How do I handle being asked to work in a store if it makes me anxious?

Question

I have had a new job for about 8 months now. This is an office job in the purchase department. While it is not in our job description or contract, they ask all office staff to work in one of the company's retail stores a few times a year for ‘customer closeness’.

I suffer from quite bad anxiety and it has been really affecting my work and home life thinking about having to do this. I live miles away from other people in the team and therefore cannot even team up with people to do it together in a store that is close for everyone.

According to the people who make the policies it is not compulsory, it is a method to help us personally in our role and in our team in line with what ourselves and our line manager agrees would be beneficial. The team I work in has no products in the physical store, only online. Therefore I feel there is no benefit for me to do this.

This also affects my bonus, which is the other thing which makes me question the situation.

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How can I best handle this situation? What are my options here? Ideally, I would like to avoid working in the store, while also keeping my bonus.

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Editor's Note: The original Q asked: "Should people with anxiety disorder have to pick between being uncomfortable or missing out on a bonus??". I removed that part as it is not a suitable question for this site.

Answer 1

According to the people who make the policies it is not compulsory

If this is true, then you don't need to "refuse" you just need to decline to participate.

Some folks find that going "outside their comfort zone" eventually becomes less anxiety provoking. But you know your condition best.

Should people with anxiety disorder have to pick between being uncomfortable or missing out on a bonus??

You are asking a fairness question, which is too much of an opinion to have a valid answer here. (Purely opinion-based questions/answers are considered off-topic here).

I suspect the company feels that having office folks see what it's like to work in the stores helps them become better employees, more in tune with company values, and thus worthy of a bonus. I can see how that would be particularly valuable for buyers and related roles.

It's your choice to participate and collect a bonus or opt out and miss the bonus.

Answer 2

This is an interesting question.

I'm going to address this from the Company perspective firstly - I've dealt with too many companies in my lifetime where person A has no clue what department B is or does. Case in point, I recently had to send some Servers from one country to another - checked on a Courier company website - could see that it would require the premium service because of size/weight, no worries -it's being paid on the company CC.

Box everything up, go to the Courier depot - and get told it's oversize and overweight and they can't accept it. Have to then get them to call their own department and look at their own website to confirm they actually can do it.

As a customer - that's a really crappy and frustrating experience and so making sure everyone has some understanding of what the core business is, can be good - and the company likewise agrees.

Therefore I feel there is no benefit for me to do this.

This isn't your place to decide this - as above, the company thinks there's a benefit for all employees to do it and I think there is a good enough reason to have it as a policy.

I, myself, am somewhat skeptical of people who claim to have severe anxiety - this is to say - based on my personal experience, I think it's over-diagnosed and have seen it used as a crutch. So this may colour my next comment:

If it was a regular occurrence, and you have a clinical diagnosis for which you are receiving medication - I would say you have a good foundation to request being medically excused.

However, 'a few times a year' - let's say one day every 3 months to me doesn't meet that threshold - you can take your medication and bite the bullet for that one day.

You could enter into a discussion with your employer and make sure that you do it on a day where there is likely to be less foot traffic.

To finally answer the real kernel of the question:

A Bonus in almost always discretionary - you can do everything right to 'earn' your bonus and still not get it - and although I don't know your local law(s) - I'd be surprised if the local disabilities and workers protection law(s) would go far enough to cover this scenario.

Answer 3

Should people with anxiety disorder have to pick between being uncomfortable or missing out on a bonus??

One option is that you can talk to your manager about your anxiety disorder. If you have any official diagnosis from a doctor, you should also show that paper to your manager as it will help you even more.

Maybe, your manager will understand your situation and come up with a reasonable option for you.

Answer 4

Ideally, I would like to avoid working in the store, while also keeping my bonus.

Really!

I would like a job too where I don't have to work but get paid.

Think about that.

Why on Earth should you or anyone else be paid a bonus when you do not perform the task?

I would say that if I worked with someone who uses having anxiety as an out of doing work and getting paid for not doing it would therefore give me anxiety and therefore I would expect to get paid a bonus too.