Background
Our client had an employee who’d been involved in a heated argument with another employee at a work event and had not been back to work since. The employee had not been in touch with their manager nor had they responded to any of their attempts to make contact …… this was 3 months ago.
The owner had sought advice from ACAS and another regulatory body who advised they could not do anything and had to simply wait until the employee was fit to return to work. The owner didn’t think this was correct and trusted their instincts and at 2pm on a Friday contacted us.
Our approach
From establishing the key facts of this case, we were able to assess the options available and “doing nothing and waiting until the employee was fit to return” was the last option on our list.
At 2.15pm the Owner was reassured that there were other options to consider and they had the confidence that we will provide support in writing letters, providing guidance notes for the manager and attending meetings to enable the company to take back control and resolve this situation in a fair, structured and timely way.
Results
Within 6 weeks, the employee returned to work and further meetings were held to address the heated argument that had taken place at the work event. We supported the manager to safely exit the employee from the business.