Struggling with return to work

[welshgirl1986]

I returned to work two months ago after a long term illness. I had a phased return of 6 weeks and the past 2 weeks I have been doing my regular hours. I am finding it difficult as I suffer with fatigue. I have asked my manager if I can reduce my hours for another month or so but he has told me that the business needs me working my full hours.
Im really struggling and don't know what to do.

Go back to your GP and ask for a fit note stating that you are only fit to work reduced hours.

4 weeks is generally standard for a phased return. If the requirement to reduce hours extends significantly then it may raise questions about whether ill health may reduce your ability to undertake your role longer term.

Does your company have an occupation health team?

Can you use some annual leave to help with your fatigue?

Could you consider requesting long term changes to your hours via a flexible working request?

@GoldenBlue

4 weeks is generally standard for a phased return. If the requirement to reduce hours extends significantly then it may raise questions about whether ill health may reduce your ability to undertake your role longer term.

Does your company have an occupation health team?

Can you use some annual leave to help with your fatigue?

Could you consider requesting long term changes to your hours via a flexible working request?

I had a OH assessment before returning they recommended a 6 week phased return.

I am thinking that the only option will be to reduce my hours, I am trying to fight the fatigue as best as I can but I don't think I'm going to win 😢
What's a flexible working request?

@GoldenBlue

4 weeks is generally standard for a phased return. If the requirement to reduce hours extends significantly then it may raise questions about whether ill health may reduce your ability to undertake your role longer term.

Does your company have an occupation health team?

Can you use some annual leave to help with your fatigue?

Could you consider requesting long term changes to your hours via a flexible working request?

I can use some of my annual leave but don't want to use too much at the beginning of the financial year, I need to keep some for appointments and hopefully a holiday this year.

Flexible working requests used to just be for parents but now apply to anyone. You can make a formal request to make a change to your working pattern and the policy identifies the timescales for response and reasons to reject it.

Have you considered whether changing your start time might help? One of my team struggled with early starts when first coming back to work so I scheduled him for later starts for a few weeks.

Another team member opted for 4 longer days with a day off on Wednesday to help them recover

I understand your desire to keep your holiday back, but if you need the time now in order to help you feel better it may be better to use them now to help