Off sick and employer home visit?

Roobarb73

Jennifer J - I'd say after a week is pretty unreasonable.

To the OP -there is nothing wrong with your employer seeking to have a meeting with you, to perhaps discuss how they could facilitate your return to the workplace, or even just to see for themselves how likely your return is any time soon. If you don't want them to come to your home, would you be up to meeting someone for a coffee and a chat somewhere perhaps? Of course if you really don't want to they can't force you. However if you're hoping to be well enough to go back sometime, then it's going to be hard the longer you've been off, and perhaps even staying in regular-ish contact with them might make it easier to face when the time comes.

ictquizzer

Employers generally have policies which include "keeping in touch" as it is known where I work (public sector). I believe it is after 28 days in my company and then on an agreed frequency thereafter. I have had 2 colleagues who are good friends off longish term recently, one with after sudden illness and death of husband and other with stress-related physical illness. Both were offered home visits, both elected to meet in a neutral venue and both are glad they didn't cut themselves off from work by co-operating and feeling involved. They were both first to admit there was no harrassment or "checking up" of their illness or ability to work. Also, having spoken to their line managers, both of them although visiting through company obligation, were glad of the chance to visit them and genuinely see they were ok rather than at home cutting themselves off - plus to be able to reassure them that work isn't important in the grand scheme of things.

floss2

JenniferJ wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering what everyone classes as long term sickness?

I work Mon - Fri, and was signed off sick last Tuesday, (today being a week, Wednesday) I have now been off for just over a week.

HR want to come and do a home visit already (ie: tomorrow). Is this normal?

Thanks.

katkit wrote: »

had laparoscopic adhesiolysis been now got a infection been off work 5 weeks job is very physical someone coming to my house next week for a welfare visit can they do this only after 5 weeks got a sick note from doc yesyerday for 2 weeks feeling pressurized

I suggest that both the posters check their company sickness policy & procedure with regard to timescales for home visits, IMHO both seem a little soon, but depending upon how much sickness absence there has been in the past, the size of the company & the role it could be seen as the company exercising their duty of care to the employee.

Proc

Why do so many people insist on making harder work for everyone?

You're off work for a long period of time and your employer wants to come and have a chat with you? Boooohoooo waaaaaah that must be so stressful.

You can sit at a computer typing rubbish on forums but as soon as someone wants to come and have a chat with you it's all "oh I feel pressurized cry cry cry".

Seriously, stop being so pathetic. Have you really locked yourselves in your bedrooms with no human contact all this time?

Work shy saps, got something to hide?

paulwf

sarah1975uk wrote: »

That in MHO they should not be contacting me whilst im off work, they are putting additional pressure on me that i really dont need at the moment. I feel it far more appropriate to wait until i contact them when i am ready to return to work and then conduct a back to work meeting. TBH the way things are at the moment im not in a positon to give them answers on return to work or anything positive. So feel that the meeting at this stage is a waste of time.

OP you need to look at it from their side as well. 4 months is a long time to be off and yet you won't give them a timescale for returning and you don't want them to contact you.

I can fully understand it isn't the type of illness where you can predict the outcome. However they need to have some sort of indication as it looks like they need to get someone in to cover on a fixed term contract rather than a week to week temp. I don't think that it is unreasonable for an employer to want to discuss it.

They might not realise how stressed the situation is making you feel so why not tell them this so they can amend their plans? Opening some channels of communication and giving them some updates is only fair though, are we looking at another 2 months off, 6 months, a year?

jdturk

Proc wrote: »

Why do so many people insist on making harder work for everyone?

You're off work for a long period of time and your employer wants to come and have a chat with you? Boooohoooo waaaaaah that must be so stressful.

You can sit at a computer typing rubbish on forums but as soon as someone wants to come and have a chat with you it's all "oh I feel pressurized cry cry cry".

Seriously, stop being so pathetic. Have you really locked yourselves in your bedrooms with no human contact all this time?

Work shy saps, got something to hide?

harsh way of putting things but I agree with the first sentance, not the rest.

4 months IS long term sick though to whoever said its not, it has a detrimental effect on a business in terms of productivity, cost etc etc

And its far to easy for people to say their stress is work related because proving its not is hard, what might be deemed acceptable for 99% of people may not be deemed as acceptable for the 1% and thus the company gets into trouble if they have hired that 1%

Zazen999

floss2 wrote: »

I suggest that both the posters check their company sickness policy & procedure with regard to timescales for home visits, IMHO both seem a little soon, but depending upon how much sickness absence there has been in the past, the size of the company & the role it could be seen as the company exercising their duty of care to the employee.

Why have you posted on a 2 year old thread; in answer to another post from last April?

Uncertain

Alexandria wrote: »

Having conducted home visits in my previous role I would say try not to get stressed about it. We always did it as a way of showing support. We tried not to discuss too much that was about them returning unless they indicated they were nearing feeling ready. If we did discuss return to work it would be along the lines of how we could accomdate them best..phased return, mentor system etc
What we would do is provide them with updates so that when they thought about work there wasn't a huge knowledge gap that made it seem more stressful. Often we'd have a card from the rest of the team to provide (if one hadn't already been sent).
Also we could arrange a neutral meeting if someone didn't want it to happen at their home address.

So you could have done all that by post?

Apart from snooping and coming to an unqualified medical opinion about their health what did you hope to achieve?

When I was off sick long term the last thing I would have wanted was this sort of intrusion. Fortunately my doctor well understood that and wrote a comment on the sick note to the effect of leave my patient alone!

Uncertain

Proc wrote: »

You can sit at a computer typing rubbish on forums but as soon as someone wants to come and have a chat with you it's all "oh I feel pressurized cry cry cry".

When it comes to typing rubbish you are in a class of your own. :mad:

Takoda

I thought everyone got 6 months paid sick leave. <shrugs>