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Recover – rest and stay in touch

The recovery period can last from one or two week for those with severe stress reactions, up to several weeks for those with severe fatigue syndrome. The sufferer may be more or less knocked out.

Important

  • The employee needs to get into regular routines and live at a slow day to day pace in as calm an environment as possible, and preferably be outdoors sometime each day.
  • Those who are much stressed may find it difficult to take it easy, walking at a leisurely pace usually works better than sitting still.
  • If the employee does not respond to the manager's contact attempts, the manager needs to get hold of a relative and make sure that the situation is under control.

Advice for managers

  • The manager should contact the employee directly, listen to how the person is feeling, check what the support looks like around the person, possibly help out with doctor’s appointments or conversational therapy from the occupational health care, and emphasize that the employee should not have a bad conscience for missing work.
  • The manager can also suggest what information the person’s colleagues should get, because they will wonder. The manager and the employee should also agree on how and when the next contact should take place. The manager needs to think about how the employee's work tasks are best handled, so that the group is not burdened in an unhealthy way.
  • Colleagues can also get in touch during this phase, but perhaps in a way that does not require any consideration from the colleague on sick leave.