If you've been off with work related stress

[Onthegoodtimes70]

How long were you off for? Currently been off 8 weeks and starting to feel really guilty.

Usually if your note says work related stress then your manager or HR team should get in touch to discuss?

The stress is unlikely to go away unless a plan is put in place to address it. Otherwise it’ll just be there when you go back?

8 weeks is a fairly long time to be off - especially if there’s no sign of you returning any time soon. What does your GP say? Does your workplace have an occupational health provider you can be referred to? Or an Employee Assistance Programme for counselling etc?

Saying all this, if your public sector or NHS then 8 weeks is nothing - people seem to be forever off sick there

I saw a thread yesterday talking about stress related absences from work (I think in AIBU). From what I could see, people seemed to be off for pretty long periods, but still returned to work successfully.

Education and social care sector = long stress related absences.

3 weeks for DH but he then resigned and they gave him 3 weeks gardening leave and a short notice period.

Thank you seems to be a mix of outcomes.

Six months. At the time I was a civilian in a police force and pressure was definitely put on me to return, with hints being dropped about me having to leave otherwise..
It was a very stressful time with my dds (adopted, lots of issues) rather than work related stress which made me feel even more guilty but someone said to me that was irrelevant and compared it to having to take sick leave because you'd broken your leg on a skiing holiday.
I did return to work however and did another couple of years before taking redundancy as the location of the job moved and the distance made it impractical.

4 weeks. In hindsight I went back too early, but I also had depression and a stressful home life. Work was simply the final straw.

I have - think seriously about what will be different when you go back to work. Are you being supported by Occ Health and management?

Am currently in final stages of leaving a job after bullying but have had several periods off due to work related stress. If you come back and the only thing that has changed is you then my hard won words of wisdom are that you should be looking for another job.