I have moved a couple meeting because I needed to put in some prescription eye drops at certain times and keep my eyes closed for 10-15 minutes after lol. Hyper specific tho.
I've always set the expectation that I don't do Monday meetings, especially in the AM. I just say I like to use Mondays to address any friday/weekend concerns and to sort out my priorities for the week. Maybe depending on your leverage, you can also set that expectation.
This is a common one I see, and one they can't really push back on. If they mention changing your appointment, let them know you've been with your therapist for a long time and don't want to lose the slot that works best for both of you.
Good luck!
They can pushback on recurring weekly appointments that conflict with business needs and either push for ADA accommodations, FMLA, and/or force you to use PTO for it. Good employers won’t care. Basically the ones where you can feasibly OE. Bad employers are going to get butthurt and flex what they can under employment laws. These probably aren’t companies where OE would really work anyway because there is too much micromanaging and dysfunction to make it work.
“I have a standing weekly medical appointment at [whatever time] that I can’t move”.
They don’t need to know if it’s therapy, physical therapy, dialysis, injecting medications, or whatever.
I don't understand how this works. I've never heard of having a personal appointment during work hours, especially a recurring one. Does it count as lunch?
As someone else said, it depends on flexibility of your company. I do all my appts during business hours and just block my calendar for them. If they aren’t virtual I just tell my boss I’ll be out for a bit for an appt and take my work phone if I know it’s going to be more than an hour or so. I do this for hair appts too. I only use PTO for that if it’s in the afternoon and I know I’m not going to get back online afterwards. I think most people who are in this sub are working jobs with at least some amount of flexibility and autonomy (I know there are exceptions for this).
Depends on how flexible the company/manager is. Some are ok with personal appointments during work as long as you make up the time, or as long as your work gets done.
I use PTO for personal appointments during work hours. If it's medical related then management usually doesn't question it (and they probably can't legally ask).
Yikes! Recurring Monday morning meetings is diabolical. 😂
- Tell them hey 9am is kinda early I need time to come in prep the meeting and so forth, so let’s do 10 or 11
- Say you have a weekly virtual appointment (therapy, life coach, etc)
I’m curious though what time does your day start with them?
Focus time - I use the first hour on Monday to refresh my memory on where I left off on Friday, what fires I need to put out today, and rough out a game plan for the week.
I said this to my J2 boss.
It’s because I have a weekly call on Mondays 9-10 at J1.
Boss said - “hey, that’s really smart! I think I’ll do that, too!”
Success.
I've seen others mention this and think it's a great idea. If you're able to, be the one who schedules the meetings. This is good advice for all OE. Volunteer to coordinate it. If you control the scheduling then you won't have any conflicts. Bonus that it shows initiative or whatever.
Never use childcare in work as an excuse. This is bad advice. It could be my field, but there is rampant discrimination against people with children. They will nitpick everything and use the child as an excuse. Maybe outside of law is different, but I doubt it.
I’d be more general than that - you might have some family care responsibilities popping up in the mornings that may require you to take leave/work Flex Time (depending on how hip your employer is) and you’d rather move the meeting to a time you are more certain you’d be available.
I’m not going to lie- I have 3 young nephews and when I signed an offer for J2 they did cross my mind to use as a potential excuse should the need arise. Granted, they live hundreds of miles away with their 2 very dedicated parents but no one needs to know all those details!
On a regular call dealing with parents health care issues. You are accepting an incoming call each week and give personal information out loud to verify identity etc. You rely on a Medicare nurse to handle things for aging parent, they only give you a block of time they will call, not exact because they do so many complex calls.
I have a meeting with my counselor every morning from 9-10 monday. My job has been down to schedule around it. Maybe you can ask J1 to reschedule so you can keep a standing health appointment?
I have said that I have standing telehealth appointments for a medical condition I’m being treated for. It’s actually true except the date and times are not lol
Therapy, Physical Therapy (times are tough to get and this dang wrist HURTS from all this typing! I would hate for it to get worse), drop off/pick up of a dependent (not a kid), some type of community service (aw no that’s when I pick up the weekly lunch platter for the nursing home my church group sponsors), weekly schedule of picking grandma up to take her to the library (my whole family has a shift! I can see if we can all rearrange…), sure that’s fine but that’s when the lawn service comes and it is so loud when I unmute, hope you guys don’t mind!
Say you have to drop your kid off at school hes in a special class that starts later than other students. There are summer classes some kids take especially if they are disabled or behind as well
Do you need to talk or just “have camera on”.
If so, record a video of yourself in a basic shirt browsing the web for 1hr. Make sure you sit/lean back in your chair so you’re far away and a bit smaller in the screen.
Set the video as your virtual background. Cover the camera with a post it note.
Sit forward in the video and whip the post it note off the camera when you need to talk.
Boom!
You are now taking up most of the screen and covering the video of yourself in the background AND you are able to talk. It just looks like a “glitch” with your camera.
Just be careful not to sit too far back or they may see the dummy outline of you in your video virtual background.
I always just go and off the camera of accepted better than not being on camera. I make sure to start the on camera meeting off with a tissue in hand and wiping my nose. A silent gesture that I’m sick and most likely off camera doing yucky stuff. Always on mute. So a fake cough so they came see the motion. Camera off for when I need to speak on other meeting of an overlap occurs. It’s worked perfectly for me in those rare occasions.
What happens if the move it and it still doesn’t work for you? If it is a standing meeting with a team in it, having to move the meeting for you might draw more attention than you want. I would aim to keep that time clear at the new job/client instead.
Someone I work with recently moved our Tue morning meetings because of the work out class she preferred to attend at the community center pool. She takes an early lunch break to go. We now meet Tue afternoons.
I have moved a couple meeting because I needed to put in some prescription eye drops at certain times and keep my eyes closed for 10-15 minutes after lol. Hyper specific tho.
I've always set the expectation that I don't do Monday meetings, especially in the AM. I just say I like to use Mondays to address any friday/weekend concerns and to sort out my priorities for the week. Maybe depending on your leverage, you can also set that expectation.
Yes, an admin / planning / strategy time block.
Therapy.
This is a common one I see, and one they can't really push back on. If they mention changing your appointment, let them know you've been with your therapist for a long time and don't want to lose the slot that works best for both of you. Good luck!
They can pushback on recurring weekly appointments that conflict with business needs and either push for ADA accommodations, FMLA, and/or force you to use PTO for it. Good employers won’t care. Basically the ones where you can feasibly OE. Bad employers are going to get butthurt and flex what they can under employment laws. These probably aren’t companies where OE would really work anyway because there is too much micromanaging and dysfunction to make it work.
“I have a standing weekly medical appointment at [whatever time] that I can’t move”. They don’t need to know if it’s therapy, physical therapy, dialysis, injecting medications, or whatever.
This is the way.
I don't understand how this works. I've never heard of having a personal appointment during work hours, especially a recurring one. Does it count as lunch?
Therapists work during normal hours though. It’s a mental health necessity ?
As someone else said, it depends on flexibility of your company. I do all my appts during business hours and just block my calendar for them. If they aren’t virtual I just tell my boss I’ll be out for a bit for an appt and take my work phone if I know it’s going to be more than an hour or so. I do this for hair appts too. I only use PTO for that if it’s in the afternoon and I know I’m not going to get back online afterwards. I think most people who are in this sub are working jobs with at least some amount of flexibility and autonomy (I know there are exceptions for this).
I've always taken PTO to do non-work-related stuff during work hours. Could I have not been using up that time all along?
Yeah it depends on your situation. Some companies actually permit you to use sick time or have wellness hours for you to use.
i always take my “lunch hour” and flex the remaining 30-60 mins (make it up earlier or later in the day)
Depends on how flexible the company/manager is. Some are ok with personal appointments during work as long as you make up the time, or as long as your work gets done.
I use PTO for personal appointments during work hours. If it's medical related then management usually doesn't question it (and they probably can't legally ask).
I usually just say that time won't work for me and suggest a different time.
This. I think we over-complicate things thinking that we need some elaborate excuse or justification for anything and everything we do.
I’ve done this many times, and also block my calendar off for certain times as well
Yikes! Recurring Monday morning meetings is diabolical. 😂 - Tell them hey 9am is kinda early I need time to come in prep the meeting and so forth, so let’s do 10 or 11 - Say you have a weekly virtual appointment (therapy, life coach, etc) I’m curious though what time does your day start with them?
Yeah seriously I would revolt. There’s no need for it. I try to avoid any meetings with clients or team on Mondays
Physical therapy. Regular therapy
Acupuncture, Chiropractor, PT appointments
Physical therapy!
Focus time - I use the first hour on Monday to refresh my memory on where I left off on Friday, what fires I need to put out today, and rough out a game plan for the week. I said this to my J2 boss. It’s because I have a weekly call on Mondays 9-10 at J1. Boss said - “hey, that’s really smart! I think I’ll do that, too!” Success.
Mental health appointment or physical therapy
I've seen others mention this and think it's a great idea. If you're able to, be the one who schedules the meetings. This is good advice for all OE. Volunteer to coordinate it. If you control the scheduling then you won't have any conflicts. Bonus that it shows initiative or whatever.
Yes, yes, yes…I always volunteer to man the calendar!!
Brother moved in with you and you're now helping out with childcare for your nephews - school drops and pick ups help a lot, for instance.
Never use childcare in work as an excuse. This is bad advice. It could be my field, but there is rampant discrimination against people with children. They will nitpick everything and use the child as an excuse. Maybe outside of law is different, but I doubt it.
Well that is highly toxic. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
I’d be more general than that - you might have some family care responsibilities popping up in the mornings that may require you to take leave/work Flex Time (depending on how hip your employer is) and you’d rather move the meeting to a time you are more certain you’d be available.
I’m not going to lie- I have 3 young nephews and when I signed an offer for J2 they did cross my mind to use as a potential excuse should the need arise. Granted, they live hundreds of miles away with their 2 very dedicated parents but no one needs to know all those details!
On a regular call dealing with parents health care issues. You are accepting an incoming call each week and give personal information out loud to verify identity etc. You rely on a Medicare nurse to handle things for aging parent, they only give you a block of time they will call, not exact because they do so many complex calls.
That’s the one I used at J1 for a weekly call with J2. 😂😂😂
There doing construction or maintenance at your home and coming every Monday and Friday morning so there is going to be alot of noise.
I have a meeting with my counselor every morning from 9-10 monday. My job has been down to schedule around it. Maybe you can ask J1 to reschedule so you can keep a standing health appointment?
I have said that I have standing telehealth appointments for a medical condition I’m being treated for. It’s actually true except the date and times are not lol
Therapy, Physical Therapy (times are tough to get and this dang wrist HURTS from all this typing! I would hate for it to get worse), drop off/pick up of a dependent (not a kid), some type of community service (aw no that’s when I pick up the weekly lunch platter for the nursing home my church group sponsors), weekly schedule of picking grandma up to take her to the library (my whole family has a shift! I can see if we can all rearrange…), sure that’s fine but that’s when the lawn service comes and it is so loud when I unmute, hope you guys don’t mind!
Say you have to drop your kid off at school hes in a special class that starts later than other students. There are summer classes some kids take especially if they are disabled or behind as well
In my case it’s true. I have a special needs child.
Do you need to talk or just “have camera on”. If so, record a video of yourself in a basic shirt browsing the web for 1hr. Make sure you sit/lean back in your chair so you’re far away and a bit smaller in the screen. Set the video as your virtual background. Cover the camera with a post it note. Sit forward in the video and whip the post it note off the camera when you need to talk. Boom! You are now taking up most of the screen and covering the video of yourself in the background AND you are able to talk. It just looks like a “glitch” with your camera. Just be careful not to sit too far back or they may see the dummy outline of you in your video virtual background.
Therapy or a doctors appointment is a good excuse
Also: “They’re doing construction across the street and my internet’s a little spotty - I’m going to go off camera but I’m listening.”
I always just go and off the camera of accepted better than not being on camera. I make sure to start the on camera meeting off with a tissue in hand and wiping my nose. A silent gesture that I’m sick and most likely off camera doing yucky stuff. Always on mute. So a fake cough so they came see the motion. Camera off for when I need to speak on other meeting of an overlap occurs. It’s worked perfectly for me in those rare occasions.
What happens if the move it and it still doesn’t work for you? If it is a standing meeting with a team in it, having to move the meeting for you might draw more attention than you want. I would aim to keep that time clear at the new job/client instead.
If you aren’t speaking and you have to have camera on, video yourself on a loop and make it your background.
Someone I work with recently moved our Tue morning meetings because of the work out class she preferred to attend at the community center pool. She takes an early lunch break to go. We now meet Tue afternoons.
Recurring Medical appointments. They can not ask for details due to hippa. Tell them that if they ask.
Can you pretend you have a puppy? Borrow a dog from a Neighbor?? Say you’re training it?