At the start of the pandemic, when transmission was rising and we didn’t know what lay ahead, we made sure a top priority was to get our ‘at risk’ team members home, safe. Some of our ‘at-risk’ team members could adjust their working arrangements to work-from-home, however some – including those with customer facing team members – have been unable to work-from-home and have been supported with paid special leave. With the introduction of COVID safe measures throughout Transport and with community transmission so low it’s safe for you to come back to work.
The Leader’s Guide provides advice on how to support at risk employees to return to the workplace in a caring and safe way.
Who is at increased risk?
In July, the Australian Government revised its advice on people at risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection, dividing the increased risk into two categories:
those who might be at high risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection
those who might be at moderate risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection
Your risk of serious illness from coronavirus increases if you are:
aged 70 years or over
aged 65 years or over and have a chronic medical condition
an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person aged 50 years and over who has a chronic medical condition
immune suppressed
Chronic conditions that put you at greater risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection are listed here.
Based on this advice, we continue to encourage that a sensitive, common sense approach should be adopted when assessing the risk for employees with pre-existing medical conditions who have significant for concerns their wellbeing.
Checking in
In some cases, your team member may not be comfortable returning to work and may request to access leave for an extended period. It’s important to remember that this may affect their mental health and wellbeing. Managers are asked to keep their people on leave connected to work. Leaders should take the time to check their people on leave regularly – perhaps with a phone call, email or using Microsoft Teams, please refer to these tips on supporting each other and staying connected.
Leaders should refer to the Leaders guide for advice when an employee remains uncomfortable about returning to work.
At the start of the pandemic, when transmission was rising and we didn’t know what lay ahead, we made sure a top priority was to get our ‘at risk’ team members home, safe. Some of our ‘at-risk’ team members could adjust their working arrangements to work-from-home, however some – including those with customer facing team members – have been unable to work-from-home and have been supported with paid special leave. With the introduction of COVID safe measures throughout Transport and with community transmission so low it’s safe for you to come back to work.
The Leader’s Guide provides advice on how to support at risk employees to return to the workplace in a caring and safe way.
Who is at increased risk?
In July, the Australian Government revised its advice on people at risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection, dividing the increased risk into two categories:
those who might be at high risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection
those who might be at moderate risk of severe illness from Coronavirus infection
Your risk of serious illness from coronavirus increases if you are:
aged 70 years or over
aged 65 years or over and have a chronic medical condition
an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person aged 50 years and over who has a chronic medical condition
immune suppressed
Chronic conditions that put you at greater risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection are listed here.
Based on this advice, we continue to encourage that a sensitive, common sense approach should be adopted when assessing the risk for employees with pre-existing medical conditions who have significant for concerns their wellbeing.
Checking in
In some cases, your team member may not be comfortable returning to work and may request to access leave for an extended period. It’s important to remember that this may affect their mental health and wellbeing. Managers are asked to keep their people on leave connected to work. Leaders should take the time to check their people on leave regularly – perhaps with a phone call, email or using Microsoft Teams, please refer to these tips on supporting each other and staying connected.
Leaders should refer to the Leaders guide for advice when an employee remains uncomfortable about returning to work.