Who we are

Mary's story

Mary started her career in the corporate sector working in Marketing in the UK followed by training roles in Ireland. After 8 years Mary transitioned to the disability arena where she has remained since 2002 in a variety of roles. Each of these have been hugely rewarding for her as she assisted individuals who struggled to find or maintain employment, as well as supporting employers to on-board and retain their staff.

While working on a pilot programme to support recipients of Illness Benefit, Mary found her niche! Having witnessed the impact on the people she worked with when they achieved a return to work, coupled with a strong desire to continue working in this area, she established Connect4Work in 2018.

"I believe work can be a health outcome. In fact, good work is important to a person’s health! Work is part of our identity - nobody wants to lose that!"

Mary Finn

"Through Connect4Work, Mary Finn will work closely with organisations to rethink how they manage absenteeism in a more positive way."

Reaching new heights

Mary's goal? To enable organisations transform their traditional approach of managing absence to one where Ability, Attendance and Retention are promoted and assisted.

Principles of Honesty, Trust and Respect are an integral part of the service and can be expected in every engagement with Connect4Work.

Balancing wellbeing in life is often challenging and through her years of working and supporting others, Mary has come to appreciate the value and importance of her own health and wellbeing.

Regular walks, cycles, swimming (only during the summer though!) and an occasional 10K race are features in her life which she enjoys and makes sure she has time for.

Balance is a routine that needs to be practiced daily, it is not always perfectly achieved, but each day is a new one with opportunities for starting over.

The trouble with an illness or an injury is that it is usually unexpected, uncontrolled, unexplained, or unpredictable – but always unwanted.

Mary Finn, Founder Connect4Work

Our expert partners

Partnering with industry leaders, we are dedicated to supporting employers and managers in their quest to enhance employee retention effortlessly.

Miriam McNulty

Occupational Health Nurse

Miriam has worked for over 20 years in Occupational Health across Ireland, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Areas of speciality include workplace injury management, accident investigation and risk management as well as providing expert witness services & report writing.

Niamh Pentony

Boyne Ergonomics

Boyne Ergonomics is an independent ergonomics consultancy company that specialises in virtual and onsite Display Screen Equipment Risk Assessments and workplace Ergonomic Risk Assessments.

Who we work with

Business owners

End to end service to manage the return to work process
Advise and draft policies to ensure they deliver best practice for employee experience
Prevention – early intervention stay-at work supports to avoid the absence
Return to work planning to reduce duration or risk of repeated employee absence

HR teams

We manage the process to give you time back to concentrate on operational aspects of your job
In collaboration with HR and TL, we seek to improve return to work outcomes for absent employees
Consult and advise on return to work policies to ensure they deliver best practice for employee experience
Prevention – early intervention stay-at work supports to avoid the absence

Specialist HR firms

A Value added service to complement and enhance your service offering
Expand your knowledge base and expertise in disability management matters
Collaborative partnership to cross refer clients

Legal professionals

End to end service of the return to work process
Assists your clients in meeting obligations to explore reasonable accommodations
Collaborative partnership to cross refer clients

Health & safety professionals

Working in collaboration with Occupational Health / Safety Officers to ensure return to work planning achieves a safe and sustainable return to work for absent employees
Consult and advise on return to work policies to ensure they address employee safety and the wider staff body where applicable
Prevention – early intervention stay-at work supports to avoid the absence

Employees

A dedicated case manager to support you plan your return to work
An external person to answer your questions about how to return to work

What to expect

Honesty

Truth engenders trust. Compassionate honesty can be hard, but it is delivered with kindness, hope and helpfulness. We deliver with honesty and expect the same in return.

Reliability

A cornerstone of trust — The triangular relationship between the employee, employer, and our agency is a critical balance of dependability, commitment and hard work.

Respect

Understanding of each other’s unique situation and experiences requires open minds, deep listening, and validation. Acting with integrity and acceptance for individualism is at the core of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in life.

Have a question for Mary?

“I am not sure what to say to my employee”

This is one of the most common concerns employers talk about during our exploratory conversations.

Helping an employee return to work after an extended absence can be challenging. Every employee experience is unique to them so it can take time to understand exactly what support they may need.

Here are some steps you can take to help an employee return to work: