3 ms·

Totally agree, you do not have to let people know. I have an employee that told me about their condition and made requests to me that I was happy to oblige but

Totally agree, you do not have to let people know. I have an employee that told me about their condition and made requests to me that I was happy to oblige but I still told him to go to HR and make a reasonable accommodation request. Doesn’t matter if I’m going to be decent about this, you want it in writing and mandated.

pseudosavant 6y ago
I used to agree with this position but after the last 3 companies I've worked for I've learned the hard way to handle it differently. You sound like a manager who actually cares and empathizes with your employee. I had a manager like you. It was amazing. But you aren't the norm. Going to HR will generally only draw negative attention. There is no situation I've seen where someone needed HR and HR actually did anything meaningful to support them. I prefer to deal with each manager differently. Getting it in your HR file means you lose control over who knows what, and how it was explained to them.
- cookiecaper 6y ago
  Partial agree here. HR can be useful but it depends on the company's culture and under good circumstances, it won't be needed. You want a place that will appreciate your contributions and appreciate the value of their long-term investment in people. If it becomes apparent that $CURRENT_EMPLOYER is not such a place, it's time to start protecting yourself with things like formal disability accommodations through HR, etc. The problem is that once this becomes apparent, shrewd politicians will have already worked to make it look like your accommodations are just a cover-up. That's not necessarily a deal killer, as every company puts a different weight on the legal risk that HR exists to prevent, but it's not likely to ingratiate your manager, which makes things difficult. The long and short of it is that it's folly to imagine that HR is in your corner. They are paid by the company and they exist to keep the company free from the mind-boggling expense of lawsuits. You can work this to your advantage sometimes.

pseudosavant 6y ago

I used to agree with this position but after the last 3 companies I've worked for I've learned the hard way to handle it differently. You sound like a manager who actually cares and empathizes with your employee. I had a manager like you. It was amazing. But you aren't the norm. Going to HR will generally only draw negative attention. There is no situation I've seen where someone needed HR and HR actually did anything meaningful to support them. I prefer to deal with each manager differently. Getting it in your HR file means you lose control over who knows what, and how it was explained to them.

cookiecaper 6y ago
Partial agree here. HR can be useful but it depends on the company's culture and under good circumstances, it won't be needed. You want a place that will appreciate your contributions and appreciate the value of their long-term investment in people. If it becomes apparent that $CURRENT_EMPLOYER is not such a place, it's time to start protecting yourself with things like formal disability accommodations through HR, etc. The problem is that once this becomes apparent, shrewd politicians will have already worked to make it look like your accommodations are just a cover-up. That's not necessarily a deal killer, as every company puts a different weight on the legal risk that HR exists to prevent, but it's not likely to ingratiate your manager, which makes things difficult. The long and short of it is that it's folly to imagine that HR is in your corner. They are paid by the company and they exist to keep the company free from the mind-boggling expense of lawsuits. You can work this to your advantage sometimes.