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  • HR Home Visit Advise Please
  • RayMazey
    Free Member

    Hi
    A friend of mine has been absent from work since 3 Jan suffering from depression. They have a sick note and are currently taking medication prescribed by the doctor.

    Their employer, as advised them that HR will be making a home visit next week. They have been informed, that 2 people from HR will be making the home visit. My friend as asked me to attend.

    Could anyone please advise / help on the following.-
    1) Do you think it is a good idea for me to attend?
    2) Any advice of what my friend should or should not say or agree too?
    Any experience with this sort of situation would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

    johndoh
    Free Member

    Yes attend – your friend should have support.

    Ask if you can record the meeting (if you have an iPhone etc that is easy)

    Don]t agree to anything – if they ‘suggest’ anything then they should respond saying they will consider it and will get back to them in a reasonable time (say a week).

    patriotpro
    Free Member

    What they’re (the employer) doing is fairly standard now so try to reassure your mate with that.

    Other than that I don’t have anything to add to the advice johndoh gives.

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    santacruzsi
    Free Member

    my employer allows a union rep to attend (civil service) if they want or a friend to attend. It’ll be a general ‘how are you’ ‘what can we do to facilitate your return to work’ style visit i’d imagine. Is the depression as a result of a work related issue?

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    If the doctors have signed him/her off sick then they can’t force him back to work.

    Do be there for your mate. It’ll be really important to him. Don’t say much, but make sure he doesn’t get bullied into going back to work.

    And as people above say, don’t commit to anything – that’s the doctors job…

    RayMazey
    Free Member

    Hi
    Thanks for the replies upto now, some good advice.

    @satacruzsi

    Maybe work could be part of the problem, but i think there are also other issues

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    It depends who is coming

    i do agree it is generally meant to be supportive but as a union rep the worst example i have known of is someone off work with stress claiming bullying and the kind visit was HR and the line manager accused of bullying and then you let them into your own home.

    It was declined in that respect but a neutral venue was selected.

    if they are a generally good employer it will be supportive IME and they will try to see what they can do to help – reduced hours return, reduction in duties etc

    Its not something to be alarmed about if you have a good employer

    nick1962
    Free Member

    breatheeasy – Member

    If the doctors have signed him/her off sick then they can’t force him back to work.
    True but they can dismiss you!

    footflaps
    Full Member

    People with depression also tend to suffer from very low self worth and a feeling of ‘not wanting to cause trouble’, so they can be very down on themselves and admit to things such as ‘not really being ill’, or ‘shouldn’t really be off work’. It’s important there is someone there to stand up for him as when you’re depressed you can’t stand up for yourself.

    NB Been there, got the T-shirt…..

    lasty
    Free Member

    Be there …. for your mate.
    Please be aware that youll be there for moral support and NOT opinions or debate about how things should move forward.
    Your role is primarily as a witness and ensure matey isnt put into a corner or threatened by HR which shouldnt happen these days as theyre mostly on the ball. Be polite and ask any questions you may have on behalf of your friend but best not to be too upfront.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    True but they can dismiss you!

    If they think you will never be able to return to work ever again

    Given what is here that is VERY unlikely and any company with a HR dept is not risking this within a few weeks

    try and be helpful its an individual who is ill and a friend trying to offer support

    Aidy
    Free Member

    Be there for your friend, but make sure he’s aware beforehand that you’re only present as a witness.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    Been there myself too – as an employer. Didn’t go as far as request a home visit but asked for a doctor’s report as the employee was signed off after a particularly nasty (unwarranted) outburst at myself and the other owner of our business and we wanted to know whether or not that outburst was a result of the employee’s condition.

    The doctor said it was so we had to suck up a 3 month absence. So – in my experience I know it isn’t easy living with the condition, but it can be tough for an employer too.

    seosamh77
    Free Member

    Surely, if he’s a sick line he can just knock them back?

    Woody
    Free Member

    I very surprised, that after only two weeks (with a GP note) your employer can send people round to your house? Is this really the way things happen nowadays? I would regard it as an invasion of privacy.

    I can understand if it is an expected long period of absence, or unusual circumstances but it strikes me as a bit intimidating and suspicious.

    bigG
    Free Member

    In my experience it’s highly unlikely that they will allow the meeting to be recorded.

    The purpose of these meetings when I’ve done them in the past is to explore the issue, options, increase understanding of the problem, offer support and generally stop the employee becoming isolated from the work place or colleagues entirely as that can be a substantial challenge when the individual does return to work.

    I’ve never conducted these meetings with any intention to use them to kick off a formal process, that comes further down the line and is largely dependant on the cooperation of the employee and the realistic future prognosis

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I suppose there’s an element of back-covering too. An employee is off with depression, there will be burning questions like “is there anything we can do to help get them back to work” and “are we about to get sued for causing it?”

    I’ve never come across a HR home visit though. Don’t they have telephones?

    johndoh
    Free Member

    I am sure there is – if they just left them at home and don’t even show a willingness to engage with them…

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I had one when I was off with my hip, tbh it was all very pleasant and let me get a few formal digs in at my boss who was being an arse. But there’s not much you can do to argue with a broken hip. It was mostly box-ticking and the aforementioned “making sure we don’t get sued”

    OTOH, a good friend of mine was off long-term with depression, and decided he just didn’t want work in his house, so he came into the office and I joined him as witness. Well, that was the idea anyway. In practice, I ended up kicking the HR people out of the meeting, as they were simply bullies and they’d reduced him to tears after about 5 minutes with statements like “Really, your depression is nothing to do with your work, it’s probably from your family background or something isn’t it” and “If I wasn’t able to do my job, I wouldn’t go off sick, I’d resign”. One of them needed a bit of physical encouragement to get him out of the office. All ended up turning into a big payout to avoid a constructive dismissal case.

    And that’s where it can get a bit troublesome, for the rest of my time in that particular team I had a pretty difficult relationship with our line manager and with our HR team- he’d already left. But tbh I wouldn’t change a thing, sometimes it felt like the one good thing I did in that job!

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    “If I wasn’t able to do my job, I wouldn’t go off sick, I’d resign”.

    If they worked in HR and said that i would have asked for their resigination

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I don’t know what the outcome of all that was- from my mate’s point of view, the goal was the blame-free exit and payout so I don’t think he pursued it as a complaint against the individual- he wasn’t in good shape. I’d like to think they got their arses kicked with an extra big shoe, but they were both still in the business a year later (and dealing with redundancies, excitingly)

    Banking, eh 😆

    santacruzsi
    Free Member

    The employer will want to cover their back to some extent …if he’s off for a long term and they want to dismiss in future then if your friend goes for constructive dismissal the employer will say they’ve done home visits etc and looked after his welfare,. Maybe I’m being synical and they’re just being a good employer. Either way support your friend and maybe take notes on his behalf .

    rockhopperbike
    Full Member

    I have a HR meeting next week in similar circumstances, find it a bit weird that the HR manager and director are dragging themselves to me, I supposes its the modern way! Ive been off for 3 months with a broken spine, and am gagging to get back to work- just didn’t expect a visit!

    Cletus
    Free Member

    Re. recording these types of meeting that is something that is expressly disallowed in the relevant policy document for my employer.

    Not sure why this is – a recording would be useful in the case of a future disagreement.

    Check the relevant documents well ahead of time and challenge anything well before the meeting.

Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)

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