Spectra HR was recently recommended to a company in the construction sector who had become increasingly concerned about one of their team who had been off for several weeks following a life changing diagnosis. His site manager was no longer in regular contact, and the employee had removed themselves from the team WhatsApp group. Head Office were receiving fit notes but really had no idea how the employee was doing or where they were up to with treatment.
When we first spoke to the Company, they were worried about making contact, concerned that it wouldn’t be appropriate, there were worried about harassing the employee and were not sure what to say, for fear of asking the wrong question, and upsetting the employee. The employee is in his 60s and had previously talked about retiring but had raised concerns with his employer when they had followed up this line of conversation before he went off sick, saying he felt they were trying to push him out, and their relationship had become fractious before his diagnosis.
That’s where Spectra HR came in. We reached out to the employee and arranged a welfare chat with him. He was pleased to hear from us and so relieved to have someone to speak to outside of the internal management structure about how he was feeling. He had been upset that his contractual sick pay had expired and was now only receiving SSP and still felt that the Company were trying to push them out. The main reason he felt isolated, was because no-one had been in touch with him since he had submitted his last fit note, some 3 months earlier.
We explained that the Company had actually paid him over and above his contractual sick pay entitlement but unfortunately were unable to continue which is why he had reverted to SSP. We also explained that the Company hadn’t been in touch as they didn’t want to appear as though they were mithering him and wanted to give him time to get through his treatment without worrying about work, which he fully understood.
Since then, the employer is now in regular contact with their employee. They are fully in the picture with regards to what their employee is going through, their treatment, prognosis and the great news is that the employee is feeling less isolated and the relationship between both parties has significantly improved. The employer is also aware of the process they need to follow with regards to managing a situation where an employee is off on long-term sick and defined as disabled due to his condition, how to manage his annual leave and the need to consider reasonable adjustments should he be able to return to work.
The Company’s response to our support “Thank you so much, we’d never had turned this corner without you. We’re now in regular contact with him and the relationship has improved greatly, we are better informed and less anxious about saying or doing the wrong thing.”
To discuss how Spectra can support your business, contact us