To Whom It May Concern:
Literally four weeks after my last day at COMPANY NAME, I took a medical test that determined I have lupus*. In an instant my life changed with this diagnosis of a chronic, autoimmune disorder that will require medical infusions for the rest of my life.
Interestingly enough, I am the third person from COMPANY NAME to develop lupus while working in this department. The first person was diagnosed with lupus in 2016, the second in 2019.
COMPANY NAME promotes an extremely stressful work environment by “saving money” by not hiring enough people to manage the extreme workload, and as such relies on a skeleton staff to handle the very high volume of work. Every day, as soon as I woke up (usually around 4:00am or 4:30am due to stress), my thoughts were filled with work. I worked on average 60 hours each week, and that still was not enough time to complete the work that needed to be done.
I was not the only employee pushing myself to extreme limits – there were colleagues (a few in higher positions) that worked even longer and more extreme hours than I did.
At one point a colleague quit, and management literally said they did not plan to rehire for their position. Even though every single one of us was drowning in work.
While there is no direct correlation of stress causing lupus, I believe it was a strong enough trigger in my case, and possibly my colleague's cases. This is the only factor the three of us have in common. We are completely different in age, sex, race, diet, and lifestyle.
I urge anyone still working at COMPANY NAME, or for any organization that pushes you to inhumane limits, to get out and save yourself.
Sincerely,
Stress Free is the Way to Be
*actual diagnosis changed here to protect identities