Return-to-work (RTW) plans are one of the most effective ways for injured workers to achieve a prompt and sustainable return to their duties. They can not only assist the affected employee in recovering from their injury and returning to work, but are also a vital tool to manage the costs of absenteeism to employers.
However, poorly designed RTW plans have the potential to do more harm than good, for example if a worker is further injured by unsuitable duties or their mental health is impacted by the triviality of imposed duties.
There is a range of key considerations when designing a RTW plan which, if acted upon, will maximise the benefit to both the worker and the employer by achieving an enduring and safe return to work.
Some of these elements are:
- Ensure that the worker’s function is correctly understood and defined.
- Develop the RTW plan with explicit input from the affected employee.
- Work collaboratively with the employee’s medical practitioner (particularly in order to clarify work implications of details provided in the medical certificate, and to seek medical opinions on any problems experienced while implementing the RTW plan).
- With the above information in place, determine what work duties the employee is able to perform. Give consideration not only to whether the duties are appropriate to the employee’s functional capacity but also whether the duties are meaningful. Make suitable adjustments to the workplace.
- Develop set stages within the plan designed to effectively and carefully return the worker to full capacity. (These stages will need to be flexible and responsive to the experience of the worker.)
- Ensure processes are in place to maintain contact with the employee while they are on leave, so that lack of information doesn’t become a stressor in its own right.
With appropriate attention to these elements, employees and their employers can benefit from the earliest and safest possible return to full duties of an injured worker.
Please contact QRMC for more information.
