Did you know that along with anxiety and depression, stress makes up almost half of all work related illnesses? Stress is a huge deal in our employment. It’s not always the work that affects us. It can be issues with colleagues, bosses, harassment, a toxic work space and other factors encroaching into our mindsets. If your stress is starting to affect your work life, you can get get signed off work. Let’s have a look at how to get signed off work with stress.
Mental Health Matters
Firstly, mental health and wellbeing matters. Don’t ever be embarrassed if you’re struggling. Some of the strongest looking and most successful people you might ever meet, have mental health problems of their own. Just because you are feeling stressed doesn’t mean you have failed. This is a speed bump in your journey, but one that needs the right attention and support.
A Duty Of Care
Secondly, both employer and employee have a duty of care towards one another. Employees need to be open and honest about what is going on. Whilst employers need to see the severity of the situation and not downplay it at all. It has to be treated like any other form of sickness. There needs to be a support system put in place within the business in order to help employees who are suffering with stress. Having a commitment to the wellbeing of your staff would be seen as a huge positive.
How Can Stress Show Itself
Thirdly, stress can manifest itself in different ways. There is an entire list of conditions you could have which have erupted due to stress. These include insomnia, headaches, low mood, irritability and struggling to concentrate. If you, as an employee are feeling any of these, talk to your employer. If you, as an employer, notice these conditions in an employee, schedule a meeting with them. Open and honest communication is critical.
A GP Note
Employees can produce a note themselves for the first seven days off work. This would be a self-certification of their sickness by providing a work-related stress sick note. After those seven days, a doctors note would be required. During that first week, it’s well worth speaking to a doctor anyway, even if you’re considering going back to the office after seven days. They can help you manage stress and might sign you off for another week or fortnight. This could be to help your recovery or allow any prescribed medication to kick in.
Employee Rights
It’s important to remember that the employee has rights. Whilst it might not be an ideal situation for the employer, the employee is the most important this here. It’s worth talking about pay here. Financial worries on top of stress won’t help the situation. There is the same entitlement to sick pay that you would have if you had a physical illness. The employer has to ensure the rights of the employee are met. If, at any point down the line, the employee was to claim against the company due to the illness, not upkeeping employee rights wouldn’t go down well. The employee should feel like their employer ‘has their back’. This would include a proper investigation into any claims of harassment or bullying. Again, the open and honest communication should continue, even if the employee is not in the office.
How Long Can You Be Signed Off?
There is no legal length of time. Just as different situations need different treatments, no where does it state that a absence should be a defined length of time. If there is a medical note, the employer should provide plenty of time for returning to work. It might not be ideal but giving the employee time to recover is the best option. Much better than having to go through the rigmarole of capability dismissal and hiring someone else. The goal of returning to work should be discussed between employee and employer and any additional support should be put into place.
External Help
It could be the case that the employee wants some external help as the issue isn’t being looked at properly or sorted. Perhaps the harassment could be coming from the HR department so there is a problem and conflict. There is external help for you to tap into should you need it. Following the doctors note, you might consider being assessed by another medical professional. You might also consider finding out your legal rights in the situation you find yourself in.
So, how to get signed off work with stress? Follow the same procedures that you would if you had a physical aliment. our employer should treat mental issues the same as physical ones. Sickness is sickness at the end of the day and stress is a form of sickness. In conclusion, the longer it goes on, the worse it will get for everyone.
