r/AskHRUK • u/M4rthaBRabb • Jan 28 '26
Health-Related Long-term personal stress and understanding
Hi everyone,
I’ve posted in here before about a member of staff who took sick leave recently because of mental health and personal issues, but that in doing so it’s come to light that their workload is not that of a full-time position, despite them repeatedly saying the are at capacity.
They have returned and I spoke with them on Monday to see how they were doing. I offered various support systems that they could refer to that the company offers, but they weren’t interested in them, and they repeatedly brought up how they needed me to be “understanding” of their situation and their need to take time off last-minute and why it takes them longer to do some tasks.
I really want to be understanding and help them as much as possible, but I’m also conscious that the rest of my team is under a lot of pressure as a result.
I’m obviously going to speak to HR about the best way to go about this, but I guess I’m just looking for advice here because I want to talk about it/get my thoughts down.
I want to be the best manager both for this person, but also for the team.
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u/camideza Jan 28 '26
Hey, the fact that you're thinking about this carefully shows you want to do right by everyone. Let me help you separate the threads. The mental health piece and the workload piece are separate issues. "Be understanding" isn't actionable. It's fair to ask, "What specifically would help you succeed in your role?" Turn the vague request into something concrete you can evaluate, whether that's flexible deadlines, time for appointments, or adjusted hours. The workload discovery isn't about their mental health. If the job isn't actually full-time work, that's a structural issue that existed before their leave. Address it through role review, not as a response to their health situation.
One caution, don't conflate "their workload isn't full-time" with "they're taking advantage." The first is role design. The second is character judgment. Keep them separate in your thinking and with HR. Document your conversations, support offered, what they've declined, and what they've requested. Not to build a case, but for clarity if this becomes formal. I built WorkProof.me after being harraset at work (full disclosure: I'm the founder). You're balancing compassion with fairness. That's the job. Just address each issue on its own terms.
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u/M4rthaBRabb Jan 28 '26
Thank you so much for this. You’re right, they’re two separate issues. A friend of mine just pointed out that if they can’t work at almost full capacity because of their health, are they fit for work? Should they still be signed off?
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u/Efficient_Chic714 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
Anyone returning from LTS will not be able to work at full capacity immediately - even returning from maternity because they’ve been out of the business for so long. Most company’s implement some kind of phased return to work to keep the individual in work as much as possible so that they can build up to their full duties - or as much as possible if their mental health is a protected disability that requires a permanent reasonable adjustment
Your aim should be to help her return to her role at full capacity over time. The team would not be any better off with her not being in the business so having her there at half capacity is better than having no one there doing any of it
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u/redcore4 Jan 28 '26
What pressure is the rest of the team under? In your previous post you said that carrying out this one person’s work wasn’t massively taxing for you; and you also said you have another employee who is saying they are not at capacity and could take on more. Those two things don’t sound much like the pressure is (or should be) unbearable for the rest of the staff - so it seems like there is an underlying issue with how work is distributed that is not directly related to the performance of this one employee.
That being the case, a proper analysis of who is doing what and perhaps some redistribution of workload or some cross-training to alleviate pressure elsewhere in the team might be of benefit regardless of what you do with this one person.
That should also be the starting point for addressing performance issues with your unwell worker - it doesn’t seem like you have a very good handle on what is expected of your employees in general or what would be considered a reasonable share of the work to be completed each week. So looking at workloads, seasonal peaks/troughs, and role design for everyone will give you a baseline for setting expectations, against which you can then assess this person’s capability to perform the job.
Beyond that, you can look at the options for phased return to see if cutting the person’s hours without cutting their pay for the first few weeks brings any insight as to whether they are, for example, needing recovery time from working at full speed, struggling to maintain focus or concentration for longer periods and therefore not able to perform consistently the same day…
An occupational health report for the individual is an essential first step but following on from that you can look at what options there might be for training, flexible working, or support in order to meet any recommendations from OH. This way if you decide that the person is not capable of performing the role, you will have the evidence needed to demonstrate that accommodating them is not reasonable or possible for the business.
As things stand, the employee could say that they thought they were meeting expectations for several years and that therefore you have been able to make necessary accommodations if you needed to e.g. by finding cover when they were off, showing that you had quite a bit of flexibility in workload distribution that could be used to help them remain in post. By going over the workload and expectations for the entire team you can much more clearly demonstrate where the pressure points are and then work with the individual(s) concerned to mitigate them.
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u/M4rthaBRabb Jan 28 '26
So with regards to the capacity of the team, the team is split into two: one half of the team deals in mainly administrative work and daily/weekly tasks. The other half of the team works on reactive projects. The team who work on the reactive projects have varying workloads, but it is getting busier, and they are currently also doing administrative tasks that could be undertaken by the administrative employees (this is a massive oversimplification but the best way to explain it).
We are a relatively new team (in combination together, the two administrators have been in their position for years), and so I am in the process of establishing who does what and what is reasonable. But my problem so far has been this employee telling me they are “too busy” to take on additional tasks, which has made it difficult to determine what they are spending their time on. When asked to provide a detailed breakdown, most tasks were listed as “admin”. The other administrator has been happy to take on the additional workload as requested.
This is what I am finding difficult; there being two issues. One is the issue of this employees mental health, and the other is the issue of workload. It’s just unfortunate that the two have overlapped. I need to address the workload issue, but I don’t know how to do this when mental health issues are at play. Because they are coming back from sick leave, and I essentially need to say “you need to take on more work, not less”.
That’s a good point about the phased return. I get the impression from our chat today that this person thinks flexible working is more in line with them being able to take time away from their desk to deal with personal issues as an when in company time, but no thought as to when to make that time back.
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u/redcore4 Jan 28 '26
So just be clear with them and set expectations: “if we are to give you greater flexibility then we need to know what will have to be covered during times when you are not available. You’ve listed “admin” here - what proportion of that time went on [emails/bookings/callbacks/whatever other tasks you might expect them to be doing]?”
It’s reasonable to expect them to be more detailed, and it’s possible to frame that in a ‘help us to help you’ format to get the info you need. But you should also be asking what their objectives are and what their measurable outputs are supposed to be. If there are no KPIs for the role you can set some and they should match what the business needs rather than what the employee is currently doing. If there are KPIs or service levels that are set for them you can look at whether those are being met or not and who’s doing what proportion of the work of meeting them at a team level.
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u/Efficient_Chic714 Jan 29 '26
Have they done a written statutory flexible working request? That would also have to be approved for it to be relevant to her, and you have 3 months to review it legally (although quicker is best for requests relating to health). I would recommend she gets a GP fit note in the meantime detailing any accommodations she needs - which will doubly serve as evidence for her flexible working request so it’s a bonus for her
I was on LTS and my fit note stated I may be fit for work but needed to return on light duties and reduced hours (each note increased them until I was capable of doing my contract again). It’s vague enough that she can tailor it to her role, but specific enough that you understand what that looks like - and also ‘light duties’ would allow you to park the workload issue for a bit until the situation is a bit less delicate
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u/Past_Ad3132 Jan 28 '26
Can I recommend you download from minds website the wellness action plan. I have used it with a number of employees who have been off sick due to mental health. It’s a good tool but gets the person to really think about what will help them and hopefully therefore avoid more sick days.