Returning to work after compassionate leave

What is a phased return to work?

Once your employee is ready to come back to work, you may agree on a phased return to work plan. This allows your employee to gradually return to their responsibilities in a slow and supportive manner.

For example, your employee may be granted compassionate leave because their child is recovering from major surgery. After the initial recovery period, their child may need less support – allowing your employee to return to work. By agreeing to a phased return to work, your employee can complete both their work and care responsibilities.

Phased return to work plan example

Each phased return to work plan will look different. But you may create a plan for your employee to:

Return to work meeting

Whatever the plan is, you should schedule a return to work meeting with your employee to go over any expectations or changes to their role before they come back into the workplace. This is your opportunity to:

• make sure your employee is ready to come back

• update them on anything they missed while on compassionate leave

• find out how you can support them

• lay out the expectations and conditions of their phased return to work

Phased return to work pay

Pay during a phased return to work will depend on the agreement between you and your employee. If your employee does the same work on reduced hours, they should get their usual rate of pay for their new hours.

There’s no set rule on how to compensate your employee for the hours they don’t work. This will depend on your company policy and could be paid with company sick pay or SSP.

If there’s a change of workload, you may have to agree on a new rate of pay with your employee. Whatever this change is, it should be reflected in writing.

What’s your company policy on compassionate leave? Let us know in the comments below.