Returning to Work Means Returning to Relationships
But where working relationships have become strained, a successful return often depends on more than clinical recovery and practical adjustments. It also depends on rebuilding understanding between the people who will be working together again.As a workplace mediator, executive coach and Senior Consultant…
Sustainable Return to Work: Policies, Practices, and Accommodations
AbstractSupporting people to return to work and stay in work has never been more important. The number of people who are not participating in work due to ill health has risen since the pandemic, with consequences for individuals, organizations, and society. Several contributing factors have been identified…
Supporting Sustainable Return to Work in Large Organizations: A Cluster Randomised Feasibility Trial of a Multi-Level Intervention
Long-term sickness absence is a growing public health issue, reducing workforce participation and widening health inequalities. Effective interventions must address both health and workplace factors to enable not only return-to-work but sustained employment. This study evaluated the feasibility of a…
Policy Brief: Returning and staying in work – Early evidence to inform return-to-work policy and practice
Long term sickness remains one of the UK’s most pressing workforce challenges, contributing to rising economic inactivity. Many employers lack practical, evidence-informed tools to help people to return to and remain in work. Our programme implemented and evaluated two multicomponent return-to-work interventions,…
Using intervention mapping to develop evidence-based toolkits that support workers on long-term sick leave and their managers
BackgroundManaging long-term sickness absence is challenging in countries where employers and managers have the main responsibility to provide return to work support, particularly for workers with poor mental health. Whilst long-term sick leave and return to work frameworks and guidance exist for employers,…
Supporting workers with long covid
Long COVID is a complex syndrome that affects many people previously infected with COVID-19. It has major implications for the workforce, contributing to sickness absence, impaired productivity and job loss. Karina Nielsen and Jo Yarker explain how a framework that combines support from managers, occupational…
Protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of a multicomponent sustainable return to work IGLOo intervention
Long-term sickness costs businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) approximately £7 billion per annum. Most long-term sickness absences are attributed to common mental health conditions, which are also highly prevalent in people with acute or musculoskeletal health conditions. This study will pilot…
The recovery and return to work experiences of workers with long COVID
The severity and longevity of long COVID that has also affected the working population, raises the important question, how organisations can support workers with long COVID to stay and thrive in the workplace. In the present study, we used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the lived…
Thrivers, survivors or exiteers: A longitudinal, interpretative phenomenological analysis of the post‐return‐to‐work journeys for workers with common mental disorders
The research on return to work for workers with common mental disorders has primarily focused on the pre-return journey. Relapses and recurrent sick leaves are prevalent and call for research on how we can support workers stay and thrive at work after long-term sickness absence due to common mental disorders.…
Employees’ experience of supervisor behaviour – a support or a hindrance on their return-to-work journey with a CMD? A qualitative study
Supervisors play an important role in supporting employees to return to work following sickness absence due to common mental disorders; stress, anxiety and depression, however, employees may not always feel supported. We examined employees’ perceptions of their supervisors’ attitudes and behaviours pre,…