Is my new line manager BU?

@ItTook9Years I'm presuming the correspondence wasn't of that nature. If it was 'what reasonable adjustments do you need for your return' then she would have responded and not been unhappy?

Firstly.

By your reaction you aren't really ready to go back to work. You're still struggling with your grief and unfortunately that won't be recognised in the work place...if you're that reactive and sad you're not meant to go back.

Secondly. They have a duty of care, they're not harassing you, they're making sure you're ready for work. And it she's new she's just ticking boxes. It's not an attack.

I don’t think you’re ready to go back.

Ha. Senior HR professional and manager of (on average) over 100 people (plus responsible for management training g and development) for over 20 years. 😂😂😂

(I earned my employment law qualifications. 😉)

As a manager in the NHS, we are expected to make contact with people if they are off longterm sick and ask them to meet to follow sickness policy and return to work.

Lots of people report feeling abandoned by work so at times you can't get it right either way

It's silly them contacting you on teams. But a phone call offering a video call in person before your return to work seems acceptable.

I had a bit of a blip earlier this year when I lost my mum and best friend in a very short period. The anger really caught me off guard. I was and am very fortunate to work in a good place and for a long time.

I know looking back my view of everything was impacted so I was and do advise don't make any big decisions in the first year.

I would suggest you talk to your GP, the priority is you going back able to thrive as best you can. That may take a little longer but I'm the long term and in promotional terms will likely be the more sensible option.

I found trying to not react to daft people doing or saying daft things a challenge. Mind yourself OP.

I agree. I'd suggest you ask for a wellbeing action plan to be put in place for you too.

I was on compassionate leave for 2 weeks and off sick for 2 months following a bereavement 4 years ago.

My only contact with management was by text to start with, so that I didn't actually have to speak to anyone. A good friend, who was also a colleague when I was in a different role, was in touch regularly and let them know how I was doing, with my agreement.

I think it's a bit insensitive of a new manager to expect someone off with a MH issue to be looking at Teams messages, and to contact them when they're off sick. I work in the 3rd sector and most of our contracts are in mental health, so they really get how MH issues affect staff.

😂

this is utterly useless information lol

tell me you’re not a manager without telling me your not a manager.

Absolute nonsense.

OP has stated they work for a large company in middle-management - they will almost certainly have a policy around staying contactable when not in work due to sickness, suspension, whatever.

A fit note is a recommendation that you're not fit to complete your normal duties of work, not carte blanche to drop off the face off the earth.

We have no idea how long OP has been off, but can assume it's a minimum of a few weeks if a fit note is needed. It's more than reasonable for an employer - who has a duty of care - to request a meeting to discuss any number of things; If the fit note is to be extended, if adjustments need to be made to duties/hours etc. OP is not a shelf-stacker; they are responsible for other employees in addition to their workload and their employer needs to plan around this.

They also had no idea of the bereavement/stress, not that this is relevant aside from you trying to push an 'evil boss' narrative.

We also know that OP has not been employed for two years, and as such has very few rights in this situation. They have said the time off is due to something related to tests they've been having, so presumably they are not disabled. Employer could let them go for having too much time off, not following company protocol on being contactable, or any number of reasons.

Kicking off because they've tried to contact you while you have a fit note is terrible, ill informed advice.

What if OP needs support in place on the date of return?

Did you get your employment law qualifications out of a Xmas cracker?

Your face to face meeting can be on your return to ensure that reasonable adjustments can be made. Ask
for a referral to occupational health

It's unreasonable of your manager to expect you to look at Teams while you're off sick, however it's not unreasonable for your manager to try to contact you, as many public sector organisations have formal Keeping In Touch (KIT) procedures. That being said, any KIT process should recognise the needs and situation of the individual who is off sick - which may include a 'no contact' request if needs be.

Your manager probably didn't know about all the other things that happened while you were off (sorry for your loss, by the way) - however if they are new, they may very well have already contacted HR to find out what to do about your return and are probably following any HR policy by the book, rather than being pragmatic. This would also include you having a Return to Work interview (which it sounds like what is being suggested to you), but this doesn't need to be overly formal.

If you've been off for a little while with stress OP, I would recommend you doing a phased return to work to ease you back in gently. I understand you may have reasons for wanting to go back, but I would also urge you to consider whether you're really ready yet, so it might be worth discussing this with your GP.

Hope this helps x

It sounds like the OP has a managerial
job she has been in less than 2 years in a professional organisation. Someone will therefore have been covering her role while she’s out. Meanwhile her manager is new and has been in touch, probably to see if she is returning or if those without a manager need to be managed by someone else still.

This doesn’t sound like shift work at a supermarket where if she turns up or doesn’t, there is a rota to ensure coverage.

The OP’s manager has done what I would do as a very experienced people leader - be human, check in and see all is good for a return. If not, put other arrangements in place. I probably would have done it by video call but now people are recording these just in case, I can see why she said in person. Not necessary to be in person In my view though.

There is no need to go nuclear because someone tried to do the right thing. With less than two years tenure, i would not be making this so hard.

Yes. It is a requirement to make sure that you keep in touch with your manager to update them about your health status.

🤷‍♀️

Irrelevant of a sick line we have to call day 1 then 5 then7. After that it's every 7 days. Then after a certain time can't recall how long you are called in for a face to face meeting

@DragonGypsyDoris the manager is brand new and has been told someone is off sick. So they shouldn't expect correspondence from them obviously until they're actually back in work.
It's not a very good first impression is it, bombarding people with demands when they're medically signed off work?

Did the manager put themselves in the OP's shoes?

No, because the manager is a moron. And an incompetent one at that too.

Keeping in touch is totally normal. You may be reading into the communications too deeply. Put yourself in your manager's shoes and think about it.

It's bang out of order to contact people and demand meetings when they're off sick. You're not at work. Why on earth couldn't she wait till your return day to have this meeting.
At most she could've sent a welcome email, introducing herself. Saying 'I hope you feel better soon and can't wait to meet you on your return. No need to reply to this message.'
So yeah, it's not professional at all. You could've been literally sectioned in hospital? I'm not saying you were that unwell, but they don't know, and when someone is off sick they don't deal with work correspondence.

Your new line manager is only being unreasonable in expecting a you to have received a voice mail and a Teams msg sent to a work device. She should have rung you. She's allowed to speak to you about what support you might need in returning to work etc.

Just imagine a line manager didn't get in touch. Person retuned to work, no one was prepared for them, required adjustments had not been made.

Its far from harsh.

Whats harsh is the managerial incompetence of hassling an employee who is off from work with a valid sick note.

Unless the office the OP works from has blown up/relocated, there is fuck all reason for any manager to see a F2F before the employee returns to work.

This is a bit harsh.

My line manager checked in on me the week before returning to ensure I was ready, how I was feeling and to catch up.

Just because the sick note is up doesn’t mean OP is ready (and kindly OP I don’t think you are and I’m so sorry for your loss)