How a returning to work programme helped me

In conversations I am having with clients there is a relentless focus now on returning to work programmes, how they can benefit the business and address many elements of the talent agenda.

In the spirit of being brave and bringing my true self to work – I wanted to share with you all why I truly believe in the power of a good returning to work programme.

At 43 years of age, my life changed dramatically – in one split second. My partner died suddenly whilst out with a friend one beautiful summer day in August and according to the coroner, it was literally as quick as switching a light off. I went from being an ordinary person, who had a normal happy life to one who quickly became familiar with dealing with coroners, police reports and funeral arrangements.

The emotional trauma is something that sadly many young men and women like me have had to bear, some of us better than others. I am eternally thankful that I work for an organisation that practises what it preaches – and it came at a time when I really needed it.

My work colleagues and good friends never missed a beat, in fact, a very good friend of mine from work drove my family to and from the funeral. On a lighter note, he did have to stop himself from asking which car he should follow when going from the funeral to the crematorium. He was so determined to get it right for all of us, he was trying to make sure everything went smoothly. It is these little anecdotes that kept me smiling during dark times.

The human side of our organisation was so powerful, and I leant on their strength. Without hesitation, Connor said I could take as much time off work as I needed, and we felt our way through the next few weeks together. It kept me connected with normality – and normality is something that we all crave at such times.

After the funeral, I had too much time on my hands and I wanted to return to work. I kept in regular contact with the Directors of the business who did everything they could to support me. When I talked about coming back to work after the funeral, we spoke about how I was feeling, what I needed and how I came back to work.

Until that point, I hadn’t thought about easing myself back into work, I honestly felt that I could simply rock up at work one Monday morning and everything was going to be fine. I am an eternal optimist, but not always a realistic one!

We talked about coming back initially on reduced hours and checking in regularly to see how I was coping which sounded good to me.

Four weeks after my partner had died, I walked back through the doors of Connor – and sobbed. Looking back on it, I guess that was to be expected. I got to work for 9.30 and for the first week or so I worked until 3 pm to 3.30pm, on the understanding that if I needed to go home sooner, then I could.

Looking back at the programme now, I can see how it worked for both of us, the business was being flexible around my needs and I was trying to be flexible for them as they had shown such compassion and had demonstrated that they put people at the heart of everything they do.

I had regular check-ins with the Directors of the business in an informal way, they seemed to care about my needs and how they could help me find my normality. I also worked closely with my line manager who supported me day to day over the coming months.

After a couple of weeks of being back and towards the end of September, I felt I didn’t need so many check-ins and these were reduced to a couple of times a week until the end of October when I felt I had found my feet again.

We all learnt a lot through these times, and we built a returning to work programme around my needs that gave me the flexibility and support I needed.

There is obviously many different returning to work programmes that have many benefits to organisations and individuals.

I loved one that I heard of recently in one organisation, where new parents brought their new babies in for a lunchtime session and shared their stories which support them to reconnect with friends and work colleagues.

Returning to work programmes are there for both men and women to support them in returning to work, no matter what their circumstances. Having said that, we are seeing such programmes helping to address one aspect of the people agenda – the gender pay gap. By helping all women return to work and providing them with the flexibility they need, this is helping to address the significant gap of men vs women in the upper quartile. There’s significant commentary around the fact that many women in senior roles don’t feel able to return to their previous roles once they have had children. I’m sure we have all read about it but let me know if you need any stats – I’ve got a lot!

Sadly, even good returning to work programmes can’t help with the cost of childcare. Did you know that if just 10 per cent more mothers worked, they could generate and an estimated additional ￡1.5 billion for the UK economy? But that’s another article for another time! 

So where are we now? We are now striving toward a more enlightened world, one where thankfully, we are all being encouraged to bring our true selves to work. By organisations investing and proactively helping us all to do so – we are all being more productive, sharing fresh ideas and feeling supported.