Managing an employee with stress
Here, you'll gain insight into your 5 tasks as a leader when a stress-related sick leave lands on your desk. This knowledge will help you lead your employee who's on stress-related sick leave safely back to the workplace.
01: INITIATE CONTACT AND MAINTAIN IT
Before reaching out to your employee, it can be a good idea to seek advice from a fellow leader, HR, or an external party. This can help you gain an overview of the situation, enabling you to be present for your employee.
During the initial contact, both you and the employee might have various assumptions about what caused the sick leave and what it will mean for the employee.
However, in the first conversation, the goal is neither to find the explanation nor the solution. Instead, it's about taking the first small step towards ongoing communication. You can achieve this by following the structure below. The most important thing is to remain curious and open to the employee's experiences.
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Inquire about your employee: "How are you feeling today?"
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Signal your understanding, your presence, and your desire for an early dialogue when the timing is right, so you can find a good solution for the employee to return to work: "When the timing is right for you, I hope we can talk so we can find a good solution for you to come back to us."
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Ask what you can do right here and now: "What can I do to help you right here and now?"
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Highlight the options for professional help (such as health insurance). Recommend that your employee visits a doctor: "What do you think about using the health insurance or visiting your own doctor?"
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Reassure the employee that their tasks are being taken care of: "Your work tasks are being handled, and you just need to focus on yourself and getting better."
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Depending on the employee's condition, you can ask if there are tasks that are more important or challenging than others: "Are there any tasks or client relationships that are weighing on you, or that you think it would be important for me to pay special attention to?"
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Agree on a new time for the next contact – possibly just a loose timeframe, such as in a week: "When would it suit you for us to talk again?"
Informal visits to the workplace
When the employee is ready for it, it can be beneficial to make a brief visit to the workplace. This can have a positive effect in maintaining the belief in a return and the experience of still being part of the community. Furthermore, it is useful that there have been some interactions with the workplace since the sick leave, especially when the employee eventually returns.
Pre-arrange:
- Will you meet the employee at the reception, or how will you handle the arrival?
- Which room should you sit in?
- Is there a specific colleague the employee would like to have present?
- Would the employee like to greet others or just stick to your meeting?
- How long should the meeting last - what is manageable for your employee?
Inquire about the employee:
- How does it feel to be back here again?
- Is there something important for you that we should do or discuss while you are here?
- How have you experienced your journey since your sick leave?
- When should we schedule our next conversation, and should it be by phone, email, or another physical meeting here?
02: CREATE A PLAN FOR RETURNING
When your employee is ready to return to work, you should together establish a plan for their return.
This plan should cover practical matters such as the number of hours and which days of the week. Additionally, it's important to specify which types of tasks the employee can handle in the initial period. A partial sick leave arrangement can be useful if it's aligned between the leader and the employee, and communicated to the rest of the team.
Which tasks can the employee handle?
When creating a plan for the employee's return, it's crucial to have a clear and shared understanding of which types of tasks the employee can handle in the initial period. You can categorize the employee's tasks into three color-coded categories: green, yellow, and red tasks.
If you omit making this decision, the choice is left to the employee – a choice they may not be ready to handle immediately after returning from a stress-related sick leave.
Therefore, it's important to have a dialogue about which tasks the employee perceives as green, yellow, and red, as you likely have different perspectives on this. In your conversation, it's essential to respect the employee's viewpoint since this determines whether the task truly belongs in the green, yellow, or red category.
The goal isn't necessarily to assign only green tasks to the employee. Instead, it's more important to adjust the mix of tasks in the different color categories to match the employee's current condition. Initially, the employee might have mostly green tasks and a couple of yellow tasks. As the employee begins to experience more balance, the plan can be adjusted and potentially include new yellow/red tasks.
The template below can assist in categorizing the tasks. However, your conversation should focus on the specific tasks themselves.
Checklist for the Gradual Return Plan
What should be included in a return-to-work plan when the employee is facing a gradual return to work?
The list below helps you ensure that you cover all the relevant areas in your dialogue with your employee. Feel free to bring the template and look together at which tasks can fit into the different categories.
Remember that you should adjust the plan continuously - a rule of thumb is usually weekly or every 14 days in your 1:1 dialogue.
Example of a Gradual Return Plan
Work Hours: When should the employee work? How many hours and at what times during the day? Which days of the week? It can be useful to start with two weekly days off, for example, Tuesday and Thursday.
Work Tasks: What types of tasks should the employee perform? Here you can advantageously use the overview of green, yellow, and red tasks.
Relationships: In addition to specific work tasks, there are likely to be various relationships that the employee needs to deal with upon their return. It's a good idea to identify which relationships might require extra resources for the employee and where potential challenges might arise.
Physical Location: Many employees with stress-related issues can be hypersensitive to noise, light, or other intense sensory stimuli. If the employee usually works in an open-plan office, consider the possibility of providing a separate room that the employee can use for breaks as needed. Perhaps incorporating remote workdays could also be considered?
Information: Who needs to know what? And who should convey the information? Make sure that you and your employee have coordinated what will be communicated to the team and possibly to the organization. For the plan to work effectively, it's crucial that the rest of the team knows when and for what they can rely on the person.
Follow-up: It's essential to systematically follow up since the plan is unlikely to be perfect from the start. How well did the plan fit the reality the employee returned to? What adjustments need to be made?
03: FOLLOW UP AND ADJUST THE PLAN
After the employee has gradually returned, it's important to conduct systematic follow-up conversations. As a general rule, the earlier the return, the more frequent the follow-up conversations. Often, starting with weekly meetings makes sense.
You can advantageously plan ahead for the next 5-6 weeks so that both you and the employee have them in your calendars. The conversations can last 20-30 minutes, but make sure to allocate sufficient time in your own calendar.
Agree on the timing with your employee. For example, some may prefer the conversation to take place towards the end of the week, while others may not want an early morning meeting if they are still experiencing sleep difficulties.
Follow-up conversation structure
The template on the right can help you target the dialogue so that you cover the tasks that most affect the employee.
However, it's also important to inquire about how the employee feels about their collegial relationships after their return.
The employee can advantageously prepare some of the elements in advance.
During the actual conversation, record the agreements that are made. These will be evaluated at the next follow-up and adjusted as needed.
You may have different experiences and reflections about what the employee might be ready for. Remember to maintain your curiosity about the employee's perspective. This way, you ensure that it becomes a good and meaningful plan.
04: ONGOING DIALOGUE
When the employee is back at full strength, it's important to have ongoing well-being discussions to ensure that the patterns present before the sick leave do not repeat themselves. At the same time, you can maintain a proactive approach to the employee's well-being by exploring what contributes to it - even when things are going well.
The 6 Paths to Well-being
For this purpose, you can, for example, use 'the 6 paths to well-being', as research clearly illustrates that these are crucial for thriving at work.
Which ones are most important for each individual employee will vary from person to person and over time. Therefore, investigate what is most important for your employee right now.
SEE MORE ABOUT THE 6 PATHS TO WELL-BEING HERE
05: REMEMBER THE REST OF THE TEAM
How does the absence of the employee on sick leave affect the team? The other employees are likely dependent on the outputs of the employee on sick leave. Therefore, you need to create an overview of how to prioritize your and the team's resources.
Ask each member of the team to list the 3 most important tasks of the employee on sick leave, to ensure that they or others (such as colleagues, partners, clients) do not get delayed. Also, inquire about the reasons why these particular 3 tasks are the most important – what are the consequences if these chosen tasks are postponed?
- Insert the information in the quadrant to the right. This will provide you with an overview of how to prioritize your and the team's resources.
- Furthermore, discussing this model with your own manager can be beneficial to ensure that you both have a shared understanding of task priorities.
Need leadership guidance?
Consultation with an AS3 leadership consultant is included in your company's subscription to the EVI well-being survey.
Write directly to Trivselsraadgiver@as3.dk - and we'll call you back.
