Work stress absences

[Lifegoeson600]

I've never experienced myself but at the moment. My company has a number of people off with this. One have been off for around four months.i'm just curious as to how having all that time off work helps?

Unfortunately there is a contractual obligation on both sides. It involves being at work and performing satisfactorily. I believe there is a corelation between being in the wrong job/not wanting to do it and work stress. If I have an employee who persistently makes errors, can't meet expectations, etc, despite support such as coaching, counselling, regular meetings, there will come a point where stress takes over. Then the claims of unreasonableness/bullying start but if others can do the job the root cause is performance.

A sensible person realises this and finds a different niche; a person with thier head in the sand doesn't and the stress increases. Especially when things reach the formal stages.

Much easier to get another job when attendance is still good and the answer to reference questions such as "have there been any formal procedures" is a no.

I had 5 months off with stress related depression last year and 3 months off with stress related illness the year before. As PP said over the long term high stress levels and the associated changes in your brain chemistry cause changes in how your brain functions. To heal you need a reduction in stress levels and time. It takes a long time to recover once you reach breaking point (often years rather than months) I have always been a high performer at work and in my case it wasnt work stress that was the issue, but a) my brain wouldn't function well enough to do my job safely at this point (difficulty with memory to the point I couldn't remember the beginning of a conversation by the time I got halfway through it and inability to concentrate for 1 minute to count a pulse or respiratory rate) and b) I couldn't reduce my out of work stress and work was the only possible source of stress I could reduce at that point. I'm now back working at a good level even though I'm not back to normal yet.

Yes I definitely think more needs to be done to support people who suffer this however people who are off also need to work with their employer to help sort the problems

I was off for over a year (most unpaid). My GP wrote work related stress on the sick note to highlight the impact of certain work related issues (bullying, being told by management my inability to manage the bully was a reflection on my management ability amongst other things). My actual diagnosis was severe depression and anxiety. My return was slowed by weekly phone calls from work meaning I didn’t have space to recover. The best thing they could do to facilitate my recovery was give me space.

The reason stress is often put on sick notes is because if another reason is cited the workplace do not have to put any provisions in place to support the employee. However, if stress/workplace stress is cited then the employer has a responsibility to the employee.

That’s just not true.

I think it all depends on the job and the employer. I think its generally more beneficial if someone is at breaking point with stress, that they try to remain in work possibly on modified/other/supported duties . Of course this all depends on the job and the employer. Being at home and doing nothing could potentially make you feel even worse i.e sense of failure,not even able to do your job, etc etc,, of course all cases are individual . I have a job that can be extremely stressful but guess what? i just keep my foot on the pedal and eventually things get better haha

My dh has been signed off with stress for four months. He was a high performer until a new manager started and two weeks later, he was crying and unable to face going in.

His manager, in my view, was an awful manipulative bully who would say one thing in front of some people and something else when it was just her and dh. They tried mediation but as it was Chatham house rules, he was unable to cite any of the things she had said in that meeting.

His employer have been a bit shit really. In my previous work, someone signed off with stress would result in an automatic referral to occupational health with the aim of getting them back as soon as realistically possible with the right support.
That hasn’t happened to dh until after nearly 4 months which is appalling.

However dh hasn’t got the mental strength to complain about his treatment. He wanted to go back but has now informally been told by his bully of a line manager that he’s going to be made redundant (!). Awful.

I do think that some people are better able to deal with stress than others and actually that some people put up with far far more stress than they should and soldier on regardless.

Iggly that is just dreadful though sadly there are a lot of bullys in middle management. I would strongly suggest that your DH takes advice for initiating a hearing at an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal as a minimum. If he is in a TU, he needs to speak to their legal helpline. Dont let them get away with it even if it means going to a tribunal and losing.

I read an article about stressed teachers recently and one said she had contemplated deliberately crashing her car on the way to work because she dreaded getting there so much. I can absolutely relate to this. When someone feels like this, getting signed off will help in the short term as presumably it will give them time to recover and get to a more stable and clear state of mind at which point they may be able to work with their employer and come back or they may decide to leave altogether.

I haven’t been to my doctor because I think if I go off, I will never go back. And I don’t know what else I will do to keep our mortgage paid. Most colleagues I have known to go off with stress have ended up leaving the profession. But in that panicked, anxious, irrational mindset that stress creates I can see why a break from work could help a person and strengthen them to come back.

As someone who works in HR, I know there is genuine work related stress and there are those who perform poorly at work who take months off.

Some people go off with stress the minute they become subject of a disciplinary investigation or the capability procedure.

They go off for months not wanting to face the issue.
I've known employees threaten to go off sick of they are put on capability.

I also know that some managers are useless and actually cause the stress. They have poor people management skills and dont know how to talk to people respectfully.

I've had managers and employees send me emails asking for support with either the employee and the manager. When I see the email trail... I just SMH. I've often said to managers that their choice of words caused the matter to escalate.

What I mean in plain english is they were bang out of order. I just have to be diplomatic in the interests of collaborative working.

A large number of those who go off with work related stress are known as difficult employees. Pains in the rear to manage... and they are totally lacking in self awareness.

Nobody ever believes they are difficult... but everyone else experiences them that way.

I'll never forget a colleague saying that a workman at her house said she was the most difficult customer he'd ever had.. she actually said to us...
"Can you believe what he said?"
Of course we could believe it...she was a bloody nightmare...but with no insight whatsoever.

It also comes down to individual resilience. Some people are more resilient than others. The less resilience you have, the more likely you are to suffer with work related stress or other mental health issues.

I guess that's what makes us all unique.

I’ve been signed off with stress. I was basically doing the work of 4 people and couldn’t cope with it. My manager at the time just kept sayin I’d need to work harder to get through it all. Luckily I was on my notice period at the time but I ended up getting signed off until the end of it.

Where I am (am not mainland uk am Channel Islands so not sure if this is the case mainland uk) if a sick note has stress on it and the employer is noted 3 or more times in 6 months they are investigated by the social security dept. 5 of us in my dept were signed off with stress at around the same time. Employer was investigated.

Arnoldthecat I’ve thought about whether he should push for a complaint and tribunal but I’m not sure if it’s worth the energy. Dh is ground down by it all as am I to be honest and just want it over. He’s asked for his redundancy on account of being told he’s going to be made redundant - senior management are dragging their heels. I strongly suspect because they may realise that there has been a cock up by this new manager. Incidentally his new manager isn’t experienced in managing people - not entirely sure why he was brought in to head up a high performing team and lead a restructure 🤔

I job share. They are off with stress which has ironically tripled my stress levels as I have to do my job and their job in part time hours on part time pay. I wish work had looked at lowering their stress rather than just expecting people to pick up the pieces.

I think there are some people who take advantage.
But after knowing someone as I stated above who decided suicide was the best option because they couldn’t cope with work (a huge company in the uk) hounding them, we have to recognise that if someone is off with stress then they cannot be called and questioned.
I was lucky when I was off after a late missed miscarriage that my boss ensured nobody was to contact me. Mental health issues do need to be taken seriously.

I perform well at my job, it's the one thing in my life I think I'm actually good at. Terrible at everything else but I thrive on the structure and goals at work.

I'm sick with work worries at the moment, at night, after work, in work but I am keeping going because i don't know what to do. I'm drinking a huge amount to dull these worries, eating shit. If I go off it will be so much worse. It will hurt my colleagues and hurt the people I work for.

It's like I am in a huge bubble which I have to prevent from popping because the outcome will be such a huge mess. I've been off before in a different job due to mh issues and I know I have resilience issues. But work is my anchor, even though at the moment it's biting at me so badly.

But we have had a few exceptions over the years. We usually find that being signed off with stress usually correlates with disciplinary action over poor performance

Interesting. I've seen people go off with stress a number of times due to poor management, bullying and ridiculous pressure being put on them to produce. I work with someone who is outstanding at her job, but she is expected to work way over her hours, is subjected to huge pressure and has all the problem staff dumped on her because she is a good manager. She is frequently in tears behind closed doors and is getting thinner and thinner. The reality is that the organisation doesn't care enough to make sure staff like her are kept safe from an emotional point of view.

I hope things improve for everyone currently off work with this illness.