The guidance, launched by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), advises doctors on how they can give the most useful advice about what patients can do at work and how they can return to the workplace as soon as possible.
Advice could include exploring a period of home working or different ways of working.
The guidance, based on research and feedback from patients, GPs and employers, is designed to help people use the fit note to its full potential by looking at what a person can do, rather than what they can't.
Employers and patients can then use the fit note to look at what can be done to help an individual back into work.
The guidance clarifies that the fit note is about someone's general fitness for work and is not tied to their most recent job, allowing flexibility to discuss what changes could help someone do some work.
Bill Gunnyeon, chief medical adviser for the DWP said: "The fit note can be valuable in helping people return to work quickly and avoid long-term absence and potential job loss - this revised guidance helps doctors, employers and patients use it to its full potential."
