In Feb I will return to my office job as a manager in a technical team. I have had the surgery the last part of a 6 months sabbatical, so it is a big gap in my role and people at work at not aware of it other than my manager and HR. Physically I am recovering ok, although I don´t rest very well at night.
I am considering which possible adjustments will be best for me. I have read guidance in the Work With Cancer guide for employees and I think phased return to work might be a good option. I am struggling to decide the number of days and hours to start with. Please, could any of you share your experience and advice oon the area?
I am “returning” to work tomorrow (logging on the spare bedroom ) after being off for six months with breast cancer.
Three years ago I had to have 3 months off sick due to mental health problems arising due to adjustments due to my firm being taken over.
As a working mum I worked part-time (3 days over 4) and part of the issue at the time was I was working way beyond those hours and on my return I had a return to work interview with an HR manager to put in place better practices to make sure I didn’t burn out again.
I am with the same organisation now and have been in contact with the same HR manager and my line manager (who is new to the organisation) during my sick leave. My line manager is keen to manage my return which ordinarily I would rail against but I’m happy to do as I’m told at the start and am thankful that my relationship with her is such that I know I can speak up if I’m struggling.
In terms of hours I currently still do 3 over 4: but am considering changing them (not least because my daughter is now at secondary school and I no longer need to do a school run), but I am anticipating mental fatigue hitting me once I’m back and may adjust my hours down to 2 days (probably worked over 4 by way of shorter days) for the first few weeks and hope/anticipate that this can be accommodated.