Keeping in touch during sickness absence
Managers often fear that contact with someone who is off sick will be seen as harassment but lack of contact or involvement from you can actually make an employee feel less
able to return. The overwhelming view from people who have experienced distress is that appropriate contact is essential.
Early, regular and sensitive contact with employees during sickness absences can therefore be a key factor in enabling an early return and this view is endorsed by companies that have pioneered active absence management.
Employees should be informed that they too have a responsibility to keep in contact.
If your company does have access to occupational health support, it is important that you co-ordinate approaches to the individual. This helps to ensure clarity about professional roles and about what personal support is offered.
While the employee might not wish to be ‘out of sight, out of mind’, too much uncoordinated contact from different people can be overwhelming.
If an employee rings in sick, you should, as their line manager, take the call personally. The best outcome from this initial call is to agree that the employee will make a follow-up contact.
(It might be useful to agree with the employee how this will be made. They might prefer to do it by text or e-mail.)
If the employee does not make contact in the agreed way, you should still get in touch. At an early stage, the fact of being in contact may be more important than what is actually said.
What to do if the person requests no contact
Sometimes employees do not want to be contacted. Do not accept this at face value and sever all contact with the employee – all the evidence shows clearly that this hinders the person’s recovery and greatly reduces the chances of a successful return to work. People may request no contact because they feel anxious, embarrassed or ashamed about the way that they feel and are behaving – a sympathetic manner, being sensitive and treating the person normally can help to overcome that.Sometimes the request for no contact arises because you, the manager, are perceived to have been a factor in the employee becoming unwell. In such circumstances, options include offering the services of another manager and/or making use of an intermediary such as a colleague, family member or trade union official. If there are work issues (real or perceived) it is essential that these are addressed or it will be unlikely the person will return to work. You may wish to revisit this tactfully. As the person begins to recover, contact may seem less daunting.
It is worth considering a policy of ‘light touch’ regular contact for all people off sick. This is a neutral, non-stigmatising way to engage with all employees. A person with mental health conditions is then much more likely to react positively.
It should be remembered however that there are mutual rights and responsibilities in managing sickness absence and rehabilitation. If you have made all reasonable efforts to communicate with an employee and they refuse to remain in contact with you then you cannot be expected to anticipate what reasonable adjustments might help the individual to return to work.
See our section for employees for more information on the rights and responsibilities of the employee.
The role of GPs
The GP’s role is to provide care and treatment and help people recognise that getting back to work can be good for recovery and health.This role of the GP will be supported with the new statement of fitness for work or ‘fit note’, which will replace the current medical statement or certificate in April 2010, subject to Parliament approval.
The new statement will focus GP’s advice on what people can do rather than what they can’t. It will help improve information flow between employers, individuals and GPs by enabling patients to pass on information to their employer about when the GP thinks they may be ready to go back to work and what adjustments may help them return to work.
In addition to this, if you get the written consent from the employee, you could also contact their GP highlighting any factors that might have a bearing on the employee’s return to work that may be relevant for the GP to know. Factors such as the nature of the work that they do, a stress risk assessment and/or information about the organisation’s policies on rehabilitation.
You could also propose specific options for the employee such as adjustments at work and/or a short-term reduction of hours.
A copy of the consent form should be included with your letter to the GP.
Please note that if the employee does not wish you to contact their GP that is their absolute right.
GPs and occupational health
If you have access to occupational health (OH) support, then it would be sensible to refer the employee to OH as a management referral. OH in turn would then write to the employee’s GP. The employee would need to give their written consent for this. OH can share with the GP what the employer can reasonably facilitate at work in the way of adjustments.GPs may feel easier about sharing such information with other health professionals. The use of an intermediary occupational health practitioner, acting on behalf of the employer would therefore be advantageous. OH can ask specific questions of the GP about diagnosis, functional disturbance as this relates to occupation, prognosis and treatment issues.
The GP’s confidential report then goes back to the occupational health practitioner. It is then up to the OH practitioner to provide the employer with guidance/recommendations on how best to support the employee based on this confidentially held knowledge of their medical background.
At some point, as a manager, you will have to make decisions about the employee based on the information that you have.
Next page: Supporting an employee who is off sick
