You shouldn’t contact an employee when they’re off sick

Nope, not true.

There’s a common misconception that if an employee is absent from work, particularly as a result of stress of mental health issues, that you shouldn’t contact them.

In fact you can make things worse by not staying in regular communication with someone.

When an employee is absent from work they have fewer people around them than normal. That means fewer people to socialise with, fewer people to check on their welfare and fewer people and fewer people to support them.

So regular check-ins from a line manager or personnel manager can work wonders. It helps to target isolation, anxiety and reminds the employee that you care for them.

In instances of employee disputes, it’s also particularly important so that you can minimise any harm to the relationship between employer and employee and begin to repair any damage that has been done already.

If they have a GP fit note, they should remain absent

Nope, that’s not always true either.

A fit note as an advisory note, based on an 8-10 minute conversation with a medical professional (usually a GP) acting as an advocate for the employee.

They aren’t an advocate for you as the employer, nor are they conducting an assessment into the specific job role and an individual’s functional ability in relation to that role.

So if you have any concerns at all over the helpfulness of the GP fit note, you don’t need to take this as an absolute truth. You can question it, you can seek a second opinion, and you can refer the employee for an independent occupational health assessment which will provide a lot more detail and advice.

Similarly the employee themselves needn’t stick to the GP fit note religiously. The NHS also provide clear guidance on this – if they feel ready to return to work sooner, and you’re also agreeable to this, go for it.

An employee shouldn’t return to work until they’re 100% ready

Wrong again, sorry.

The NHS are also very clear about this. In the same way an employee doesn’t have to remain absent to the end of their fit note, they don’t necessarily need to be 100% fit before returning to work.

It may be that an employee continues to have health issues, but these no longer affect an individual’s ability to work. It’s also entirely possible that for the short-term, whilst the employee is recovering, adjustments could be made to ensure a return to work sooner.

Often you will want to take occupational health guidance on this, but some adjustments could include amended duties, a phased return, an adjustment to working hours or additional support in completing tasks.

It’s usually best to encourage an employee back to work sooner rather than later. Work is good for us – it’s healthy and sociable. The longer an employee is absent from work, the less likely it is that they will return at all, and the harder the return to work will be for them, so minimising length of absence is usually best for all involved.

If someone has a disability, we have to make adjustments for them

You guessed it, this one isn’t true either.

When we talk about disability, we’re talking about whether someone has a disability that would mean they’re covered by the Equality Act (2010). This is the same legislation that protects employees against discrimination on the grounds of race, age and gender amongst other things.

As an employer if someone is covered by the Equality Act you would be expected to know about this. Legally you’re also obliged to provide “reasonable adjustments” for an employee who is covered. Making a referral to occupational health will be able to provide you advice on both whether someone is likely to be covered, and what adjustments you may wish to consider, but it’s for you to determine whether these adjustments are reasonable. This means they need to be helpful, affordable, practical and safe – if not then they aren’t reasonable and you aren’t obliged to make them.