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When a serious health crisis strikes, medical leave can give employees the time and space they need to recover. But new research finds that a leave policy alone isn’t enough. The way companies put those policies into practice can either support employees through a difficult time or make a challenging experience even harder.��

“These policies aren’t just administrative policies, nice-to-haves—they can literally save employees’ lives,” said��Christina Lacerenza, assistant professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at the��Leeds School of Business and co-author of the study. “When we just can’t keep living and working at the same pace, one of the few available resources to us is a medical leave of absence.”

The study, published in the�� in April 2026, examined what medical leave is actually like for the people going through it. Between 2022 and 2025, the researchers, Liza Barnes of Drexel University's LeBow College of Business and Ashley Hardin of Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, interviewed 48 participants, including 30 employees who had taken medical leave and 18 leave coordinators who helped guide employees and organizations through the process.��

Christina Lacerenza

Most medical leaves in the study lasted between four and 26 weeks and involved a range of physical and mental health conditions. The conversations examined experiences before, during and after leave from both the employee and coordinator perspectives. Researchers then analyzed all 48 interviews for recurring patterns and themes.��

More than a workplace disruption

Across dozens of conversations, a common theme emerged. Employees were experiencing profound suffering.

Many participants were already grappling with serious medical conditions, including cancer, mental health crises, chronic illnesses and traumatic injuries. The illness itself was often the source of immense physical and emotional strain. But the researchers found that employers could either ease that burden or make it worse through the way they handled leave requests.

Employees described four major forms of suffering during the leave process: loss of functioning,�� loss of safety,�� loss of stability and�� loss of autonomy. For many participants, the challenge wasn't just recovering from an illness. It was navigating uncertainty about their health, finances and careers all at once.

One interview in particular stayed with Lacerenza. A participant who worked in a newsroom recalled being told by her doctor that continuing to work could be fatal.

"I didn't want to leave the newsroom. My doctor essentially forced me out of the newsroom and said, 'If you don't leave, you will die,'" the employee told researchers.

Stories like that helped shape the researchers' thinking about medical leave. "We didn't intend to study suffering specifically," Lacerenza said. "But it emerged from the data and ultimately became the lens through which we came to understand the medical leave experience."

A healing-centered approach

The researchers found that the organizations that handled medical leave best treated it as part of the healing process, not just an HR requirement.

They identified four practices that helped employees recover: tailoring leave plans to individual circumstances, preparing for unexpected absences, reducing financial and job uncertainty and maintaining compassionate support throughout the process.

"The way medical leave is implemented is just as important as having the policy itself," Lacerenza said. "It's really critical to adopt this healing-centered approach so that employees have the time, support and space to truly focus on healing."

The study found that employees often had better experiences when a dedicated leave coordinator helped guide them through the process. Unlike managers, who may have little training on medical leave requirements, leave coordinators help employees navigate paperwork, understand their options and determine how much personal information they want to share.��

Another important finding, Lacerenza said, is that fairness does not necessarily mean providing the same leave format for every employee.

"On the surface, consistency sounds like it would be fair," she said. But employees facing a cancer diagnosis, a serious accident or a mental health crisis may need very different forms of support. Someone undergoing cancer treatment, for example, might need intermittent leave for recurring appointments, while a worker recovering from surgery may need several consecutive weeks away from work.

"Fairness isn't about treating every employee identically," she said. "It's about providing each employee with the support they need to adequately heal and recover."

When good intentions aren't enough

Problems often arise not because organizations lack a medical leave policy, but because they haven't thought through how it will work in practice, Lacerenza said. Having a policy on the books doesn't necessarily mean employees will use it, benefit from it or feel supported while they're away, she added.

Another mistake companies make is creating a workplace culture where employees feel they can't step away, even when they need to. The researchers heard stories of workers who delayed taking leave because they worried about burdening colleagues or disrupting their team. In some cases, employees continued working despite worsening symptoms because they felt there was no clear plan for how their responsibilities would be handled in their absence.

"One of our participants talked about how her illness began via a mental health crisis, and she was just trying to push through work," Lacerenza said. "Ultimately what happened is she started physically getting sick."

Managers can unintentionally contribute to the problem, she added. Asking employees to postpone leave until after a busy season or questioning whether time off is really necessary can discourage workers from seeking help when they need it.

Lacerenza sees medical leave as part of a broader shift in how organizations support employees through illness, recovery and other major life challenges.

"I do think that the future is becoming more bright when it comes to handling these types of employee experiences," she said. "I think there's a bigger push to see and understand an employee as a whole person."