How to return to work well – whether it’s from holiday, illness or injury

For those of us fortunate enough to get a decent amount of time off work over the summer months, the process of returning to work can feel slightly jarring at best and dread-inducing at worst. The same is true if you’ve been away from work for an extended period due to illness, injury, parental leave, or other reasons. Umbrella and Geneva Wellbeing are in the business of supporting people to return to work well, so here are our best pointers for setting yourself up well to return to work – regardless of the reason for the absence.

First, set up a communication plan before you go on leave

If you know that you’ve got a period of absence coming up, your manager should proactively work with you to figure out a plan for covering your duties and, importantly, to reach a shared understanding about how you will communicate with each other while you’re away. Sometimes the plan is “no communication” (e.g., when you’re on annual leave on a beach in Fiji), but often both you and your employer will benefit from staying connected during longer absences.  This might include “keeping-in-touch days” during parental leave or a regular phone call with your manager to keep you in the loop.

Recent data from the Australia National Return to Work Survey Report showed a lack of understanding and communication from their employer was the top-rated support missing, that would have helped people get back to work faster after physical or psychological injury if provided. Mutually agreeing on a communication plan is a crucial safeguard to avoid misunderstanding and maintain connection.

Invest time in proper psychological detachment from (and re-attachment to) work

This is psychological jargon for making sure that you ramp down slowly from work when you finish up and ramp up slowly at the other end – keeping the boundaries between work and home-life clear throughout.

Psychological detachment tools that might work for you:

• Clearing your emails before finishing work
• Making a list for what needs doing when you get back (or to hand over to whoever is covering your duties)
• Shutting your laptop away in a cupboard
• Doing something to signify the transition from working to not-working, whether that’s journalling, going for a long walk, or talking it through with a loved one.

At the other end, don’t forget the importance of psychological reattachment. Being away from work can shift our identity in subtle ways, in the same way that being engaged in work does. Before you return to work, think through what you value, what’s important to you and your family/whānau, and how you are going to bring that into your working life. Plan for what needs to change to enable you to return to work (including budget, household chores, or childcare), and in the days or hours leading up to your return, start to transition your brain back into work mode.

This might look like:

• Scheduling a call with your manager in the week(s) prior to returning to work to catch up on the latest projects, and better understand their expectations of you.
• Going along to the office or worksite to have lunch with your team before you formally rejoin the ranks.
• Spending some time the night before, or in the week leading up to your return, looking through emails and getting your head around what needs doing.
• Challenge the notion that a return to work, whether after holiday or injury, needs to happen on a Monday. Especially when returning after significant time off, transitioning from no work to five days of work can be a real challenge. Returning on a Thursday or a Friday allows you to use the weekend as a way of easing you back into work.
• Ahead of your first day back, reset your alarm to the time you need to wake up to adjust your sleep schedule.
• Talk through your work goals, or your top priorities, with someone you trust in your life ahead of your first day.
• Doing some professional development in an area relevant to your industry can help support your confidence to return.

Psychological reattachment isn’t helpful for everyone, or in every situation, but it can be a useful tool for people who need a gentle reintroduction to the working world.

Have a plan in place for when you return

This should be set collaboratively with you, your employer, and (if necessary) healthcare professionals. Together you’ll consider your duties, the nature of your illness or injury (where relevant) and any accommodations that are needed to help you work well. According to the Australia National Return to Work Survey Report, employees with a plan in place to get back to work were significantly more likely to return to work and continue working, than were those without a plan.

On the mild end of the spectrum, if you are away from work because you’re taking a holiday, your return-to-work plan might be self-initiated and involve scheduling what needs doing the week you return. Ideally, you set aside a few hours on the day you return to triage anything urgent that needs addressing and to adjust priorities as needed, before launching straight into the “doing” side of your role. Remember your psychological re-attachment principles (above) and go slow and steady.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’ve been away from work for months (or years) due to a major change in health or life circumstances, your plan should be mutually designed between you and your employer, and any other relevant professionals. It might mean a modified schedule (e.g., part-time hours), modified duties (e.g., no heavy lifting), or modified working environment (e.g., desk set-up). Having an expert occupational therapist or physiotherapist involved can be an excellent way to help re-design the workstation set-up and provide an external perspective on the opportunities to gradually return you to the workforce. Importantly, the plan should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and is working as intended.

Finally, for employers, don’t send your worker back into the same broken system

Ultimately, time away from work is only one tool in the wider toolkit of employee support. While leave can help people to rest, recover and recuperate, this all hinges on their ability to safely reintegrate into the work environment without being reinjured. Work needs to be designed in a way that’s healthy – whether that’s manageable workloads or safe manual handling practices – and risks need to be controlled proactively. Work doesn’t need to be harmful, and taking time away from work shouldn’t be the only reprieve.

E kore te pātiki e hoki ki tōna puehu. The flounder does not return to its dust.