To feel they should have spoken to me

[stressed500]

I'm off work currently with anxiety and work related stress. I've been off since October. I've been told that some of my colleagues have gone to hr about my absence saying they feel if it's time to recruit for my position as they currently don't have anyone covering me. I'm upset because myself and my colleagues got on quite well and thought they would have spoken to me before going to hr.

well, all I can say is that that wasn't the case when I was temping to cover someone signed of sick for several months. As is so often the case on MN, I am so glad I don't work where many of you do!

@RiverTam - please don't in future give employment advice, nor any other legal advice, on the basis of half remembered things some random told you when you were a temp. You've compounded your mistakes by adding interpretation instead of reflecting only what was said to you, which it seems was simply not to talk to the person off sick about when they would return to work. You're simply making things up, why on earth do you think that's helpful? To then grumble that you don't like the sound of other posters' workplaces is pathetic.

that's not actually what was said to me, and none of this was in fact said specifically to me at all, it was all aimed at the department as a whole.

I appreciate I have got some of this wrong, but you weren't there so don't tell me (or tag me, for that matter) what was or wasn't said in my hearing.

Its perfectly natural and normal for colleagues to continue to be communicating with colleagues on sick. Is anyone suggesting that signed off staff should be instantly blocked on facebook or removed from group whatsap or blanked in the supermarket!

^This.

all I can say is that that wasn't the case when I was temping to cover someone signed of sick for several months

There are many reasons an employer may choose not to employ a permanent replacement. That does not mean they cannot employ a permanent replacement. Employing a permanent replacement for someone off sick means they need to find a suitable job at grade if the person off sick returns. That's all. Whether that's easier or harder than employing a succession of temps is a business decision, and none of the sick employee's business.

So you are off with stress from covering other peoples work
And now other people still there are stressed because they are covering your work.

I would assume that they are asking for someone permanent who can cover you while you are off and stay on when you are back - then the workplace might actually run with the right staffing levels and avoid any further stress-related absences.

How can you still be stressed over work you haven't been doing for the past 4 months ?

And before anyone comes along on the attack , I have had stress, anxiety and depression and still suffering the latter.
I am not unsympathetic to the OP , just that it might be better for ALL concerned if OP did not return . As it is she has no idea when she will be returning to the same environment that caused her stress.

Surely it doesn't really matter what your colleagues "requested" - it only matters what HR do in terms of your job and treating you fairly and legally.

Anyone can "request" anything of HR. Doesn't mean they'll oblige.

Also, try not to take to heart what a colleague has reported to you.

Perhaps the conversation was a straight "We want Stressed replaced with a full-time permanent employee" - that is hurtful (and so your colleague shouldn't have told you!) but more likely the conversation was "We are all under lots of pressure covering Stressed's role and we need someone to cover that".

Either way, it doesn't matter. You should stop worrying about work, and they shouldn't be "reporting back to you".

YABVU. I work in a small team and have a colleague who has been off with stress since November. She came back for a week in January and then went off sick again. I cannot begin to explain what a toll it has taken on me and my colleagues. I spent 2 days crying a few weekends ago and not being able to get out bed because of tiredness and at the thought of having to go back to work because there just is too much to do now. She is still off sick and boss has just announced we hired another person who will start soon. It’s the only thing he could do to keep the rest of us from quitting. Hiring a temp is not possible in my profession and I sure as hell won’t be endangering my own mental health for much longer because someone else is off with stress. If my colleague does come back, I will feel bad for her...because everyone resents her so much now, the atmosphere won’t be the same. She literally gets herself signed off whenever we get very busy, this is not her first period of prolonged time off. You seem to have no empathy for the colleagues forced to cover for you.

She literally gets herself signed off whenever we get very busy, this is not her first period of prolonged time off.

We had one of these. She miraculously recovered as soon as her current period of SSP entitlement ran out though - every single time. ☹️ It was appalling for staff morale.

I do have empathy for my colleagues. I've never had time off before not even one sick day in the five years I've worked there.

@Stressed500 how long you've had off previously is irrelevant. You've now been off 4 months straight, with no return in sight. Realistically how do you expect your colleagues to react, if the department was already understaffed? If you were working so many extra hours it made you ill, there is obviously a need for another permanent person and that is what your colleagues have asked for. The majority of people on this thread have said you are BU. I think you need to take that onboard, so you don't make this a bigger issue than it is.

Can they offer you a phased RTW just to get you back up and running?

Just be honest if you've no intention of returning.

What happened to make to role stressful after 5 years length of service with zero abs?