Health · Advice & Questions · Oct 17

How much appointment detail belongs on the office cover calendar?

Health

My manager added a column headed "reason" to the shared cover calendar and put "medical" beside my Wednesday absence.

I have recurring hospital appointments. The team needs to know that I will be unavailable from ten until two, who is covering the phone and when I can finish a handover. I had told the manager privately because I did not want the pattern mistaken for random time off.

Now colleagues are asking what treatment I am having. The manager says the label reassures them that I have a good reason and stops speculation.

I want to ask for the calendar to show the availability and cover arrangement without the medical label. I am not asking readers to decide my employment rights; I want wording for a practical conversation with this manager.

Is it enough to say that the explanation was for them, or should I acknowledge that I never explicitly asked them to keep it off the team calendar?

Discussion

2 community replies

@softfocus

"I told you so we could plan cover. I hadn't expected the reason to go on the shared calendar. Could we keep the entry to the hours and the cover arrangement?" That makes the request concrete without requiring a long explanation of your treatment.

@JulesAfterDark

It is fair to acknowledge that you did not specify the audience. It is also fair to ask for a different arrangement now. You do not have to choose between admitting an unclear expectation and caring about the information already displayed.

How much appointment detail belongs on the office cover calendar?

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