Hi Nicola

I would mainly be wanting to impress upon managers that as far as is reasonably possible staff away long term from the workplace must be fully and effectively consulted-with. Their absence may present difficulties in this regard but shouldn’t prevent or seriously hamper the process.

Beyond that, everyone’s circumstances and available communication paths tend to be different, but it’s the message and not the medium used that’s going to really matter. And managers who are keeping in touch effectively with their absent staff in any event - as of course they should be - shouldn’t face much extra difficulty.

Also, maybe try to make managers aware that these staff can often feel cut off from all that’s going on at work and from the informal communication grapevines etc and that this can result in considerable worry and anxiety and speculation and fears that they’ll be disadvantaged as a result of not being there. As much reassurance and empathy as possible is therefore needed.