A warning to everyone out there: nobody cares and you’re on your own.
Three years ago my mom died of breast cancer. 6 days later my girlfriend died of the same. I had a stable, unionised job at a public sector company which gave me three weeks off in combined bereavement and holiday leave. At the same time my father was dying of prostate cancer and I was his only caregiver. I requested 6 months work-from-home, which was granted. An extension to that was declined. I had to choose between my father and my job, so I resigned. My life has been left in ruins and it’s going to take me years to put it back together again.
I’ve seen this happen to other people too, in different ways. All of us will eventually be hit with one or two catastrophic life changing circumstances like this which no employers anywhere have mechanisms to deal with.
Three years ago my mom died of breast cancer. 6 days later my girlfriend died of the same. I had a stable, unionised job at a public sector company which gave me three weeks off in combined bereavement and holiday leave. At the same time my father was dying of prostate cancer and I was his only caregiver. I requested 6 months work-from-home, which was granted. An extension to that was declined. I had to choose between my father and my job, so I resigned. My life has been left in ruins and it’s going to take me years to put it back together again.
I’ve seen this happen to other people too, in different ways. All of us will eventually be hit with one or two catastrophic life changing circumstances like this which no employers anywhere have mechanisms to deal with.