Maybe you are one of those good souls who was working over Christmas or New Year, keeping the engines running and the wheels turning, the ward looked after and the shop open. If so, thank you, and enjoy your well-deserved break when it comes…
For others it was back to work on Tuesday, or today, after some time to be somewhere else and do something different. There are more than enough wistful jokes on social media this week about finding ways to avoid going back and prolonging the holiday instead.
There are some who won’t be going back this week because of being in hospital, either as patients themselves or accompanying those they love who are ill. They will need another set of supporters. Colleagues and bosses who can understand enough to say, “Go. Do what you need to do. Be where you need to be. We’ll work out all the rest between us.”
It isn’t everybody’s experience. Not for those whose hearts are breaking and must still turn up for daily work. How do you concentrate then? How do you pretend you want to be at work when everything tells you and those around you that you want to be by the side of your son, your daughter, your loved one, in their own personal, painful, frightening journey? Sometimes it’s called compassionate leave, compassionate for a reason. But can it still be called compassion if it starts to drain funds and doesn’t last long enough?
For those employers and work teams and colleagues who give the gift of time, and secure protection, who find ways to care and to support from within the workplace, who take up the slack for a missing colleague, keeping things going in their absence, finding ways to make it happen and getting creative with the support, going an extra mile, or two – this is also a gift beyond words. Time given to an employee is precious time given to a child, a close relative, a dear friend, a contribution that allows the best of love to continue…
Thank you to those who help us to be where we need to be. Thank you to those who work at it and guard it when it’s needed. It can never be repaid, though it will not be forgotten, and who knows who may need it next?