Today I have the
afternoon off work.
The good news is that
I have every Friday afternoon off for the next three months.
The bad news is that I
won’t get paid for them.
I have had several
discussions with my company's Occupational Health and Human Resources departments over the past couple
of months about how difficult working has become with Parkinson’s due to the
fatigue. By the end of the working week I’m shattered and need all weekend to
recover; by Monday morning I am still not fully recharged, but have to drag
myself through it all over again. I normally go to bed around 9:30, have barely
have any social life, and have only limited energy for family time. This is no way
to live.
It was time to bite
the bullet and consider a part-time working arrangement. The drop in income
will hurt, but less so than the exhaustion of continuing to try and work full
time in a demanding corporate job.
So, in one of my
regular meetings with OH, I floated the idea of a four-day week.
To date, I have met
three different OH representatives and found them all equally vapid. I had
expected them to bring advice and experience, perhaps some creative ideas not
on my radar. But instead every meeting is one of me telling them my status and me
suggesting the next steps, which they then diligently write up and send to my
boss.
Probably it is
different for other conditions, but for Parkinson’s, the role of OH every three
months or so appears to be that of a typist, without much value add.
Don’t get me wrong –
I’m not complaining. If that’s what it takes to give a façade of legitimacy and
professionalism to me calling the shots with my employer, then it’s fine by me.
I’m grateful that my condition is taken seriously and that my employer is so
reasonable about it all.
At my last meeting
with OH, in December last year, I told them I wanted to trial a so called flexible
working arrangement for three months, and that I needed a place to “rest” (i.e.
sleep) in the office in the afternoons, if needed.
Once the usual report
had been sent to my boss, I arranged a meeting with him and the HR woman for my
department. They were both very supportive and my boss had the sort of creative
suggestion that I had hoped OH would have offered.
“Why don’t you do a four-and-a-half-day
week instead? Work from home in the morning and take the afternoon off.”
That seemed like a
great idea: still 90% salary (rather than 80%), minimal business impact, but to
me it will hopefully still feel like I have the best part of a day off every
week. I’m going to trial this for three months and see how it goes. After the
trial I can continue, or change the arrangement to a four-day week or even revert
back to full time.
As for “resting” in
the office, HR have kindly arranged for me to have access to the key to the mysterious
medical room on the top floor whenever I need it. I have walked past the locked
door many times and wondered what was inside; I guess I will now get to find
out. I feel embarrassed at the thought of using it, but it’s comforting to know
the option of a cheeky twenty minute power nap, “for medical reasons”, is there
if, as sometimes happens, I’m feeling like a zombie by mid-afternoon.
I consider myself very
fortunate to work for a large corporation that can make these sorts of
provisions, and to have such a considerate boss. I imagine many others do not
get this level of support.
And so, this morning I
worked from home, then downed tools at lunchtime, had lunch, had a snooze, went on the exercise bike for half an hour, and wrote this blog post.
I feel better already…
