Someone's been off sick for three days. They're back on Thursday morning, a bit pale, catching up on emails. What do you do?
In a lot of small businesses the answer is "say welcome back and get on with it". That's understandable, but it misses one of the simplest and most useful habits in absence management: the return to work interview. It takes ten minutes, it shows you care, and it gives you a consistent record if absence ever becomes a problem.
This guide covers what a return to work interview is for, how to run one without it feeling like an interrogation, and a simple return to work interview template you can copy and use straight away.
Is a return to work interview a legal requirement?
No. Acas is clear that there's no legal requirement to hold one. But it recommends a chat as soon as possible after someone comes back, and most HR advisers would say the same.
The reason is that a short, consistent conversation does several jobs at once. It checks the person is genuinely ready to be back, catches anything you need to adjust, and quietly reinforces that absence is noticed. That last point matters. Many employers find that simply having a return to work conversation after every absence cuts down casual short-term sickness, without anyone having to say a word about it.
If you have an absence or leave policy, it's worth writing the return to work interview into it, so everyone knows it happens after every absence and nobody feels singled out.
When to hold one
The simple rule is: after every sickness absence, however short, ideally on the person's first day back.
Consistency is the whole point. If you only hold return to work interviews with the people you suspect are "pulling sickies", you're creating a fairness problem and potentially a discrimination one. Do it for everyone, every time, and it becomes routine rather than a warning sign.
For a one-day absence it might be a two-minute chat over a coffee. After a longer absence, especially one covered by a fit note, it should be a proper sit-down conversation. If someone has been off for weeks, our guide to managing long-term sickness absence covers the bigger picture, including phased returns and occupational health.
Fit notes and self-certification: a quick refresher
Before the meeting, it helps to know what paperwork you should have:
- Off for 7 days or less: the employee doesn't need a fit note. You can ask them to self-certify when they're back, which usually means filling in a short form or confirming the dates by email. The template below doubles as that record.
- Off for more than 7 days in a row: they need to give you a fit note. The 7 days include weekends and bank holidays, not just working days. Fit notes can come from a GP or hospital doctor, a registered nurse, an occupational therapist, a pharmacist or a physiotherapist.
If the fit note says the person "may be fit for work", it will usually suggest changes such as different hours or lighter duties. The return to work interview is the natural place to discuss and agree those. If you can't agree on the changes, GOV.UK says the employee has to be treated as not fit for work.
You can keep a copy of the fit note. The employee keeps the original.
For the pay side of sickness absence, see our plain-English guide to Statutory Sick Pay for small employers.
How to run the conversation
Keep it private, keep it short, and keep it human. A few principles:
Lead with welfare. Start with "how are you feeling?" and mean it. The tone you set in the first ten seconds decides whether this feels supportive or suspicious.
Don't dig for medical detail. You can ask whether they're fit to be back and whether anything would help. You don't need a diagnosis, and the employee doesn't have to tell you what was wrong. Acas makes this point directly: talking openly helps, but it's their choice.
Look for underlying causes. If the absence might be linked to work, such as stress, workload or a difficult relationship, this is your chance to find out. The same goes for anything that could be a disability. If it is, you have a legal duty to consider reasonable adjustments, and the return to work interview is where that conversation starts.
Agree what colleagues are told. Ask what they're happy for the rest of the team to know. Plenty of people would rather nobody knew they'd had a migraine, let alone anything more personal.
Bring them up to date. A quick "here's what happened while you were off" makes the first day back far less awkward.
Mention patterns gently, if relevant. If this is the third Monday off in two months, it's fair to note it, calmly and without accusation. If patterns are becoming a concern, our posts on the Bradford Factor and managing employee absence cover what to do next.
What to avoid
- Turning it into a disciplinary meeting. If you need a formal absence review, that's a separate meeting with proper notice.
- Asking for medical evidence you're not entitled to for a short absence.
- Only holding interviews with certain people.
- Writing anything in the notes you wouldn't be comfortable with the employee reading. Under data protection law, they can ask to see it.
- Storing health details carelessly. Keep the form somewhere private, not in a shared drive everyone can browse.
Free return to work interview template
Copy this into a document, adapt it to your business, and use it after every sickness absence. For a short absence, most sections will take a line or two.
Return to work interview
Employee name:
Manager holding the interview:
Date of interview:
Absence dates: from ________ to ________ (number of working days: ____)
Evidence: Self-certified / Fit note received (copy kept on file)
1. Welfare How are you feeling now? Are you fit to be back at work?
2. Reason for absence In your own words, what was the reason for your absence? (The employee does not have to give medical details.)
3. Work-related factors Was the absence linked in any way to work, for example workload, stress, an injury at work or a working relationship?
4. Support and adjustments Is there anything we can do to help you settle back in? If you have a fit note saying you "may be fit for work", what changes does it suggest, and what have we agreed?
5. Ongoing treatment Do you have any appointments or treatment coming up that we should plan around?
6. What colleagues are told What, if anything, are you happy for the team to know about your absence?
7. Catching up Key updates from while you were away, and anything you need to pick up first:
8. Absence record (if relevant) Number of absences in the last 12 months: ____ Any agreed next steps:
Agreed actions and review date:
Employee signature: ________ Date: ________
Manager signature: ________ Date: ________
Acas also publishes its own return to work meeting template if you'd like a second reference point.
Make the record keeping the easy bit
The interview is the human part. The admin around it, knowing exactly when someone was off, for how long and how often, is where small businesses usually come unstuck, especially when sickness lives in a spreadsheet, an inbox and someone's memory all at once.
Absently records sickness alongside annual leave and every other leave type, so before you sit down for a return to work interview you can see the dates and the history at a glance. It costs £1 per person, per month, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card needed.