One of your colleagues has been off sick, on full pay, for the past 3 years with RSI. They haven’t worked a full day in those 3 years, every couple of months they come back on a very part time basis (a few hours a day x 2 days a week) which lasts for a week, maybe 2, then they are signed off again. They cannot work as their job is very desk based with lots of typing and with their RSI they cannot function in that role. It’s all a bit complicated as the company you work for is very tied up with policy and unions and so on and very soft, and easy to manipulate in these situations – they treat their staff very well in terms of benefits and take the health of their employees very seriously, as such therapy and so on has been offered to this person and they have tried very hard to get them back to work. The can’t force the person to take a non desk job / typing based role as that would be against their policy and open doors for tribunal type action.
The person in question has made it clear to friends and close colleagues (of which you are one) that they don’t enjoy their job and would much rather do something else but can’t afford to take a salary cut.
Whilst being off sick your colleague has been on many holidays and spends their days in the gym, out with friends and so on – a pretty normal life on the whole.
Over the past year the colleague has been telling you about a course they have been taking to re-qualify in another field, and a few weeks ago sent you a link to their new website to launch their business venture. As a part of their new qualification they are writing a thesis and have also completed lots of written and typed coursework (despite not being able to work because they have RSI).
On said website, this colleague goes into lots of detail about how they came to be working in the new field, and that they had to give up their previous career and job some time ago due to injury etc. etc.
So, would you report them to your HR department?
Or would you leave well alone?
I have a tendency to be a hard nose cow with little compassion or empathy and also have a tendency to rush in without thinking (although I’m much better than I was – no Bathroom Gate style incidents in the last 18 months ?).
From where I’m sitting it’s a blatant abuse of the system – they haven’t given up their job, they are still being paid a full (and very good wage) whilst being able to fulfil their ‘dream’ of working in the new field. My opinion is you can’t have your cake and eat it…If they want their job they should be concentrating full time on their recovery, or working with their employer to find a new position more suited to their condition, not using their employer to bank roll a 'cushy' life?
But I’m willing to be ‘educated’ ?
