Work. Returning to work after burn-out: what the HAS recommends

After sick leave for occupational exhaustion, the return is a delicate moment: fear of colleagues' looks, accumulated workload, dread of falling back into the same mechanisms. The Haute Autorité de santé devotes a chapter of its burn-out recommendation to this, updated in October 2025 to reflect regulatory changes to the pre-return visit (page updated on 1 December 2025).

Do not go back too early

Reporting on the update, Santé mentale.fr mentions a gradual return, possibly part-time, but not too early, and describes rebuilding as a long, continuous process: rest allows recovery, but it is afterwards that one learns to function differently.

Going back is not returning as before: it is returning differently.

The pre-return visit

The HAS recommends a pre-return visit with the occupational physician, at any time during the leave, at the initiative of the patient, their family doctor or the health-insurance medical adviser. It can be repeated. It makes it possible to prepare the return before it happens: adjustments or adaptations of the workstation, and regular follow-up, deemed essential on return. According to Santé mentale.fr, support for the employee, even for their team and manager, is also possible when the occupational physician, human resources and the manager work together, with the employee's agreement.

Preparing yourself

Identify what contributed to the exhaustion, recognise your warning signals, decide in advance what you will not take up as before, know whom to tell if symptoms return. A relapse is not a failure: it is a signal to share quickly with your doctor. You have no obligation to detail your health to colleagues: a simple line is enough.

Every path is unique: these general guideposts do not replace your doctor's or the occupational physician's advice.

This article is for information only. It replaces neither a consultation nor a diagnosis, which is a doctor's role.