Should I tell my manager?
Name the one thing you want changed. Answer a few questions. Get back a read on how much you need to say, and a request you can copy.
The short version
- There are two different conversations here: telling someone about your working pattern, and telling them something private about your health. This tool starts from the change you want and works backwards to how much explaining it needs, because most of the time the first conversation gets you what you need.
- Telling gives you standing to ask and a record if it goes wrong. It also cannot be taken back, and you do not control where it travels. This asymmetry is built into the questions.
- This does not decide for you, and it returns nothing about you. It rearranges what you type into a request framed as a plain working-pattern ask.
Most advice here is written by someone who has already decided the answer, either that openness is always good, or that employers cannot be trusted. Both skip the part that decides it: what you want to be different on Monday. So this starts there, not with should they know but with what would change, and only then asks how much the change actually requires you to disclose.
Before you begin
Pick one thing you want changed about how the week runs, a protected block, a later start, instructions in writing. Not the reason for it. The change. Nothing you type is saved.
Questions
Question 1 of 5
Where this leaves you
A request framed as a plain working-pattern ask
This is worded as a request about the work, not about you. Read it, change any word that is not how you would say it, then copy it into your email or your next one-to-one. This page keeps nothing.
The part that only runs one way
You can always tell someone more later. You can never untell them. That is the most important feature of this decision, and it argues for going slowly rather than for staying silent, starting with the working pattern, seeing what it gets you, keeping the rest available.
If the ask comes back refused, that is not the end. Ask for the refusal in writing with the reason, find out whether the no was about cost, precedent or the person in front of you, and try a smaller or time-limited version: four weeks, then we look again.
Worth knowing. There is a growing body of survey and interview work on disclosure at work, and it points at outcomes varying by manager, sector and country rather than at any general rule. It is not strong enough to support advice about what you personally should do, and nothing here is legal advice. Rules on adjustments, records and protection from unfair treatment vary by country and employer, and are worth checking for your own situation, a union, a staff network, an advice service, or your own contract and staff handbook will tell you more than any general tool can.
Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere. What you type exists only while this page is open.
Written for Thought Club as general guidance, not medical advice. Free to read, print, and share.