Depression affecting job performance -what if anything to tell boss?

[HEHurst]

I've struggled with pretty severe depression for a decade now. Prior to about a year ago, I was able to keep it from affecting my job performance much. But for several reasons, in the last six to twelve months, it has gotten worse and really been affecting my job performance. I've dug myself into a deep hole, falling way behind on most of my projects, missing deadlines and letting budgets fall apart. I've really ticked off a couple clients and we've lost work that I feel 100% responsible for losing. I miss a little time at work because of this, but the main problem is that I still go to work but am often so dysfunctional/unproductive there.

No one at work knows about my depression, though they're definitely noticing my job performance now. Before this, I (sorry to toot my own horn a bit) was consistently rated one of our department's top performers. Now I feel like I'm on the verge of getting canned or demoted if this keeps up.

I'm about to start some new treatment and make some other changes that I'm pretty confident will improve my depression and therefore my working habits, though I'm not sure how quickly I'll progress. Here's my dilemma:

Do I say anything to my boss, other managers, clients, etc. about my depression, in hopes of explaining my recent poor job performance?

I interact a lot with clients and manage projects, and I've seen how my clients' perceptions of me have lowered. I like most of them personally and am tempted to apologize for my performance and explain what has (partly) caused it. But mostly I feel like I should keep my mouth shut to my clients. It's probably not professional to involve them with this and it's not their role to listen to me on this. So I don't think I'll try to explain anything to clients, though I'd be open to your thoughts on this.

But I'm debating whether to tell my boss about my struggles with depression, and how I think this has been a big reason for my recent poor job performance. Maybe it will helpful if he understands the (main) reason for my poor job performance. I also want to tell him that I realize this is a big problem and that I'm taking steps to get better. I think now he's just wondering what the heck is going on with me, why have I slipped so much, and he may not have hope of me making any changes. But I also know that once I open my mouth, his perception of me will forever change. There's a chance I will be stigmatized as someone who is no longer reliable, who's looking to make excuses, who should be treated with kid gloves. I don't think I need major time off of work or anything like that; mainly I'm hoping for some patience and understanding about recent past performance and a hopeful recovery.

So do I:
1. Say nothing, hope that if I overcome my depression, my job performance will recover, and rely on hopefully good future performance to overcome any current negative perceptions of me?
2. Tell my boss about my depression. Say I know I've been performing really poorly recently, and I'm taking steps to get my depression treated more effectively.
3. Be more vague but still bring up the issue- attribute my poor performance to some sort of personal issues or medical condition and say I'm making steps to improve this, but not go into details about the depression and treatment.

Thanks for any advice. Anyone been in a situation like this, on either end? If you are a manager, how would you respond to an employee in this situation? I know the law says you're supposed to be very understanding and not discriminate, but realistically how would this affect your view of the employee and their performance?

Thanks

 

[mauricestoker]

I'd also recommend talking with your boss first.

I had an employee who was stellar-then his performance dropped off the map. My youngest son was also going through treatment for dysthymic disorder (or NOS depending on the psychiatrist or psychologist). My recommendation at the time was to get treatment, and to document status under ADA to protect him and me in case any event occurred outside of the office.

Both a good and bad ending, he recovered to normal stellar form, but then I could not compete on salary scale and he got hired out from under me. We're still good friends, only now he makes more than I do.

 

[tickle]

Often the first step in overcoming the problem is identifying that you have you have a problem. You have identified the problem and are seeking both professional help and assistance. I congratulate you and wish you well.

Often admitting that you have a problem to your peers can worsen the problem. And there is a huge misunderstanding of mental health issues and mental disabilities.

If you were my reportee, I would beg you to tell me and would do my best to assist in any way possible. Again this can extenuate the problem by admitting that you are not up to your job. Perhaps the easiest time to tell is once you are on the road to recovery, but that only helps the next time around.

I do not think that I would tell my client if I had a problem, but there is no reason not to, I would tell him if I had a cold or a broken leg.

Practical ways to overcome the problem may include – breaking down the tasks to manageable chunks; completing one task before starting another gives some sense of achievements; if one task is bogging you down then get a colleague to help; saying no my workload is too high at the moment.

 

[EngineerDave]

First I highly recommend the book Spark by John Ratey. It talks about how exercise affects the brain and how it can eliminate depression. (Note i have no financial interest in the book, it's just a great book).

Second, I absolutely think you should talk to either HR or your boss or eventually both about this.

Why? Because you could get protected status, which will allow you time to get treatment and help and improve.

If not you could get laid off.

Depression is a real issue.

I had a co-worker who came into work drunk a few times. He got protected status for that as well because he was going to drug and alcohol counseling.

Depression isn't your fault. Drug and alcohol abuse is but that guy still got protected when layoffs hit.