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Practical Advice on Managing Employees Back into the Workplace
2nd March 2009
It can sometimes prove a challenge for managers to get employees back into the workplace either following maternity leave or after long periods of illness...
It can sometimes prove a challenge for managers to get employees back into the workplace either following maternity leave or after long periods of illness. As life expectancy for both genders has increased, at certain times people are more likely to have time off work due to ill health. However, due to medical advancements, people are often able to return to work either on a full or partial basis over time.
Although there are aspects of law that govern this area of employee relations, the purpose of this short article is to offer practical tips on managing such employees back into the workplace.
Managing Anxiety
There is often anxiety experienced by employees returning to work after several months away from the workplace. The employee’s manager, or other members of their team, could have changed considerably during this time. System technology, departmental policies, processes and procedures could all have moved on, or even the remit of the individual’s role may have changed since they last attended work.
Maintaining Effective Communication
With the current economic climate presenting challenges to all businesses, it is very important for managers to agree communication timescales with their employees. This allows the employee to maintain regular contact with their manager and to receive regular updates on what is happening in the business whilst they are absent from work.
Managers should be considering what update training the individual will need when they return to work in order for them to become productive at the earliest opportunity. Consideration can also be given to allocating a “buddy” to the individual, if the manager works in a different location, who will be able to shadow and support the employee.
Avoiding Grievances
Grievances in relation to lack of communication during long periods of absence are common within the workplace. These have the potential to increase due to economic pressures on an organisation and the needs of the business to apply rapid change in order to ensure their own survival.
It can be easy to overlook an employee who is absent from the workplace during this type of activity. However, managers should make effective use of ‘Keeping in Touch Days’ for those on maternity leave or offer to conduct regular home visits for those employees too poorly to attend the workplace, to ensure that effective communication levels are maintained throughout the entire period of absence.
The risk to the employer of not getting it right, apart from grievances in the workplace, could potentially be a claim of different treatment and therefore a sex, race or disability discrimination claim is always a possibility.
Further Information
Further information on this topic can be obtained from your HR Department. For NorthgateArinso clients, our NorthgateArinso HR Outsourcing team are able to provide specific support in providing policies and procedures, and customised training packages, to manage absence or grievance issues within your business. If you would like to discuss this matter further, or wish to discuss an existing issue around this subject, please call the NorthgateArinso Advice Line on 0845 299 0243 who will be happy to help.
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