Hi, I have been feeling immense amount of anxiety and sadness with inability to concentrate on work or keep focused. I am seeking professional help, and have been said to have high levels of depression and anxiety. Can I tell my manager my situation and possibly seek sometime off under FMLA? My manager seems like a super nice person and I have no issues with him. Also I am on a visa so will doing something like this impact my status? Anyone who has experienced this or is going thru this please state your opinions. #depression #mentalhealth
Better not to let the manager know
I just feel as my work is suffering and he sees no reason for it there might be an issue. If he knows I am facing major issues atleast he will know the reason for my performance
Dude you're at Amazon. You'll literally give your manager a reason to put you on dev plan. Amazon managers are vicious creators
In my opinion, look to other solutions to the problem aside from taking time off of work. Change your diet - trying fasting 12-16 hours each day, go to the gym and exercise 5-6 times a week - even if it’s just for 40 minutes - cut back on alcohol and remove toxic friends from your sphere. You need to control your body and mind, what you don’t need is to stop working, which provides you with a sense of purpose and accomplishment. These are, of course, only my ways of making life a bit more bearable. But I’ve gone the other route, of taking time off and trying to “recollect”, and it’s never worked for me. Just keep pushing forward, only forward
I am working on incorporating exercise, meditation and such. Seeing a therapist too. I just feel I will take time to recover and my work is suffering and letting my manager know seems like a way to atleast have him in the know for why this is happening. Just hoping he will understand.
You guys have every strange suggestions to someone struggling with depression.
No
No he is American. And really nice in general.
Please let your manager know. As well as involve HR. May be few weeks of break will make you better. Sorry to hear. Hole you get better soon. If possible try to do some good exercise (lots of sweat), watch some movies or thing you like.
Irrespective of how good people are, end of day its business. If it can be used against you, no matter how nice your manager is, there is always a possibility. And don't tell your colleagues as well, word spreads. If you want to chat, talk to people out of work. This is from personal experience. Get well soon.
I’m in the same situation. I have bouts of hyperproductivity that keep my performance acceptable, but I think they come less often as time goes on wasting away in my apartment. (Not trying to imply bipolar symptoms) Wishing you the best. For your situation I don’t have solid advice, but I would say don’t mention it unless he mentions your performance. If you want to take time off work, feel free to call it a “mental health reset” or something, but I just wouldn’t bother going into detail until they say something. Maybe at Amazon it’s different though; once they notice it’s too late? For me I think I need to spend more time outside and smoke less weed. But I struggle to find motivation for that as well
Never.
You can let your manager know so in case you fall behind on your work, you have a reason in the record. However, keep in mind he's not your friend and you can't lean on him to help you out in this scenario. Instead approach him with your situation and share a plan like "I have been going through depression, I have consulted someone for professional help. There are some medicine and some therapy. I also want to take X days off to help me with the situation. I need XYZ actions from you to help me achieve this" I know of managers who'd go to great lengths to help their reports, but you remember that their priority is to keep you productive and not be your friend Another strategy I've found useful without sharing too much details is to ask something "how do you manage stress, anxiety or depression?"
Thank you for your response. This helps.
Unfortunately I don’t think applies to amazon managers. The company is quite ruthless. You should be very careful and have a game plan in place before you approach your manager. No matter how nice the guy is the system is built to weed out anyone who doesn’t deliver results on a day to day basis. There is no break. I think of them as vultures hunting for the dying so the minute they get an indication they will pounce as they are also measured on how many they put in dev plan, pip etc
I told my past manager, and it didn’t really help in any way.
1 of my friends did this to his team's Director (since according to him, the Director was quite forgiving) - that his immediate manager was ill-treating him for any small mistake committed or any deadlines missed... They cut him out within a month. Its difficult to derive though whether he was terminated for spilling the beans about his anxiety or because he had a frosty relationship with the manager for a few months then. This happened last year though. Man, this 'rolling layoffs' thing of Oracle seriously sucks!
Very sorry to hear you are going through this. If you can, take some time off using annual leave or sick days as opposed to telling your manager - as nice as they may seem, that may give them reason to doubt your work / get HR involved (and yes, they have to get HR involved in these circumstances)etc. They may not have your best interests at heart. If you have enough holidays, use those up else try and take a sabbatical if you are eligible or can afford to do so Needless to say I’m sure you’ll know to get therapy, exercise, eat properly and take time to look after yourself in that period Wishing you well, my friend.
Thanks for the response. I just feel as my work is suffering and he sees no reason for it there might be an issue. If he knows I am facing major issues atleast he will know. This is the only reason I am thinking of making him aware
^^ what he said As a manager of a somewhat larger group, I deal with HR quite frequently. I would email your manager about the situation and HR. I would be super brief about the situation and focus more on the action plan Just know that (1) manager is not your friend and (2) HR's role is not get the company sued. Combining the two statements above, my recommendation is to let your manager and HR know your need a break, in writing. After you are tagged for low performance, anything can be used against you.