Absense Management

Hi All,

I currently have a member of staff who has now been off for 6 weeks with work related stress.  They are due to return to work at the end of this current fit note therefore planned resume to work would effectively be the 1st of May.  

Can you please advise me on the following;

  • Advise on carrying out a Return to Work interview?
  • The process in place for a phased return to work especially in relation to work related stress?
  • Financial Salary Implications?

Many Thanks, any advise will be appreciated.

Vicky

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Replies

  • Hi Vicky

    Given the time frames I thought I would jump in and post..... A couple of questions:

    Does your Company have any Occ Health support? (I am assuming not given your post)

    Does your Company normally undertake RTW interviews?

    What does the Fit Note advise e.g. phased return to work/reduction in hours? etc.

    I had a similar case and it is very much a case of agreeing the steps with the employee so they are comfortable and understanding what is achievable in terms of their role. 

    If there is no on-site Occ Health support in most cases I would meet the employee with the line manager.  In some cases this would be prior to their return to work so everything is organised for their first day.

    The example I recall was an employee returning to work after a stroke (which they had at work) and we were focussed on ensuring that they did not put themselves in a position to exacerbate their condition.  The meeting is pretty much like a RTW interview but not as formal or structured and covered things such as alternate job duties, workload, what is communicated to other colleagues, travel arrangements, any additional support which could be provided, holidays and if they have these planned in.  But the approach will depends on the facts of the case.  We then formulated this into a return to work plan which the line manager reviewed weekly to ensure we were meeting the plan. 

    I appreciate it may be challenging to do this without a health professionals input and one thing you may wish to consider is the new Fit for Work Scheme.  I personally have not used this yet so it would be interesting if you do go down this route if you could share your experiences of it.  If you want complete peace of mind  you may also wish to consider an external Occ Health Assessment, and there are many private Companies which offer this as a service.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_dat...

    Of if any other Community members have used this service if they could post how it has worked for them?

    Finally I appreciate that you may not be able to discuss this here, but all of the above is dependent on understanding the underlying issue for the work related stress was it related to their manager, their workload, bullying etc. as this will inform how you deal with this.

    I hope this helps!

    • Thank you this is extremly helpful.  I have contacted our offsite HR this morning and proposed the initial question regarding Occ health and I now have some guidance on the support available to this.  As a company we have always completed a return to work interview however not always recorded these, after some further advise i will undertake a return to work based around the fit note and have a discussion around what the employee may be able to do at work rather than what they cannot do and ensure i record this to confirm mutual understanding and offer support available to my employee. 

       

      Thanks again :)

      • Sounds like a plan Victoria Good luck! Let us all know how you get on.

        Regards

        Sarah
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