Manager Mental Health Toolkit

How do I support a colleague who is off sick or returning to work after sickness absence?

Sickness absence due to mental ill health, whether stress-related or due to a diagnosed mental health condition, can have a considerable impact on both the individual and the workplace. For the individual it can create a sense of isolation from colleagues, uncertainty, and increased anxiety, on top of the symptoms associated with the condition itself. The workplace is missing a valuable resource, which can impact on the business and on team morale. Where possible, managers should consider support and reasonable adjustments to help the colleague remain at work. But there will be times where sickness absence cannot be avoided.

Also refer to Managing Absence Code of Practice

How can I keep in touch with absent team members?

It is important for managers to maintain contact with team members who are off sick. This contact can be a key factor in helping them to return to work after sickness absence. It can be a sensitive topic as some may feel they will be pressed to come back to work too early – they should be reassured that this is not the case. Without contact, those who are absent may feel increasingly isolated and unvalued.

The frequency and nature of contact should be discussed and agreed between you and the team member. This can change over the duration of absence. For example, at the start of a period of sickness absence with depressive illness, the employee may only feel able to text or email initially, but as they start to recover they may feel more able to talk over the phone or even visit work.

Contact from the manager during sickness absence should be supportive and positive. It can include updates on what is happening at work and an opportunity to consider what would facilitate the employee’s return to work. It may also be an opportunity to discuss if a referral to Occupational Health would be helpful and consider others sources of support.

How do I support a team member with a phased return to work?

Basic principles:

Phased returns are normally limited to 4-6 weeks and involve reduced working hours and modified activities. The precise arrangements should be discussed and agreed between the employee and manager
Contracted hours not worked are normally recorded as sickness absence
Some supernumerary time is helpful in week one of return
It is normally preferable to start back on the least challenging aspects of the role, before resuming the more demanding activities
The employee and manager should meet at least weekly, to ensure that the phased return is progressing well and that the employee is coping at each stage before an increase in hours and activities
HR and OH can provide more specific advice if required

Example of a phased return

Jane works for a student support team and has been off work for 3 months due to recurrence of depressive illness. At first, she didn’t feel able to maintain contact with her manager, but her husband kept in touch and sent in the GP certificates. Since Jane has started to feel better, she has emailed her manager on a couple of occasions, the most recent saying that her GP is now supporting a return to work on phased arrangements. Jane visited work at a quiet time and met some close colleagues. She then met with her manager – they agree that a referral to Occupational Health would be helpful to make sure that all workplace health needs are being considered, but they also took the opportunity to discuss her phased return arrangements.

She was still getting tired easily and feeling anxious, so they agreed that she would return on alternate half days during week one of return – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – and remain supernumerary that week, catching up with workplace developments, meeting colleagues and going through emails. They planned to catch-up briefly each day to check how things had gone, then meet at the end of the week to plan the following week.

The first week went well and they planned to increase hours to five half days in the second week and for her to resume some basic administrative aspects of her role. She also felt able to respond to some low-key student queries submitted by email.

By the third week, Jane felt able to take direct telephone queries, but became very anxious when a student became upset with her for not resolving their problem. Jane and her manager talked through the situation immediately afterwards, which was reassuring for Jane, but they agreed that she should keep to email queries that week, which she felt she had more control over.

By week four, Jane was working 6 hours a day, and managing a combination of email and telephone queries, but at a slower pace. She was taking regular short breaks, which helped her to maintain concentration. She felt ready to resume her normal hours the following week, but between her and her manager, agreed that it would probably take another few weeks for her to fully regain confidence and resume her full range of duties. They agreed that they would continue to meet weekly over that period.

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