Hi All,
One of our employees recently had some mental health struggles, which led to sickness absence. To support the employee, we sent him to OH, who recommended a phased return for a few weeks followed by 4 days a week for 3 months. The phased return we can accommodate. The concern is about the recommendation for the employee to work 4 days only for 3 months.
We're not really sure what the employee told the rest of the team (they are aware he was off due to stress), but they seem to be under the impression that he's returning to work part-time permanently.
We now have other people in the team approaching us that they too are stressed (I mean, who isn't?), so they also want a 3-day weekend or only work 4 days a week.
The only reason why this specific employee is going through the process was because they were signed off by their GP who recommended reduced duties and then we sent them to OH for specialist advice. But, we can't exactly suggest to everyone who asks us to work 4 days on account of feeling stressed to go to their GP to get signed off work.
Any advice on this?
The manager feels that allowing one person to work like this (even temporarily), would open the floodgates with similar requests.