In Saturday’s Daily Telegraph Magazine (don’t judge!) the television presenter and writer, Richard Madeley (he of ‘and Judy’ fame), answers readers’ questions as an agony uncle. This week, Susan via e-mail, writes: “I am back at work after the holidays and I just feel desperate – bored, disengaged, undervalued…” Richard, as usual, dispenses sage advice about not quitting her job and planning properly.
This post-holiday depression is quite a rare complaint suffered by only about 95% of the population. It is difficult to understand how that after a couple of weeks off, eating, drinking, seeing friends and family, surrounded by pretty things and having long lie ins, that getting back to the nine to five, commuting, the cold and wet weather and another four weeks to pay day should be so depressing!
With any enforced time off work, the Christmas period is great for reflecting on what you want from life and the New Year ideal for making resolutions. However, if one of those resolutions is to quit a job, then perhaps stepping back to analyse exactly you want is the first step.
If work is fundamentally okay then the post-holiday blues may just be that, and will wear off once you have got back into the swing of things. If there are various niggles with the work or colleagues then perhaps it is time to address these; perhaps by changing your attitude to how you deal with these things, or having a quiet word about how you feel with someone who can help. For more serious issues then perhaps raising a formal grievance is the way forward.
All employees have the right to raise a grievance. This is a formal complaint about an issue in the workplace. For help with this the ACAS website has a step by step guide. In addition, our new guide, written by Ian Pearson, So Now What – An Employee’s Guide to Ending One Job and Starting Afresh has plenty of tips and advice on how to present a grievance that will get you to where you want to be. Copies of this are free and available from all our offices or by e-mailing here.
So, if work isn’t quite what you hoped, you’re bored or looking at leaving, have a read of our new guide and if you need any legal advice on the situation drop Ian an e-mail at – ian.pearson@amicuslaw.co.uk.