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Manager care 'helps long-term absentees return to work'
HR News |
20/08/2010
Line managers can play an important role in ensuring employees return to work successfully following long-term sickness, it has been claimed.
A new report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the British Occupational Health Research Foundation, Healthy Lives and the Health and Safety Executive offers advice to team leaders on how best to manage this process.
The guidance follows the introduction of the government's new 'fitnote', which is designed to help facilitate an earlier return to employment for people who have suffered from illness or injury.
Line managers have been urged to ensure they stay in touch regularly with the individual while they are away from work, and reassure them that their job is safe.
Co-ordinating a phased return to work, and ensuring that the individual adjusts to employment at a gradual pace is also encouraged.
Meanwhile, the paper recommends asking the individual's permission to keep the rest of the team informed on their condition.
By communicating openly with other members of staff, it is thought that they are more likely to assist in the individual's rehabilitation and ensure a smoother re-entry to the workplace.
Managers should also hold regular meetings to discuss the individual's condition and the possible impact it may have on their daily duties, it is claimed.
Ben Willmott, senior public policy adviser at CIPD, said: "Line managers play a crucial role in deciding whether returning to work is part of an individual's recovery and rehabilitation or the catalyst to further breakdown and deterioration.
"Evidence shows that the longer people are off sick the less likely they are to make a successful return to work; with employees only having a fifty per cent chance of going back to work after six months of absence."
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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