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Notes that the present human resource literature on absence pays relatively little attention to the management of genuine injury and illness. Seeks to partially address this lacuna in the literature through the findings of an exploratory study of the arrangements used to facilitate the return to work of ill and injured employees in 77 organisations. Finds that larger organisations and those which recognised trade unions offered the most extensive range of assistance to workers. Also finds the presence of return to work policies to be associated with favourable trends in absence. Suggests that the impact of return to work activities on absence merits further study and goes on to identify issues that should be addressed in future research.

Sustainable return to work remains challenging for workers returning after long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMDs): stress, anxiety and depression. Line managers play a significant role in supporting returned workers. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the supportive behaviors of line managers in supporting returned workers.

The authors conducted a longitudinal study with up to three semi-structured interviews with 20 line managers with experience managing returned workers. In these interviews, the authors asked questions about the supportive behaviors line managers enacted to support workers and the role of the context. The authors conducted reflexive thematic analysis.

The analyses revealed five key strategies, including managing workload, flexible working time arrangements, location of work, mental health check-ups and long-term support. The interviewed line managers reported their own lived experiences and that being aware of the limitations of their role, together with training and support from senior management and human resources (HR), enabled them to provide appropriate support.

The five strategies and the barriers and facilitators to implementing these may enable HR to develop policies and procedures to support line managers, including training of line managers.

This is the first study in the UK on line managers’ behaviors to support workers who have returned to work after a period of long-term sickness absence due to CMDs. The identification of such behaviors is paramount to developing organizational policies and practices. The question, however, remains whether employees see these behaviors as effective.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the injured worker’s perspective of experiences with their workplace return to work coordinator (RTWC), and explore some of the barriers they encountered in the return to work process.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten injured workers from New South Wales, Australia. The thematic analysis of transcripts was completed.

The findings provide an insight into the experiences of injured workers and their relationship with RTWCs. Five key themes emerged from the data: return to work experiences and the RTWC role, high turnover and lack of consistency in the role, RTWC “ideal”, knowledge and skills, communication skills and the RTWC role and GP visits privacy and conflict of interest with peer RTWCs.

The role of the workplace RTWC in the return to work process for injured workers is important and these findings are highly relevant to the return to work sector. Consistency within the role at the workplace and careful consideration of the specific traits and characteristics required by an individual to perform the role need to be observed during the selection process by employers when appointing a workplace RTWC to assist injured workers return to work.

This is the first Australian study to examine the injured workers views and experiences with the workplace RTWC and other factors that shape the return to work process.

Consistent with previous research, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the presence of workplace‐based return‐to‐work strategies would reduce the duration of work disability. Moving beyond existing research, the paper further seeks to propose that these strategies would also enhance mental health and affective commitment among injured workers. In addition, the paper aims to introduce interactional justice – injured workers' perceptions of the interpersonal and informational fairness of the person most responsible for their return‐to‐work process – to the return‐to‐work context, and to hypothesize that these factors would also contribute to the explanation of these outcomes.

Within five weeks of their injury, telephone interviews were conducted with 166 workers from the province of Ontario, Canada, who had experienced musculoskeletal lost‐time workplace injuries.

Multiple regression analyses indicate that certain workplace‐based strategies were associated with days on compensation, self‐reported days absent, and depressive symptoms, but not affective commitment. Further, as hypothesized, interactional justice accounted for additional variance explained in self‐reported days absent, depressive symptoms, and affective commitment. Interactional justice did not explain additional variance in days on compensation.

The findings have implications for employers engaged in return‐to‐work practices and researchers studying return to work. Both should address not only the workplace‐based strategies used, but also the way in which these strategies are implemented.

The paper replicates previous empirical work on return‐to‐work interventions and demonstrates the importance of the presence of workplace‐based strategies in explaining the duration of work disability.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

The prevalence and multi-system nature of post-COVID-19 symptoms warrants clearer understanding of their work ability implications within the working age population. An exploratory survey was undertaken to provide empirical evidence of the work-relevant experiences of workers recovering from COVID-19.

A bespoke online survey based on a biopsychosocial framework ran between December 2020 and February 2021. It collected quantitative ratings of work ability and return-to-work status, qualitative responses about return-to-work experiences, obstacles and recommendations, along with views on employer benefits for making accommodations. A sample of 145 UK workers recovering from COVID-19 was recruited via social media, professional networks and industry contacts. Qualitative data was subject to thematic analysis. Participants were mainly from health/social care (50%) and educational settings (14%).

Just over 90% indicated that they had experienced at least some post-COVID-19 symptoms, notably fatigue and cognitive effects. For 55%, symptoms lasted longer than six months. Only 15% had managed a full return-to-work. Of the 88 who provided workability ratings, just 13 and 18% respectively rated their physical and mental workability as good or very good. Difficulties in resuming work were attributed to symptom unpredictability, their interaction with job demands, managing symptoms and demands in parallel, unhelpful attitudes and expectations. Manager and peer support was reported as variable.

Workplace health management characterised by flexible long-term collaborative return-to-work planning, supported by more COVID-centric absence policies and organisational cultures, appear pivotal for sustaining the return-to-work of the large segments of the global workforce affected by post-COVID-19 symptoms.

Modern employment legislation invests the employee with important rights resulting in a greater degree of job security and improved legal protection in his employment. These rights or entitlements which are all personal in nature are divisible, for the sake of convenience, into four parts. Firstly, individual rights. These include guarantee payments, medical suspension, maternity, time off for specified activities, and the employer's insolvency. These rights are by no means exhaustive. Other rights of an individual nature as for example the right not to belong to a trade union where a closed shop is in operation; rights in connection with trade union membership; written reasons for dismissal; and so on, will be treated in the context of the discussion which will take place under the appropriate heading. Secondly, it is proposed to examine the employees right not to be discriminated against in employment on grounds of race and sex, thirdly, his right not to be unfairly dismissed will be analysed, to be followed finally by his right to redundancy payments. In this monograph, it is proposed to examine the first of these personal rights, namely the employee's individual rights. Each of the others will be discussed in subsequent monographs. It should be noted that unlike the common law terms implied into the contract of employment which consist of duties imposed on both the employer and the employee and which can be contracted out of by an express term in the contact of employment the statutory conditions of employment cannot be dispensed with in that manner. Like the implied terms at common law, the statutory conditions of employment too form another source of contract of employment though of course they are independent in that they neither form part of the contract of employment nor of the common law rights.

This study aims to employ a resource‐oriented theoretical perspective to examine retirees' desire to return to their former organization.

Using a cross‐sectional field study design, data were collected from 243 retirees under 65 years of age who had been retired from a career job less than ten years.

Regression results indicate that retirees who had experienced financial and pervasive role loss as well as retirees who perceived a higher fit with their former organization and the availability of desired job role options expressed significantly greater interest in returning. Retirees who experienced gains in leaving work as well as gains in their life satisfaction following retirement reported significantly less interest in returning to their former organization.

The cross‐sectional design and self‐report data create a potential for bias. Even though the findings are based on respondents' “interest” in returning to their former organization, it is not known if they actually did return.

Programs should focus on creating an environment that values older workers, and provides them with opportunities such as mentoring other workers.

Policy changes are needed to ensure that returning to work following retirement results in resource gains and not resource losses.

This study uses resource theory with a diverse sample of retirees and considers their desire to return to their original employers, thus adding value to human resources and management who wish to retain or re‐engage their own knowledgeable retirees.

The purpose of this study is to examine processes in the relationship between WFP and work-family conflict in addition to work related attitudes of women returning to work after maternity leave who hold management positions.

Data is gathered from the responses of 238 female managers working for companies throughout Italy who have recently returned to work after maternity leave, to a self-report questionnaire.

The results show that the availability of WFP is directly or indirectly related to work attitudes among female managers. Work-family conflict is shown to partially mediate the relationship between the availability of WFPs and work engagement and the availability of WFPs moderates the relationship between work engagement and work-family conflict.

Therefore provision of communication and psychological support and flexible time-management policies would provide the organizational structure to produce a healthy work-life balance.

This paper has an original approach by examining the psychological mechanisms underlying the availability WFP on attitudes of women managers returning to work after maternity leave.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate anticipated and real career decisions made by two cohorts of professional women in the UK at differing stages of the lifespan.

Career decisions made by two cohorts of professional women following the birth of their first child at different stages of the lifespan and satisfaction with these choices in retrospect were investigated. Data analysis followed a thematic approach, and comparisons between the two cohorts were made.

The study revealed much similarity between the two cohorts. The decisions women make regarding whether to return to work or not and the extent to which they are satisfied with their working arrangements are constrained by similar individual and organisational factors despite the 15-20 year gap.

Although mothers in the UK now experience strengthened legislation concerning maternity benefits and entitlements and there have been advances in flexible working, progress in relation to supporting women in reconciling work and home life when they return to work is arguably limited.

This paper offers insights into the extent to which the career decisions made by professional women following the birth of their first child and satisfaction with these choices in retrospect have changed (or not) among two cohorts of professional women (15-20 years apart). The findings stress the importance of understanding the complex issues faced by mothers in the workforce and providing appropriate organisational support.