My employer was supportive when I told them I was a carer and, given that my team had all been working remotely from home anyway due to the pandemic, there were no work issues with me working from my mum’s house. I was able to flex my working hours to suit me, so that I could fit in looking after my mum and my disabled brother, with getting work done.
I realise I’m in a really lucky position, as my employer is generally good at this sort of thing. So although I was exhausted and stressed, at least work didn’t add to my worries.
As I mentioned at my sibling support group though, there was a definite sense of my team and manager not really grasping the ‘looking after my brother’ aspect. Looking after an ageing parent they got – but having also to care for a brother, that was new to them I think, and not something they really understood. (I didn’t go into the granular detail about my brother’s needs – I was fairly new to my current team at that point, so I didn’t feel we yet had that type of relationship where I felt comfortable with that).
But overall I’m very grateful that I got the support from my employer that I did, as I know that lots of other people don’t get support, and it makes a massive difference, practically, financially, and emotionally.