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.

6 weeks is not long. I'm in a field of work where people burn out routinely.

I hope that you never have the same mental health problem.

Jez some employers are really shit bullys. I haven't rtft but would your colleague claim illness benefit.

Your employee needs to replace them with someone temporary, or you will all be off sick with stress.

employer

I had a six month time off with anxiety and depression. Six years later I was off nearly 3 months with the same. Went back to work for 4 years until I found a better, less stressful job with much better support from management. Don't think I was unsual.

You can be sacked when ill .they send you to occupational health and if your deemed unfit the company can sack you.I was bullied was very depressed and found out how disgusting the company i worked for was.From HR completely siding with the manager who was bullying me and upper management covering up what was going on.

Assume nothing. My colleague was regularly off anything from 4 weeks to 6 months with stress/depression and a host of other illnesses and injuries over a ten year period. Colleague was always back before half pay kick in and would then go off again shortly after.

My employers eventually dismissed colleague on the grounds they were not capable the job and were unreliable. All proper procedure was carried out and they liased with occupational health.

@sausagerollers

The school should have a budget to cover staff sickness. They are clearly choosing not to use it in the way it should be (one ongoing member of cover staff from an agency) because they are getting away with TAs and sporadic cover. My mil's school have just done this to her (HTLA) - forced Yr6 cover since October. She's just been signed off with WRS as she simply cannot face going back to teach students and do a job she isn't trained for and isn't being paid for because it's all for the children, don't ya'know.

If your DC's school is refusing to get suitable cover, under the guise of the staff member coming back then for the love of God, complain and continue to. Schools are supposed to budget for cover and instances like this and I cannot fathom why primary heads behave like this apart from the fact that they get away with it.

I feel for you OP. Someone has done that at my work and the nature of our business means we are busiest at Christmas. The person in question is off sick for depression reasons, as they told me, but I can't help but feel it was almost done on purpose as it was very well timed... just before we hit Christmas peak. This person is not in my team but I can see the team they were in really struggling to cope with their workload and it doesn't really seem fair.

Not very long if signed off by a doctor. Can’t inagine it would help their stress to know they are being wished out if the door!

I think it's a bit naive to think that no one ever takes the Mickey

Just from experience of past colleagues who have been off with stress have only been given two weeks off and the returned to work so to me yes six weeks is a long time.

I was recently off for 5 weeks following a culmination of a number of very challenging stressful events which took place in my personal life. I simply wasn’t coping and the meds and counselling were not enough in the end for me to continue functioning properly in my job/general life. I took time out, had a very supportive workplace and am now back and much better for having taken the time off. 6 weeks is nothing really IMO in the grand scheme of recuperating from MH issues.

How long is a piece of string?

@CherryGlaze Stress is in the diagnostic manual which mental health practitioners use and it is under the section of “Anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, somatoform and other nonpsychotic mental disorders“.

Depends on how bad it is, whether it's work related etc.

I was off sick for 8 months: I was bullied so badly by my work colleagues and management that I had a nervous breakdown.

It took that long to get the proper health support I needed and for HR and Occy Health to process the situation as my managers were trying to sack me but Occy Health were arguing it was work place harassment.

I eventually returned as my health improved, I needed the money and I refused to be beaten.

I stayed for another 2 years and then joined another department when I was fully well and my sickness rate was zero.

Without knowing the ins and outs and what your involvement is it's hard to say.

Has her concerns regarding her stress been addressed because if it is work related and you're management you are bound by law to address those concerns in a robust fashion or the words constructive dismissal may rear their head.... food for thought.

You seem more concerned with her post than her and that speaks badly.

I worked in a group where someone was off for 2 years.

Yabu my friend is currently off with stress and our colleague putting pressure on her is making her more unwell.

I've known some people come back after long periods and others not it just depends on the individual and what's put in place to support their return.

Not at all. It's very common for people to be off with stress for 6 months or more, and then come back to work.

I think you're getting a hard time here though. Just because the colleague is unwell doesn't mean it isn't difficult for you to cover their work. Can you ask for a temp? They could at least do everyone's admin or answer phones or something to ease the work load. Also if the colleague is keeping in touch about their illness, which they should be periodically, then it may be possible to get someone in on a FTC, as you would if someone went on maternity.

I'd image it's often unlikely that companies CAN find people to cover stress-related absences. Typically, the leave is taken at short notice, so the company would need to advertise for the position, interview, then train the person, all for a 6 week/2 month working period. And while some industries may have agencies who offer cover, a lot of industries don't and I can imagine that finding people with the right skills to do a job for several weeks would be difficult.

At my current company, there's a woman who's taken 3 months off every year for 3 years due to stress. Long enough that it puts everyone else in her team under immense pressure, too short for a temp to be brought in and trained up for her position. Hard situation for all involved.

Not at all. I’ve had seven months off work with depression caused by work. I went back and I’m still there two years later. I hope your colleague is getting the support they need.

It seems like a long time to me

The longer someone is off the less likely they are to return.

Oh gosh...the public sector again...