, with no time allowed for travel.

In my experience, getting to and earning the bigger bucks doesn't come without a fair amount of personal sacrifice. I used to think I would have an easy life as I "matured". That was another flawed conception on my part!

Good luck with it all.
 

zebs

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Sorry our working day is either 8.30 - 5.00 or 9.00 to 5.30 we always need at least 3 in the office from 5.00 to 530 to answer phones ect. No bonuses or points I just need to make up my 7.5 hours a day like everyone else in the office. (with the added time of testing monitoring eating extra toilet breaks) Again I feel it would be unethical to charge the clients I am working on the time for my disability why should they suffer extra time added on due to my disability? @zebs do you believe it is a reasonable adjustment then to make up my the same time as everyone in the office even tho I may go low have to monitor and eat ect??
So prob didn't explain myself properly. So your work should not have an impact on your health and should not be punished for looking after your sugar levels by staying behind. Your clients do not pay for the adjustment but your employer does and if he needs to give you less of a caseload then this would be the adjustment. I have a caseload and have to visit by car. I was having up to 3 hypos a day for a few weeks and had yo wait 45 minutes before I could drive so delaying my visits. I got referred to occy health as
 

zebs

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Cont from above... I went occy health because the new driving regs had made it difficult to fit on as many clients per day and constantly staying late as a result. Occy health requested my caseload was reduced as reasonable adjustment.
 

slip

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,523
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
So you're at work 08:30 - 17:00 or 09:00 - 17:30 with an hours lunch break(?) - so 7.5 working hours, of which 100% of your time has to be chargeable to a client - when do you get time to keep up to date with company policies, procedures and working practices or have a management review or for your manager to tell you you need to make up time LOL!? Next time your manager comes and has a chat with you about anything company related, my parting question would be which client do I charge this meeting too?

As regards working hours, from your comments in #12, if your contract states set times and/or the number of hours worked then they are probably in breech of that regarding your non paid overtime, in all likeliness your contract will probably say something about number of hours to get the job done, which then leaves you at the mercy of your manager........who sounds a right bi*ch

As Tim has said, sounds very 'Workhouse' (I was going to say Dickensian in my previous post but refrained!)

Going back to your Diabetes, are you saying you work an extra hour a day to cover your 'Diabetic distractions'? Do you really take a whole hour during the day just to manage your D? I suspect, as you sound like a hard working conscientious person, of being overly sensitive on this time logging, although I'm still concerned you take that much time each day to keep on top of things. How's your control when you're not at work?
 
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