Your health after redundancy

Managing workloads

During difficult times, your employer will be doing everything they can to ensure their business can keep going.

If you feel this is resulting in a confusion of responsibilities, or perhaps too heavy a workload, you may be able to use your performance management and appraisal system to discuss what is expected of you.

Overtime

In challenging times, your organisation will be trying hard to provide what its clients need, and overtime could be a way for your managers to organise their teams in a more flexible way.

High levels of overtime might affect your health if you’re not getting the rest you need.

While overtime might help you out financially in the short term, if you're relying on it too much you might find problems when it’s no longer available.

Absence from work

Stress can often cause symptoms that might lead to you being unable to work.

Even if you're signed off by the doctor, you might worry about what is happening at work while you're not there, whether you might lose your job as a result of being off or whether going back to work would be bad for your health.

General advice is that if you can return to work, then do. Research has shown that after you've been unwell, returning to everyday activities like going to work helps people feel better.

It's essential that you return to work safely:

keep in touch with your employer or a colleague about your sickness so that you still feel part of what's going on
if you've been off for a while, an informal visit during lunchtime could help you catch up
talking to your employer or manager will help them understand how they can help you
if you have any physical discomfort, discuss what adjustments might be needed to make it safe and comfortable or what advice you've been given by your doctor
you might be able to start back on shorter hours or a reduced workload before you get back up to speed