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Background: Long-term sickness costs businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) approximately £7 billion per annum. Most long-term sickness absences are attributed to common mental health conditions, which are also highly prevalent in people with acute or musculoskeletal health conditions. This study will pilot the IGLOo (Individual, Group, Leaders, Organisation, overarching context) intervention which aims to support workers in returning to and remaining in work following long-term sickness absence. The potential impact of the intervention is a timely return to work (main trial primary outcome) and prevention of a further episode of long-term sick leave. The intervention will be piloted in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to examine the feasibility of the intervention (pilot trial primary outcome) and to inform a fully powered definitive trial to evaluate sustainable return to work (RTW) in people with primary or secondary mental ill-health who go on long-term sick leave. Methods and design: A two-arm feasibility randomised controlled trial (with a 30-month study period including 12-month follow-up) of the IGLOo intervention will be conducted in large organisations (≥ 600 workers) from the Yorkshire and Humberside regions, in the UK. Eight consenting organisations will be recruited and randomised to the intervention or control arms of the study (1:1 ratio), with a minimum recruitment target of 13 workers eligible to participate from each. Organisations assigned to the control group will continue with their usual practice. Feasibility data will include data collected on recruitment, retention and attrition of participants; completion of research outcome measures; and intervention compliance. Measurements of mental health, RTW, work outcomes, quality-of-life, workplace support and communication and other demographic data will be taken at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months in all participants. Qualitative interviews and survey data with all participants will explore the experiences of participants, acceptability of the intervention components and evaluation measures. Exploratory economic evaluation will be conducted to further inform a definitive trial. Discussion: The findings from this pilot study will help to inform the development of a definitive cluster RCT designed to examine the efficacy of this intervention on health and work-related outcomes in UK workers on long-term sick leave. Trial registration: ISRCTN11788559 (prospectively registered, date registered 6 October 2022) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on return to work for workers with common mental disorders has primarily focused on the pre‐return journey. Relapses and recurrent sick leaves are prevalent and call for research on how we can support workers stay and thrive at work after long‐term sickness absence due to common mental disorders. In the present study, we used Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experiences of returned workers' post‐return journey and the barriers and facilitators to staying and thriving at work. We conducted monthly semistructured interviews with seven returned workers over a period of 4 months. We identified three post‐return trajectories: the thrivers, the survivors and the exiteers. We identified 10 higher order themes and 13 subthemes that influenced these trajectories. At the individual level, wanting to make a valuable contribution and job crafting facilitated a sustainable return. At the group level, we identified social support as a facilitator. At the leader level, line managers making work adjustments and recognising workers as valuable were important, whereas a lack of understanding and conflicts with senior management posed as barriers. At the overarching level, the media influenced organisational values. Our findings have important implications for how organisations can facilitate a whole systems approach to support returned workers and prevent sickness absence reoccurrence and job loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: 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. Design/methodology/approach: 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. Findings: 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. Practical implications: 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. Originality/value: 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]