Diabetic fit and work

[donnellysdogs]

@jopar

So perfectly put... Glad you're back!! Cldn't say better myself!!

Is it ACAS though rather than ACCAS.. Just a thought...

 

[urbanracer]

I know my hubby and a HR manager I know do everything they can at an interview to ensure people are treated as people... Not as a resource.
.

Well the R in HR kind of gives the game away don't you think. I've read about Soft and Hard HR policies and in 40+ years in manufacturing industries have never encountered a company that actually runs a Soft policy. Maybe you're the exception.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Well the R in HR kind of gives the game away don't you think. I've read about Soft and Hard HR policies and in 40+ years in manufacturing industries have never encountered a company that actually runs a Soft policy. Maybe you're the exception.

I did say that all 3 of us had wheedled out persons abusing the systems.
The HR Manager I refer to was head of a County Fire Brigade... I was in distribution and retail management and my hubby worked for the american internet company that everybody buys their presents from and now another distribution company.

None of us are soft... We've always been fair...ensuring for both employers and employees that all the t's are crossed.

My hubby worked in a place where a gentleman was killed when he fell in to a huge mincing machine and nobody knew in the place at the time where the off button was to isolate the machine.

When you've experienced images like that, fought bloody hard yourself to keep your diabetes free from work and dealing with families that lost husbands and fathers and soms in fires then your first thoughts are not to mess people around but to deal with everybody in life in a fair and humane manner in every aspect of life.

I don't feel its correct to tar every company or every HR person with the same brush...many companies are very good towards their employees and wanting them just to be physically and mentally healthy to fulfil their roles, but are of course ensuring that say in the case of working nightshifts in a care home that possible adjustments need to be made to ensure future disruption to staffing levels and of course their service users is minimised. They are quite entirled to do that and would be wrong if they didn't...

I worked in a care home on nights a long while back now as a
T1. 2 staff constantly caring for 46 service users with dementia, old age, incontinence etc... If I didn't go in It would upset the service users too as they knew my working and looked forward to seeing me. So it didn't just impact on productivity and putting staff under more pressure. Also if I didn't go in due to my diabetes, for sure I know that would impact upon the decisions by the Manager as to whether they would ever employ another T1 diabetic on nights again.

 

[Roberta]

Thank you everyone this has all been really helpful. I think it's a bit stupid for the boss to let me do nights, knowing that I'm diabetic to then say I might not be able to do them. I think some people need more knowledge on diabetes. She phoned me up and said she knows someone who has diabetes and she doesn't fit. The other lady she knows is type 2. It's very different to type 1 so already she lacks knowledge and trying to compare one diabetic to another in my eyes is ridiculous. I think my meeting is next week. She told me she doesn't want to lose me and that I'm a good carer. But after this and her attitude towards me being off I'm not too sure if I want to work for someone like that.

 

[CollieBoy]

@Roberta
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater yet!
How many non D's know the difference between types?
Now that she realises, you could be the perfect ambassador to introduce her to working with a T1.
If things don't work out, you will have the evidence of where things have gone wrong.

 

[collectingrocks]

Hey Roberta

I can't add much more to some of the excellent advice here, but remember, RTW interviews are usually box-ticking exercises and one of the questions that you will be asked may be the following:

"What could we do/have done to aid/speed up your recovery?"

Please, take note of this question and use it to your advantage. Start thinking of one or two suitable answers where you could educate your manager (but in a non-confrontal way).

As she has already told you that you are a valued employee, she is on your side. Use it to advantage.

I am a manager myself in a very large UK organisation

Please do let us know how you get on.

 

[Roberta]

Thank you everyone for your advice, it's been a massive help.

 

[Jackthehat]

You have a disability, under employment law they have to make allowances for your condition

and ask for your contract when the dust settles

 

[pavlovsdog]

It may sound picky, but please don't call it a 'diabetic fit' - 'fits' have a different connotation and it's important to get your terminology correct so you can put forward a good case for yourself. Also, it will only reinforce whatever misconceptions your employer has about diabetes. You could possibly have a case for alternative shifts to night shift, they do mess up your biorhythms.