Employees take time off work for all sorts of reasons, and sick days cost employers lots of productivity and wasted wages every year. When a member of staff goes off work long term this becomes a real problem. Other colleagues have to cover for them and this can become stressful if they take an extra workload for a prolonged period. You also have the problems of poor customer service because clients suddenly don't have their contact at your office any more. Others have to pick up tasks they may not know much about and they may feel less supported. You also have to continue paying the sick employee's wages, when they aren't actually bringing in any money for your company.

Why do people go off work for long periods of time? If they have a physical illness this is understandable as long as the illness lasts, but afterwards it can be because of a mental health problem. Mental health is often misunderstood because it's not visible, but the effects on work can be catastrophic. People who become depressed following an illness aren't likely to want to go back to work, so even if you've kept a job open for them it might be in vain. The longer someone spends away from work, particularly if it's mental-health related, the less chance there is of them ever coming back.

Employers actually have a legal obligation to help employees back into work. This is because the reason for absence is treated as a disability and it would be discriminatory not to provide reasonable assistance. This could be anything from letting them work different hours so that they can attend therapy sessions, to providing other tasks they can perform. For example, if an employee is off work because a particular task gave them stress, they could do something else instead.

It can be quite difficult to know how far to intervene, especially if the employee suffers from a mental health problem. Generally you should keep in touch but without being intrusive - don't pester them to come back but let them know that you're concerned and will provide help if they want it. It's very important to identify the specific issues that are affecting the employee, because then you can try to overcome them and remove whatever obstacles are stopping them from returning. If necessary, employers have a duty to provide access to services like therapy that would help the employee to overcome their difficulties.

Apart from the legal obligation, there are other reasons why it's better to retain existing employees. Firstly you don't have to spend money trying to hire someone else, potentially having the post empty for a while before someone fills it. Your sick employee might have a lot of skill and knowledge of the job, so it's better to get them to come back even if it's just to train their colleagues. Removing the obstacles to work is also a far more productive idea than just waiting for the employee to overcome them alone - it shows that you're constructive as an employer and means that you also try every avenue before going down the termination route if all else fails.



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