Return to work after sick leave: how employers can prepare a lasting return

The central principle is a clear separation of roles. The employee decides what personal information they share. The occupational physician assesses how health and work interact and can recommend adjustments. The employer organizes working conditions and meets its obligations. The manager turns the agreed measures into day-to-day practice, without asking for a diagnosis.

This is not just good manners. In France, for example, the data protection authority, the CNIL, states that employees’ medical files are held by occupational health services, and that the employer and HR have no right to hold medical information about staff, except in specific cases of work accidents or occupational diseases. The employer receives recommendations for adjustments, not diagnoses.

While the employee is off, the company can share practical information and remind them of the support available. Contact stays measured, kind and free of any work objective. It is not the moment to ask when they will be “fully better”, or to hand them tasks.

Some countries formalize this contact. France offers an optional “liaison meeting” (rendez-vous de liaison) for absences of more than 30 days, between the employee and the employer, with the company’s occupational health service, according to the official Service Public portal. Its purpose is to inform the employee about measures to prevent them from being pushed out of work (training, redeployment), the pre-return medical visit described below, and possible adjustments to the job or working hours. It is not a medical examination. Under the French Labor Code, either side can request it, the employer must tell the employee they can ask for it, and no consequence may be drawn from an employee declining to attend. Whatever the country, that last rule is a good one to adopt.

The earlier occupational health is involved, the more time there is to prepare adjustments before the first day back. In France, this is done through two medical visits with the occupational physician (médecin du travail), who works for the company’s occupational health and prevention service (SPST).

A pre-return visit, during the absence

For absences of more than 30 days, the employee can have a pre-return visit (visite de préreprise) while still on leave. Under the French Labor Code, it is arranged at the initiative of the employee, their own doctor, the national health insurance’s medical services or the occupational physician; the employer does not trigger it, but must tell the employee they can ask for it. The physician can then recommend adjustments to the job, redeployment or training and, unless the employee objects, shares these recommendations with the employer.

A return visit, and what changed in 2026

A return-to-work visit with the occupational physician is required after a non-work-related illness or accident lasting at least 60 days, no later than eight days after the employee comes back. A decree of June 12, 2026, which France’s national occupational safety institute (INRS) reproduces in its consolidated form, changed two things for sick notes issued from June 15, 2026. The employer is now told when a pre-return visit is organized, unless the employee objects. And the return visit is no longer required if the employee had a pre-return visit in the 30 days before going back and the physician concluded that no adjustment to the job or working time was needed, although the physician, the employer or the employee can still ask for one.

The lesson travels well beyond France: return-to-work rules change, and some reference pages lag behind. HR should check how they apply with its occupational health provider rather than interpret them alone.

A useful adjustment starts from the tasks, the constraints and the room for maneuver. It may involve working hours, workload, travel, remote work, breaks, the physical environment, objectives, exposure to a particular risk, or a gradual build-up. This is not a one-size-fits-all list: each adjustment is decided on the situation, based on what occupational health recommends.

For absences linked to mental health, the World Health Organization describes return-to-work programs that combine work-directed care, such as reasonable accommodations or a phased return, with ongoing clinical care. It lists accommodations such as flexible working hours, extra time to complete tasks, modified assignments to reduce stress, time off for health appointments and regular supportive meetings with supervisors. Acting on how work is organized is the subject of our article on workplace mental health.

A phased return is not the same job in fewer hours

France’s version of a phased return, the therapeutic part-time scheme (temps partiel thérapeutique), is prescribed by the employee’s doctor and submitted to the national health insurance’s medical adviser. The INRS notes that the rules set neither the practical arrangements nor the schedule: these are agreed between employer, employee and, where relevant, the occupational physician, and the reduction does not have to be 50%. It also stresses that the employer must adapt the workload: asking the employee to work on their non-working time, even by email, breaches the employer’s safety obligation. Whatever the scheme, reduced hours without reduced workload simply squeeze the same pressure into less time.

Write it down without exposing health

A short return-to-work plan can set out the tasks kept, those set aside for now, working hours, the contact person, a review date and what happens if the adjustment does not work. It contains no diagnosis: it is about working conditions.

Explain how work is being redistributed without disclosing anything personal. One sentence is enough: “the organization has been adjusted for a while; here are the responsibilities and the review date.” Plan for colleagues’ workload too, so the person coming back is not set against the team that covered for them.

On the first day, plan a short catch-up, a ready workstation, the necessary access and a realistic schedule. Bring the person up to date on major changes without cramming weeks of news into a few hours, and make clear who to ask and how to flag a difficulty.

The manager neither downplays (“everything is just as before”) nor dramatizes. They check that the agreed conditions are in place, set gradual objectives and give the employee a simple way to ask for an adjustment.

Follow-up is about the work: actual workload, hours, obstacles, coordination, whether the adjustments help. It does not seek medical details. Check-ins can be frequent at first, then spaced out. If things get worse, the employee can be referred back to occupational health; in France, the INRS notes that employer and employee can ask for a visit with the occupational physician at any time, and recommends one before moving from a phased return back to full time.

At company level, a few aggregated indicators are enough to improve the process, as long as no small group can be identified. Our method to measure a workplace health program explains how to choose them.

A prevention tool offered by the employer must never become a way to select, appraise or monitor employees’ health, and declining to use it must have no consequences. The safeguards to require (individual data reserved for authorized professionals, aggregated reporting, genuinely voluntary participation) are covered in our article on employee health privacy.

With MyTwin for employers, the organization offers preventive health modules. Employees who want to can follow a personal journey, coordinated by a MyTwin physician or by the company’s own medical team; the employer only sees aggregated results. This journey does not replace occupational health or the visits required by law.

1. Appoint a job-retention contact and document everyone’s role.
2. Tell all employees what support exists before anyone goes on leave.
3. During the absence, keep contact measured, with no work and no medical questions.
4. Let the employee know which meetings and medical visits they can ask for.
5. Involve occupational health early.
6. Turn the recommendations into concrete arrangements with the manager.
7. Prepare the first day and tell the team only what it needs to know.
8. Review the adjustments, then draw lessons at company level.