Temporary sick cover advice

[19CRS90]

Looking for some advice really, I have a therapist who’s been employed with me for a few years - she’s been unwell and unfortunately has told me she won’t be able to come back to work until she‘s had an operation which she’s on a waiting list for. I have another therapist but she’s unable to take on any more hours and I know we are going to struggle between the 2 of us when we re-open.
We have a work experience girl who comes in once a week, she is already fully qualified in level 2 but I feel she’d need some training before getting stuck in, my worry is we only have 2 weeks until reopening and she’s at college and her part time job most days. Do I look for another therapist and title the job as temporary? Although I have no idea how long ‘temporary’ will be! But worry if I don’t title it as temporary there may not be enough work for her when our other therapist comes back!

thank you in advance!

 

[TheDuchess]

It’s perfectly reasonable to advertise a role as temporary and be honest at interview. You can say that the role is filling in for an absent therapist who is on sick leave and you don’t know whether the role will become permanent. You should have a probation period in any case. I usually do 3 months probation. I wouldn’t go into more details.

In your mind will be the possibility that your sick therapist may need a phased return, working part-time before she can work full time. Don’t worry about variables outside your control that haven’t happened yet. There might be quite a few Mums who’d like to earn during term time. If you still need extra hours in the holidays your student might be up to speed by then.