I can't remember the last time I felt calm at work. Every time my phone buzzes, I brace myself for bad news. Every meeting invite makes my stomach drop. I catch myself holding my breath during leadership emails. It's not just stress, it's a constant state of low-grade panic. I know I can't keep living like this, but I don't know how to turn the volume down. I'm starting to realize that leaving might be the only way to get my head back above water.
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@cs That sux. My experience was completely different and pretty easy.
@ck my leave was approved, but after constant stress of the back and forth with MetLife and their agent yelling at me saying that I wasn’t medicated enough based on their standard and therefore was declined for coverage (pay) was awful. Plan on no pay.
@cp I forgot to mention, it's actually Met Life that pays the salary as part of the benefit. The FMLA piece protects your job by federal law for up to 12 weeks. It's a great benefit and I don't think a lot of people know about it. Pretty simple really, open a case with Met life, they'll help you find a therapist, therapist evaluates you and can fill out the paper work. I was a mess and in dire need of the break. I was going to quit my job it was so bad. I couldn't sleep, my anxiety was out of control, I couldn't function, it was really bad. Therapist saw it right away. You can't fake it. In my entire career I had never gone through anything like that. Even the first decade with Citi was manageable. I started to think I was going crazy. The leave helped and put me in a position to stay long enough to make Citi pay me to leave. I am so mentally healthy now, back to my old self.
@ck 100% fully paid. It's a benefit. I never saw a hiccup in my pay. I think it's coded differently on the pay stub, but I continued to get paid like I always had. There is a limit, however. I think it's 12 weeks. After that it's considered long term leave and pays less.
@b2 how much was the paid leave? Assume it was not 100% fully paid.
@c1 I was in data risk and controls first LOD and a critical FTE to the CO. Work suffered while I was out and I didn't care. You think normal people don't have medical issues and don't go out because work will suffer? Moot point, I was Rif'd in February after almost 2 decades. My mental health is fully restored and I feel awesome. My career with Citi was great until the last 5 years. Worst 5 years in my entire career.
@b2 First of all, my sincere sympathies for any actual health issue you may be facing, mental or otherwise.
Having said that, there does seem to be some context missing from this post and others like it. Like what actual job are you doing? What is your role? In what way do you add value to your employer?
Are you handling critical operations or key initiatives? Or do you use a rubber stamp all day long?
If you can disappear for eight weeks without consequence to your department or to the bank then your role must be something that we won’t ever miss (i.e. Assistant Sustainability Officer). Or perhaps you are a fungible contributor on a team with lots of built-in redundancy.
Whatever the case, doesn’t this just play into the hands of the corporate downsizers who keep insisting that there’s a lot of fat to cut?
- Find a therapist
- Write to press about the fraudulent hiring and firing practices.
- Write to government agencies about the fraudulent hiring and firing practices.
- Contact Civil Rights groups if you think you sre discriminated by a certain race/caste/location/language etc..
- Write to HR. We know it's useless.
- Write to Ethics team which is an absolutely useless team. But still write to them for documentation purposes.
Please do all. It is important.
Citi does that to you, seen it ,lived it and unfortunately have to cash the check to live. Don't take them seriously, those who treat Citi like they treat you get even. Ultra compliance!
@b1 I did that. Contacted Met life, they set me up with a therapist, he filled out the paperwork and in 2 days I was on leave. I got 8 weeks. Best decision I made. Met life takes care of communicating with your manger so you don't have to.
Work related anxiety and burnout is a clinical condition and under the care of a licensed therapist can qualify for leave of absence through FMLA. Up to 12 weeks paid leave and FMLA laws guarantee you will still have a job when you return. It's a benefit available to you. You're paying for it, use it. Contact your health benefits and start the process. You have nothing to lose.
Work related stress takes years off of your life. It may be better to move on to improve your mental health.
This is a mental health issue, not stress. You need to go to therapy to help you manage it. Even if you leave Citi it won't fully help. Use you Citi health benefit to get a therapist before leaving.