One of the main tools that is used to manage short term absence is to carry out return to work meetings at the point when an employee is well enough to come back to work after a period of absence related to illness or injury. According to a study by Personnel Today around 85% of businesses expect their line managers to hold some form of return to work meeting regardless of the length of an employee’s absence.
What is a return to work meeting?
Although a return to work meeting may sound rather formal, it is essentially just an opportunity for a conversation between an employer and their employee to find out how the employee is feeling following a period of absence. Employers might choose to use a different title for this type of meeting and it is fine to call it a welfare chat, welfare check in or whatever you and your employees feel comfortable with. Ultimately, it is the purpose and the content of the meeting that is most important.
What is the purpose of a return to work interview?
First and foremost, a return to work meeting is not punitive and should not be seen by employees as something to be concerned about, unless of course the reason for their absence was not genuine and they have something to hide. A return to work meeting is an opportunity to talk to the employee who is returning from absence and to explore the reason for absence in more detail. Was it due to maternity or disability, was it related to a workplace accident, is there an underlying health condition, is the employee actually well enough to be back in work and has the employee been to their GP and been prescribed any medication? The employee may need to take some time to get back up to speed with work so is a phased return appropriate or does the employee’s condition require some professional assessment via a referral to an occupational health provider? These are all extremely useful pieces of information that will help employers to build up a picture of the employee’s health and wellbeing and enable them to provide relevant support. It might also be that during the period of absence things have changed in some way at work and so any news can be shared with the returning employee during the chat so that they are up to speed with goings on. Ultimately, if short term absence is persistent you may end up in an absence related disciplinary situation and having complete records which document an employee’s absence are valuable evidence and therefore an additional purpose of holding the return to work meeting.
How to prepare for a return to work meeting
As an employer it is important to make sure that you are well prepared for a return to work meeting with your employee. Not only will being prepared help you, it will give a positive impression to the employee that you care and that you are interested in their wellbeing, in addition it will calm any nerves that they may have and will mean that everyone gets the most out of the conversation. Acas offer guidance on what employers should do to prepare and set out four main areas as below:
- Ensure that the employee is aware that the discussion will be taking place and that it is held privately and confidentially
- Check any records in advance of the meeting and take copies of documents to the meeting if they are relevant, for example notes of previous return to work meetings or sick notes
- Have a set of questions to use, typically employers will use a form to record the meeting and this ensures that standard questions are asked for consistency plus any questions which may be specific to the employee’s reason for absence
- Consider what support may be relevant and can reasonably be offered to the employee so that options can be discussed
Why is it worth holding return to work meetings?
The CIPD’s health and wellbeing at work survey 2023 reported that employee absence in 2023 was at its highest rate since 2010 with employees absent on average for 7.8 days per year, which equates to 3.4% of working time lost. The survey also found that the three main causes of short term absence were minor illnesses (eg cold, upset stomach, headache), musculoskeletal issues (eg muscle strains, back pain) and mental ill health. It is very much worthwhile therefore that employers take steps to put in place effective measures such as return to work meetings in order to help them to manage short term absence as this type of absence is both disruptive and costly for their business. Furthermore, employers also have a duty of care to their employees and so by holding return to work meetings employers are taking steps to fulfil their legal obligations to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their staff.
If employers fail to address absence through interventions like return to work meetings then employees will feel unsupported, legal compliance will be compromised and if employers bury their heads in the sand or claim not to have time to manage absence appropriately, then they are potentially creating problems for themselves in the future.
Do you have any questions about today’s blog, need help in becoming legally compliant with contracts/policies or can we support you in taking away any people pains to give you peace of mind?
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Why not also check out last weeks blog Return to Work Meeting – Our 2nd Monday Mode Session
We also have a YouTube channel with loads of handy videos outlining various HR related scenarios.
