https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 05 May 2026 19:02:04 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/managing-someone-at-work-with-depressionanxiety#post-2871347 Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:54:48 +0000 Mommy Finger 2871347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: @MsMini: @Mrs. Carrot: Thank you for your responses. I already talked to HR after he picked up and left after that meeting. Since he did mention his physical health, she also mentioned all of the benefits we have, including taking time off. After we came back together to discuss his leaving the meeting, I did mention that we have said benefits but he needs to tell me what he needs. I believe the ball really is in his court so I'm curious to know if he'll come to me today with anything. </p> <p>Thanks for reinforcing my thoughts on how I'm handling this. It's super frustrating. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/managing-someone-at-work-with-depressionanxiety#post-2871346 Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:48:19 +0000 Mrs. Carrot 2871346@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I managed a very similar situation a number of years ago. The key thing in what you described is that it sounds like he has not disclosed his condition to you (assuming he has it). If he has, then you would be legally required to provide reasonable accommodation, and HR would need to guide you on what that means in the case of anxiety and depression. However, since he hasn't disclosed this, you need to treat this as you would anyone else who isn't performing their job duties effectively. In the review, you need to address his performance, give him examples of what he is required to do, scenarios where he didn't do those things, and what the expectations are going forward. You should be bringing HR into this already, because you are dealing with a poor performer, regardless of why he may be poorly performing, and talking to them about a performance improvement plan and other resources your company may have for addressing poor performance. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/managing-someone-at-work-with-depressionanxiety#post-2871345 Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:46:31 +0000 MsMini 2871345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So ... I think obligation wise that unless he comes to you/HR requesting accommodations for depression/anxiety you aren’t obligated to treat him different than any other employee who is missing deadlines and or communicating.</p> <p>Morally/personally - it’s trickier. The blow up and then taking his stuff and leaving is unacceptable in a work environment. That’s stuff a 6 year old pulls. I think that you need to be clear that that kind of behaviour can’t be happening but maybe ask him if he is having any issues you should know about, and approach him about if he needs any accommodations. Unfortunately though, he does have a job and he either needs to do it or take time to get his mental health taken care of if the 2 can’t co-exist. If he is ineffective leading his team right now maybe you need to temporarily find a new lead for his team? Maybe that would take some pressure off while still making sure work gets done. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/managing-someone-at-work-with-depressionanxiety#post-2871344 Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:45:40 +0000 gotkimchi 2871344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you offer him some time off or fmla or something to get himself some help? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/managing-someone-at-work-with-depressionanxiety#post-2871342 Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:17:17 +0000 Mommy Finger 2871342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm looking for advice from either people who have been in my shoes or in on the other side as I haven't encountered this before. Sorry if this gets long....</p> <p>I work for a big public company and manage a big team. I have 3 direct reports and 14 indirect reports. One of my direct reports has been with the company for a little over a year now. He started off pretty well but about halfway through his first year, his performance went way down. He also manages a team of his own and I've seen his team struggle. I've had many talks with him as we were previously meeting at least once a month and now are meeting on a weekly basis. The issues I had with him stemmed from him rarely meeting a deadline but also not communicating that he was going to hit said deadlines. Most of these deadlines have been self imposed. I don't believe he has a really tough work load. However, I've had to clean up a lot of his messes. He's getting a reputation around the company as someone who is not responsive so people come directly to me instead. This is, in turn, holding me back as I find myself having to do his job as well as my own. My boss is aware of this and we're trying to manage. </p> <p>This all blew up a week or so ago in one of our weekly meetings where he blew up at me for talking about one of his items that was due to a few VP's but he missed his deadlines. He blew up at me saying that he feels like he can't do anything right and that his health is more important and walked out of the meeting. He grabbed his stuff and went home. I was shocked. I know none of you know me personally but I swear I was not mean nor unfair. I genuinely wanted to have a constructive conversation so that we can figure out next steps. Neither of us were in the office the next 2 days as that's when we had the polar vortex so the office was closed. He did send me an email apologizing. When we next talked, I assured him that he doesn't have a target on his back and that if he had health issues than he needs to handle that as that's most important. I asked him to think about what he needs. We have his review discussion coming up today so I'm sure it will be a little tense.</p> <p>So here's the thing. He came up in FB as someone I might know so I clicked on to his profile. He doesn't have it listed as private and linked a bunch of articles on anxiety and depression. His most recent one was about what people wish work knew about depression.anxiety. I really want to be helpful to him. I think he's a good guy with potential but he's not getting his job done and I don't know how much longer we can be ok with that. So my question to the group is how do I best deal with this going forward?</p> <p>tl;dr version: I have a team member who is not doing well at their job but I suspect it's due to depression/anxiety. What is my "obligation" as a manager to help him get his job done? </p>