It Makes Us Sick

Return to work interviews after a period of sickness absence are fairly common in the education sector. ACAS say that the interview is an opportunity to welcome employees back to work, update them on any news, and discuss how to ease them back to work.

In their guide, Managing Attendance and Employee Turnover, they say the interview is an opportunity to tease out any concerns the employee may have, at work or home, and plan for the future. ACAS also stress that the interview should focus on positive outcomes and that the person conducting the interview should be sensitive and recognise the employee’s value to the organisation.

Does this sound like the sort of return to work interview you are familiar with? Certainly not in the case of one of our members. Attending what he thought was a routine return work interview, he was hijacked with a list of allegations about his competency. None of these issues were raised before his illness; and in nine years at the college, his performance had never been questioned. Not surprisingly, our member ended up being ill again.

It made our member sick, and such behaviour by a college certainly makes us sick.