Friday 8 February 2013

Telling your colleagues

Some of my current colleagues know.

Some of my past colleagues know — Ian for instance.

My current HR admins know: they have reimbursed me for my psychiatrist sessions.

I vacillate on whether to tell all my current colleagues; whether to tell my boss. I almost get all the way to “Yes”, and then something happens — something at once small and insignificant and also a warning flag. A nervous comment about an incoming new colleague, outing their minority status at a largish meeting and commenting on their perceivable ‘weirdness’.

And on the one hand, I understand this as what it is: trying to handle something unfamiliar and dealing with a potentially problematic subject from a leadership position. On the other hand, I know several people who would be furious at being outed this way.

I certainly would not want the first thing my new colleagues know about me to be “Mikael is depressed and medicating.”

Maybe fifth.

Not first.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment policy:
We reserve the right to edit all comments. In particular, we will not tolerate phobic content (race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, mental health status, etc.) nor personal attacks or threats toward another commenter, significantly off-topic, or is an obvious trolling attempt.