Return to Work Interviews

Managing Stress-Related Absence Management

Absence management, and increasingly, stress-related absence management, is a growing problem for most employers.

WSM's "Return to Work Interview" is an effective way to initiate an early intervention in a new stress-related absence management situation.  Equally, return to work interviews is effective in addressing a long-term case of absenteeism.

A WSM return to work interview is a management initiated intervention process where one or our qualified occupational psychologists conducts an interview / assessment with a (line) manager and an employee to resolve a sickness absence problem.  The objective of the process is to determine the true and possibly underlying causes of the stress related sickness absence.  Crucially, the return to work interview will seek to determine what the employee's intentions and preferences are - whether or not they intend to return to work at all, or whether they wish to change role or departments.

Return-to-Work Interview Procedure

  1. The return to work interview process starts when a manager wishes to use an independent and qualified third party to intervene in an absence management problem with a particular employee.
  2. The manager contacts WSM to set up the return to work interview.
  3. The manager simultaneously informs the employee that an independent assessor is to be brought in and gives the employee a written description of the process (prepared by WSM).
  4. The WSM occupational psychologist first meets with employee's manager.
  5. The occupational psychologist then meets with the employee to conduct an in-depth and structured assessment to understand their concerns and view of the situation.
  6. The occupational psychologist will then meet briefly with the manager again for a short de-brief and initial summary.
  7. WSM will then produce a written report of the return to work interview process, that will include practical and realistic recommendations and suggestions for reasonable adjustments that will lead to a resolution or a partial resolution of the problems raised.