As a former manager, I look at this from a different point of view. Are you dropping shifts often? No. This week I transferred Tuesday's morning shift into a clear Thursday evening. What has management already done to accommodate your needs? Have you gotten Human Resources involved as an advocate on your behalf. I ask too what industry you are employed in (for example is it within the service industry where working weekends and evenings is a standard expectation)? I work at a retail store with flexible shifts. Each employee must commit at least 3 shifts. They can be done in each day of the week, either in the morning (8-16) or evening (16-00).How does not showing with little notice affect the rest of the team?Currently there are plenty of days of no shifts due to lack of workers. My job is a solitary one, meaning people with the same job work different shifts, almost never work together. How far ahead are shifts scheduled?The scheduling starts 3 days before the week starts, and announced 1 day before the week starts, on a weekly basis. Were the shifts and hours of employment discussed and made clear as a terms of employment on hire?One thing which was unclear to me is the following - I thought it would be OK to cancel Saturday's shift because I have 4 shifts (not 3) this week, so it would end up being a total of 3 shifts. Is management aware of your problems. I admit that if I were unaware of such a personal issue I wouldn't accept sleep routine as a reason for not showing up to a scheduled shift.

My recommendations are to disclose your mental health issues (by law they cannot hold this accountable). Talk to your manager about your limitations and offer to cooperate with coming to an agreement regarding what will work. Get your EAP involved if you have one. If you are employed in an industry where they cannot schedule you to accommodate your needs it might come to having to find an alternate career choice.

I don't believe we can expect an employer to comply without we ourselves coming to the table.