Off work due to stress and no sensible return to work plan

andyhm

Hi everyone

My wife has been off work for 5 weeks with work related stress and is now looking to return to work but lets go back a bit in time...
She had an admin/office sales role but was kind of forced into a field sales role as her job was amalgamated into the admin team and it was a case of take this job or take redundancy. Field sales with monthly targets and high pressure created the stress that led to her illness and missing targets a few times has been a major stress factor. It's a shame as she is good at the job and her customers love her.
We contacted the company and asked what plan they had for a return to work expecting some kind of phased return as her GP stated that they have a legal obligation to help and make the return to work as smooth as possible - they had no plan and seemed surprised that we expected one!
We contacted her GP again and after some discussion decided that we should put forward a proposal ourselves. This we duly did proposing working 2 or 3 days a week for the first few weeks, reducing sales targets for the short term, working from home when doing planning work and basically easing her back into work and gradually building back up again.
The company's response is to dismiss all of our suggestions except the reduced targets and they recommend that she return to work full time from day 1 - no phased return at all. This has loaded plenty of stress back onto her and to me seems likely to put her back to square one again if she was to return under these conditions.
Surely there must be a more sensible way forward?
Anybody had the same problem or has anybody experienced a better solution?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

bluenoseam

Be careful they may look to terminate based on no clear return to work plan, they offered a solution, you rejected it, they do not see your version as a fully reasonable suggestion.

pinkshoes

If it was the targets that were stressing her out, then surely returning full time with reduced targets is an excellent idea?

(i.e. it wasn't the full time bit she had the issue with, it was the targets...)

qazitory

Have they got a sickness policy you could look at?

kelpie35

The company has offered to reduce the targets so I see no reason why your OH could not return full time as you have stated that the targets caused her to be stressed.

I would be very careful if your OH still wants to be employed by this company and not make demands of a phased return to work.

andyhm

Yes, they offered a solution but its just a full blown return to work from day 1 - i was looking for a more gradual return so she could build up her confidence again

andyhm

Yes the reduced targets are a great idea but stress knocks you for 6 and a gradual return allows her to ease herself back in without ending up back where we started - plenty of people we have talked to about stress related issues have said take small steps and you will make progress - this is not a small step and we don't want to be taking backward steps

andyhm

Good question on the sickness policy - we are onto that right now and waiting for HR to email a copy

zzzLazyDaisy

They are not obliged to make any adjustments at all to her contractual duties (unless her condition meets the criteria for a disability, which doesn't appear to be the case). They have agreed to reduce her targets but if that isn't acceptable, she is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If she can't do the job, she may need to look for other, more suitable, employment.

andyhm

Yes alternative employment is a possibility but easier said than done these days.
GP has this afternoon signed her off again which takes the pressure off for a while but the problem doesn't go away in the long term.

thelittlestranger

Hi OP, firstly, I would like to express my sympathy. I'm in a very similar situation and have been off of work for anxiety and depression since July this year. It's very daunting the idea of going back to the potential pressures that made her ill in the first place, and I completely understand that.

I will be having a gradual/phased return to work. The way this was put in place is by speaking to an Occupational Therapist. Does your wife's company have an HR department she can contact to ask if they have any Occupational Health advisors?

If this isn't the case, does the company have it's own advice service? My company have access to counselling/legal advice and they're contactable 24/7.

If you need any more info, or just fancy a chat, feel free to PM me. I completely understand how your wife has lost her confidence but she should be very proud of actively trying to get back to work, whether that's for 1 hour or 8.