Returning to Work from Stress Leave

vby

Hi,

Advice or suggestions please.

I have been with my (large) company for six years. About three years ago we agreed to reduce my working hours to 25 hours per week as I needed more time away from work. Due to work pressures and the requirement of my role to hit certain deadlines (without fail) I have been working increasing amounts of overtime to the point that I have been effectively working full time again. I have been paid for this overtime but I have been getting very stressed about it all because my manager keeps increasing my workload despite my protestations that I do not have the time available to complete the work.

About two months ago I was at my lowest point. I had a family member in hospital, I was working loads of overtime that I didn't want to do, and my stress was coming out as a short temper. I ended up losing my temper at a colleague (who didn't deserve it), and I left the office for a while (it was lunchtime). When I got back I apologised to my colleague (he accepted my apology) and I started work again. I was then taken to one side by my supervisor who told me I had been unprofessional and that he would be reporting me to my manager. Anyway, I ended up getting a formal written warning about the incident, despite having not a single formal or informal disciplinary incident any time in the previous six years. This tipped me over the edge as I thought it was so unjust and I have been on sick leave ever since.

Both my GP and the company appointed doctor have confirmed I am suffering from stress, and have suggested that a phased return to work, slowly building up my hours would be the best plan. I have no problem with this plan, but I have no desire to work for my manager again. I feel that she contributed to my current problem and that returning back to the same position, albeit with reduced hours, will just get me all stressed out again. I have requested a transfer to any other department but I am told there are no positions available within the company.

I have been seeing a counsellor and we are working through my issues and I am getting a lot better. I don't wish to leave the company and I want to get back to work, but I don't want to end up again like I was a couple of months ago.

Do I just hand my notice in?

Uncertain

vby wrote: »

Do I just hand my notice in?

No!

Well not unless you have a more suitable job to go to.

If you do not feel the type of phased return you are being offered is workable then I suggest you talk to your GP again.

His "fit notes" will say "may be fit for work subject to certain adjustments". If the firm cannot accommodate these adjustments then they must treat you as sick.

Long term they can take steps towards terminating your employment on capability grounds.

However, this takes time to do properly and all this time you are getting paid AND accumulating holiday which they will have to pay you for if you are still off sick along with whatever notice you are entitled to.

Also, to protect themselves against any possible claim the firm may well offer you a compromise agreement where you agree to go quietly in exchange for some money and an agreed reference.

You lose all of this is you resign.

Googlewhacker

Uncertain wrote: »

No!

Well not unless you have a more suitable job to go to.

If you do not feel the type of phased return you are being offered is workable then I suggest you talk to your GP again.

His "fit notes" will say "may be fit for work subject to certain adjustments". If the firm cannot accommodate these adjustments then they must treat you as sick.

Long term they can take steps towards terminating your employment on capability grounds.

However, this takes time to do properly and all this time you are getting paid AND accumulating holiday which they will have to pay you for if you are still off sick along with whatever notice you are entitled to.

Also, to protect themselves against any possible claim the firm may well offer you a compromise agreement where you agree to go quietly in exchange for some money and an agreed reference.

You lose all of this is you resign.

They do not have to pay more than SSP though if they cannot accomodate unless your contract states otherwise.

Stress may have been a contributory factor but put the boot on the other foot, imagine if someone lost their temper with yourself and then they didn't have anything done and it was swept under the carpet.

It sounds like one of those damned if you do and damned if you don't situations for the employer, if they didn't act the other employee would have taken umbridge and if they did act you took offence.

bigsooze

TBH if this happened at my work we would endeavour to get you and your manager talking things through to attempt to rebuild the relationship - it's got to be give + take on both sides, and it sounds as if at least some of this situation arose because your manager did not understand or was not listening to the impact they were having on you. As a company they should be attempting to support you back to your current role, and whilst they can consider other options for you if there are no vacancies they cannot create one for you.

Where I've supported people back to work from stress, often when they return to a different role it feels like a good solution to begin with but because you haven't actually tackled the root causes of your stress, there's not always a sense of closure. What if you bumped into your manager again? What if they changed roles and you ended up in their team again? I know it sounds difficult but actually the best thing you could do would be try and work through it, see how you get on, and then decide whether you want to stay or not.

Sambucus_Nigra

What's Stress Leave?

teabelly

If you do return you have to be more robust about working *only your contracted hours*. DO NOT DO ANY OVERTIME. This is mainly what caused the problem. There isn't a lack of time more a lack of priorities so your manager will have to choose which tasks are more important. Others that are less important get left and may not be done. Tough. If there is more work then more staff need to be employed or tasks need to be dropped. Managers often won't listen to things when they don't want to hear them especially if it means they have to act in a different way.

If she starts on you for not finishing stuff or wanting overtime then put in a grievance immediately. It's the good natured people that go off with stress. The ones that tell their managers to bog off (in the nicest most tactful way), don't.

CFC

Get your doctor to put a cap on your working hours on the fit note. This means that they then cannot force you to work the overtime.

AnonymousForObviousReason

First don't hand notice in, it'll feel good for about 1/2 a day then you'll realise it wasn't a good move.

Second you have to remember that when people are answering they only have the information you've typed to go on. If I or someone else says something that misses the point or concentrates on the wrong issue please write back saying what it was and filling in the missing details. I say this because I feel there is something missing.

Have you discussed your aversion to your manager with your councillor? From what you posted the manager doesn't seem to have done too much wrong apart from not be sensitive to your needs. They dumped a load of work on you (not uncommon) and disciplined you for an outburst. Don't get rid of the councillor until they say you're ready.

You may not like it but the supervisor did the right thing by reporting you. From what you said the manager also had to discipline you to some degree. Without knowing what your outburst was it's difficult to say how justified a formal warning was, but anything that was physically threatening, verbally over the top (racist, some swear words, threatening violence, personal, etc) means you were lucky it was just a formal warning not a final one or even dismissal. You have to consider the company needs to protect itself, it has a legal responsibility to protect it's employees from abuse - this is down to 3rd parties like a sexist delivery driver.

The company has to make reasonable adjustments for you, not being able to put you under a different manager because they disciplined you isn't one of them. The best you can do is go and see your manager. Say that you thought his decision to go to a formal written warning was harsh and although you don't want to rake over old ground you'd like to know the reasons for it - how you see the incident and how others saw it could surprise you, especially as you spoke of the stress causing you to lose your temper, this could have just been seen as a consistent behaviour trait they had to deal with.

Also speak to your manager about your hours, explain that you're on reduced hours for a reason and for the short term you only want to do those until you can cope with more. Then you'll be happy to discuss increasing them when the need arises but only for a short stint at a time as he's seen the result of sustained pressure. You need to give some flexibility (morally if not legally).

Do apologise again to the person you had a go at, they may be feeling guilty about what happened to you. Let them know it was nothing to do with them (and you won't do it again if you can promise that) and you're dealing with your stuff in a better way.

A final point (on an overly long post) generally it's in an employees interest to get back to work fairly quickly after 8 weeks (be it just on limited hours or for a few days a week), after this you'll start to feel more disconnected and the pressure will start to build up in your mind about going back.

Wyndham

If you lost your temper, and this was the first time, and you then apologised and it was accepted, I think as a manager I'd adopt a common sense attitude and just give you a verbal warning and check it was sorted (i.e. the other person may have accepted the apology to your face, but not actually been happy after all). To get a written warning for the way you've described it seems a bit over the top to me. Are we missing some more information here (please be honest, it helps us to help you if we can).

Good luck by the way, from a fellow sufferer. So much of your post took me back 18 months...... and I'm now fine and it's very much water under the bridge, but I do know how awful it feels at the time.