In recent years, I have been thankful to witness an increased awareness by employers and their return to work plan, for those who have returned after a protracted illness.

It may feel rare for your business to have an employee absent for more than 14-days however, a successful return to work plan, should this occur, will help build team coherence and ultimately avoid any discrimination against absenteeism workers.

Keeping in regular touch with your employee during their absence will enable you to identify any barriers preventing an earlier return. Some may have developed physical health problems which requires adjustments to their working environment, in some cases, this will require expert advice.

Sun Rehabilitation, as an Occupational Health provider, have the ability to provide that much-needed advice!

Conducting a detailed on-site Workplace Assessment involves looking at what a person’s job entails, assessing any physical demands on the body and making recommendations on our findings.

The main things we assess are:

● Ergonomics

Office ergonomics such as, the correct chair height, your distance from the computer, adequate equipment spacing and good desk posture can protect employees from a range of musculoskeletal ailments such as RSI, neck/back pain, eyestrain, headaches and stress.

In short, providing your staff with a mediocre workstation setup can have an impact on any well-person’s health.

● Manual Handling

For employees that work in a factory/physical environment, you need to ensure the load they’re carrying is not too heavy or places unreasonable demands on the body.

It’s also imperative to reinforce the need to lift things in the right way (i.e. knees bent, the load close to the body and straight legs as they lift) and, adequate rest breaks must be provided.

We are well equipped to assess these things and help everyone get it right, while making sure you’re remaining legally compliant.

● Regular Movement

Particularly if an employee is returning to work after a protracted absence it’s important to ease them back into work.

Organise their day so they can change their environment at regular intervals and move in a variety of different ways.

If they stand up all day, provide them with a high stool to sit on from time to time whereas, if they’re sitting all day, encourage them to stand up and walk around every 20 minutes or so.

Even small postural changes can help alleviate aches, pains and stress.

We can help!

If you require some tailored advice about getting your staff back to work, contact Sun Rehabilitation on 01905 612056.

For further information, http://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence