Employees’ experience of supervisor behaviour – a support or a hindrance on their return-to-work journey with a CMD? A qualitative study

Figures & data

Table 1. Short overview of representative quotes.

Cluster	Compassionate supervisors	Indifferent supervisors	Demeaning supervisors
Historic behaviours	Pre-return supportive behaviours It was probably actually one manager who reached out after I kept cancelling meetings or said, you know, can we change that from a face-to-face to a telephone meeting, which is very unlike me, I think I used to always much prefer face-to-face than on the phone. So she knew something wasn't right. So I think that kind of first conversation, I think she opened up the opportunity for me, I think, to disclose what was going on for me at the time. EMP4, M1	Pre-return evasion of responsibility In the end I just approached the head teacher about it and asked to have a meeting with him about it, and I explained to him that in particular this marking policy for English is killing me, it’s way too much. So he reached a conclusion that it’s because I’m a vegan, and that I should eat a steak, which is what he said in jest. EMP36, M1	Pre-return lack of support and bullying She basically started bullying me, to the extent where it started, the distress of that affected me physically, so I was kind of unable to go to work. So it was things like misinformation, I was excluded from meetings, she would tell me kind of one thing but meant another, and spread rumours about me. So there was a whole load of kind of bullying issues going on. EMP11, M1
Attitudes towards employees	Positive attitudes towards employees My line manager said: “I had issues, I had postnatal depression that I never spoke to anyone about.” And she told me for ten minutes what it was like for her and suddenly, I had this wave of good feeling come over me and thought, you know what, there’s someone here who understands.” EMP28, M1	Neutral attitudes towards employees He was a much colder fish, if you like, yeah, so the relationship wasn't the same … I think I detected a lack of empathy in him, for my situation. So it was just a feeling of loss of value. EMP23 M3 2nd Manager	Unaccommodating attitudes towards employees The manager, the horrible one that I don’t like and has shown bias against me, sends me an email saying, can you check your emails, thank you. And that was it. Absolutely nothing. Not, welcome back, no nothing. So there’s absolutely no recognition at all that I was off sick. EMP17, M1
Provision of work adjustments	Proactive support for work adjustments I think back when I had my meeting with my manager, I think he was just kind of explaining the phased return. Just saying, oh, like this week just look at your emails and I think … And then eventually said we’ll get you to start the casework again. He says we’ll see how you get on. If you need any training we can get you trained up as like a refresher sort of thing. He was like but I think you’ll pick it back up again. He was like but if you need to ask questions do. So he was quite supportive that way. EMP 34, M1	Basic provision for work adjustments I think what I realised was during one meeting that we were talking about “so what are you going to do over the next month, what are you going to do by the next supervision?” because we used to have supervision meetings every two weeks we agreed we change it to once a month, you know, because I was doing fewer hours, and my supervisor was kind of like “so you will have done this this and this” and I've kind of like “well maybe, but I've also got to kind of think about what's realistic if I'm working part-time” and she's like “yeah but you'll be able to do blah blah blah” and I said “I mean I might, but actually, you know, if I'm only working 20 h a week then I might not, it kind of depends … you know, she said, you know, “part-time working it means it gives you the flexibility to do more if you want to.” EMP13, M1, 1st Manager	Implementing counterproductive work adjustments My manager has decided that I needed to be kept as quiet as possible, that I needed to be given as little to do as possible. And I’m like, I’m seriously high functioning anxiety here. Giving me the same things to do day in and day out, that’s driving me up the wall. EMP30, M1
Demonstrating care	Continued focus on mental health He's made himself available to me, practically every day to talk through things and reassure me. And what I think has been particularly nice is that he's understood the pressures I've faced over the last 12 months. And I think he's given me the confidence that I can come back from everything. And I think more than anything, he's made himself available before and after work if I needed a phone call. And that's made all the difference. EMP29, M2, 2nd Manager	Absence of supportive behaviours No reports were made about supervisors enacting additional supportive behaviours	Absence of supportive behaviours No reports were made about supervisors enacting supportive behaviours.
Ongoing negotiations	Ongoing negotiations about flexible working I have got an annual appraisal at the beginning of May. It was supposed to be end of this week but I can’t face it at the moment. So I’ve said to my manager can we postpone that for two weeks. And again, that’s all right. EMP2, M3	Absence of ongoing negotiations Employees who perceived their supervisors to be indifferent did not report any flexibility	Absence of ongoing negotiations Employees reported that supervisors refused any flexibility in work post-return, even when it had been recommended by others (e.g. Occupational Health)
Context	Bending the rules When I was off sick just those few days a few weeks ago, my boss had said to me, look, I want you to turn your computer off at 5:30, no late working and so on, which is great, but I know the expectation of the business is more than that. EMP34, M1	Following the rules I think because she was afraid, and that’s all I could think of, I mean, I think she was terrified of getting into trouble, I think she might have got into trouble, because she did some stupid things, and I think she was more afraid of causing me to fall over again than anything else.” EMP10, M1	Breaking the rules If somebody had helped me by following the spirit of the sickness policy, the keeping in touch, the return to work procedures, with a proper phased return, with supervised, discrete work elements, with regular contact with me, all of those things would have been encouraging for me. EMP16, M1

Notes: Text in italics indicating how the attitude or behaviour made the employee feel. For more detailed information about qualitative analysis, see https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21298398.v1.

Figure 1. Overview of the return to work journey for employees with compassionate, indifferent or demeaning supervisors.