When a staff member has been off work for a long period of time it can be useful for them to have a phased return to work. This means that they will not return to their job doing the same hours, with the same responsibilities as they typically would. Some things to consider:
- Do any reasonable adjustments need to be made in order to return to work. It can be helpful to go through the staff members job description to see what parts of their job they can or can’t do. A reasonable adjustment is mainly (but not exclusively) used when someone has a disability and can be long or short term; the aim is to remove any barriers but we can implement them for any members of staff.
(A Disability – is classed as anything that affects the staff members day to day living; lasts more than a year, or is likely to. E.g. not a broken leg but could include arthritis. It is not necessarily the condition itself BUT the effect on the person and their day to day living.)
- E.g. if someone struggles with their memory then we could ensure they have appropriate equipment to take notes and all meetings are minuted.
- if having difficulty concentrating for more than an hour on one task we can ensure their work is set out in appropriate ‘chunks’ – a meeting, followed by write up, followed by T/C.
- We ask staff members to use accrued leave to cover a phased return to work (or for this to be unpaid) when they are not working for half a day.
- Each phased return to work will be different and the plan should be based on discussion with the staff member and any medical information received (e.g. Occupational Health report) Usually, a phased return will cover a period of four weeks. It could be that on week 1 the individual comes in for half of their working time (and takes the half days as A/L), and this is then gradually increased so that on the final week they have one hour for lunch rather than half an hour but start and finish work at the right time.
- It is the line managers responsibility to ensure that the phased return is reviewed with the employee on a weekly basis and adjusted accordingly. If after four weeks the staff member is not close to being back to their normal duties, then speak with the People and Culture Team.
- The phased return to work should be documented within the absence record and any reviews can be added within the documents section of the absence.