To think once someone had been off work with stress

[User10002000]

For six weeks they are unlikely to return. I've got a colleague who's been off six weeks and we are all covering their work. We are unable to start a recruitment process as they are still being paid.

I am starting to think this thread was deliberately started to bash people off with stress leave. Comments like saisages - the poor children not being taught due to stress leave - only add fuel.

Yes some people do Fake or exaggerate illness - all types of illness not just stress. But work related stress is horrendous. Most people who experience want nothing more than to be better and back at work. Mental illness is real. This is not the 1950s!!!!!

I work for a LA. My team of 5 has 3 on long term sick, one of these is off for months every year and she’s been there years. And her pay has never been reduced because she comes back in time to avoid it. I sympathise but my own stress levels are through the roof - but I couldn’t go off and leave my remaining colleague unless I had a heart attack or something!
There needs to be a shift in how MH is supported in the workplace. Ours plays lip service to it, but no discernible action is ever implemented.

I do have a lot of empathy for my colleague. I'm just struggling with the workload and while I understand it's to do with the management it doesn't make it easier for me.

Also there are revolving door jobs which are stressful and it's just accepted that you have to recruit regularly as no one lasts long

There is nothing stopping your employer from hiring agency replacement staff or offering short term contracts. If they are off 6 weeks it is likely they are just paying statutory pay.

Isn't sickness supposed to be confidential between the employee, h.r, and their line manager, how do people know why their colleagues are off. If you have an increased workload due to staff shortages then that's for management to sort out, if its left to fester then more people go off sick, morale hits rock bottom.parents knowing why a teacher is off sick is really unprofessional.

OP - what have you said to management about the increased workload? Why are you still doing it?

I said we aren't able able to cope with the workload. Management simply said there wasn't any money to pay a temp.

Email your line manager, h.r. and union if you have genuine concerns that you do not feel it is safe to continue with the extra workload. Create a paper trail, ask for a staff meeting on what your manager is doing to share the workload, are they helping out, will they offer overtime if anyone wants to do extra, can they prioritise what needs to be done, can other staff be drafted in to help. What sort of work is it.

i have a colleague who goes off for two months every year. Her stress seems to get better once her sickness allowance runs out.

Or possibly she needs longer to recover but comes back too early due to finances. Maybe a longer time off would get her back to full mental health quicker or possibly the employer is failing to make any needed adjustments to maintain mental health.

When people are off work with serious physical illnesses which are quite unrelated to the workplace people don't blame the sick person for having surgery/cancer treatment/whatever which may well have a recurring element.

When its a mental health problem, even one caused by the workplace then suddenly all the consequential problems are the sick person's fault as diagnosed by every self appointed arm chair psychiatrist.

Then you stop doing it all. As already explained. They have no incentive to get a temp all the time the work is being covered.

Your issue isnt with your colleague. She could be off with cancer or aurgery or any other type of illness.
The issue here is management and refusing to ‘find the money’ or refusing to rehash the organisation so it’s manageable for everyone.
Basically they should have a plan if one person is off sick in the LT.

Then you tell your manager that you can not do the extra work or you will likely end up off with work related stress also. As to your initial question your colleague could be off months and may well return on a reduced workload.

Is it a small company can you see where your colleagues stress came from? Do you have a union or HR you can speak to?

Management simply said there wasn't any money to pay a temp.

For six weeks they will be recovering at least a percentage of the salary from the statutory sick pay cover. If they are running a business they should have a percentage factored in to running costs to cover staff illness and possibly insurance to cover for longer term illness.

Unless its very niche work which is hard to cover you are effectively subsidising their lack of business planning.

Do you have an occupational health team? If so, they should be managing this for you.

Under no circumstances should you be making this worse for your colleague who is off sick.

Please be careful how this is handled. If done correctly, your colleague may be able to return to your team in due course, which is the preferred outcome.

The increase in workload is not your colleague's fault. Your manager needs to sort this before the whole team is under the same stress.

It is quite possible that someone off with a stress related condition could come back. I would assume their treatment is unknown to the OP (indeed hope it is confidential).

I would be very concerned if a company says that they have no money to pay for a temp. If you really think this is genuine, and not just because a new person would be difficult to find, I'd be thinking about moving job as one option.

I've known colleagues be off for 6 months with stress/ depression and they have come back to work.

Personally, it would help my understanding of stress related illness to know what the symptoms are that people experience that make them feel they are not fit to work.

Someone in my office is off with stress and I know that he has told management that a contributing factor in this is the atmosphere in the office following a restructuring last year.

But the restructuring didn't even affect him personally - it did affect me and has totally fucked me financially and career wise. Just as I made the decision to look for a new job, I was diagnosed with an incurable lung disease and am on medication with horrible side effects.

I have never felt more stressed in my life but I feel I just have to cope with it, and actually I have been working at home more than usual and that has helped.

So I think i have an insight but I don't really understand how it manifests itself on a personal level. The whole secrecy and protecting people's privacy doesn't help either, it makes it look like there is something to hide, or that they don't want to say he's off with stress because people will judge him! (I'm senior enough to have been told a broad outline but haven't liked to ask more)

Apart from anything else, my GP is totally unsympathetic to be the point where I think he would require me to sectioned before he'd sign me off with anything stress related.

There is nothing to hide when someone is off sick, it's protected and personal information that should not be disclosed.
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/work-related-stress

I was off with anxiety & depression several times, first time was 6 weeks, second time was 3 months, third time was 6 months, then when I was bad again I never went back, I realised that the job wasn't helping & my DS & my health mattered more than the job, I'd been off sick for a couple of months & just woke up one morning to thinking that I didn't want to go back, at work I was feeling tense all the time, I felt like the manager was constantly watching me & waiting for me to fail, I never wanted to feel like that again, I had to go to a few meetings with my manager at work & the final time when I told them I wasn't coming back, I can't describe the relief I felt when I walked out the building, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

@Cherryglaze some I've witnessed have been inability to stop crying in the office (sadly a toxic environment where crying itself isn't particularly noteworthy) and panic attacks to the point of meltdown. If you have non-work related worries then HR will fight a label of work-related stress.

Very rare ime for someone not to return eventually, with appropriate adjustments and/or phased return. Having no money for temps is a separate issue.

CherryGlaze You are senior enough to have an outline but have no understanding of stress related illness?

Have you not had any training, through work or self development?

Personally, it would help my understanding of stress related illness to know what the symptoms are that people experience that make them feel they are not fit to work.

For me it manifests as stomach ache, diarrhoea, the kind with about 3 seconds warning, migraines, tension headaches from such tight neck muscles, constantly on the verge of tears and a persistent and intense feeling of fear and anxiety and the urge to self harm. Occasionally I will vomit from anxiety too.

For me it manifests as stomach ache, diarrhoea, the kind with about 3 seconds warning, migraines, tension headaches from such tight neck muscles, constantly on the verge of tears and a persistent and intense feeling of fear and anxiety and the urge to self harm. Occasionally I will vomit from anxiety too.

I had the same, except without the headaches. I also had panic attacks in which I felt like I couldn't breathe, and palpitations so intense I thought at first that I was having a heart attack. Even once I knew it was 'just' panic I couldn't seem to talk myself down. Really unpleasant to experience and not conducive to getting work done.

Dollymixture
Regarding the teacher, it is a genuine question, I'm not trying to wind anyone up.
Yes, there are parents at the school who also work there & they have been very unprofessional letting everyone know that stress is the reason why the teacher is off, but that doesn't stop the fact that 30 children aren't currently having their educational needs met.
I would like to know from anyone with experience in this area, what is the usual protocol for this situation?
Do we accept that the class won't have a qualified teacher for an undeterminable amount of time, or is there something we can do to ensure the school gets the funding to replace the teacher who is off?