What is a Return to Work Program?

Even when precautions are taken, accidents happen. If one of your employees is injured on the job, you are legally required to obtain medical treatment and report the injury. When able, the employee returns to work.

While perfectly legally acceptable, this approach can cost you thousands of dollars more each year than you realize. In the absence of a comprehensive Return to Work Program, spend more on claims, employee-replacement and retraining, medical expenses and legal bills. In addition, the absence of a transitional Return to Work Program can lead to a decrease in employee morale, which further increases the length of recovery time.

The time and effort you put in to creating an effective Return to Work Program are well worth what you will save in the form of employee lost-time and disability. By taking the following steps, you will help to control claim costs, increase productivity, and improve moral in your workplace.

First, develop a Return to Work Program that details the early return process. State Fund provides resources to assist you and offer free advice on identifying early return opportunities for your employees.

Second, open the dialogue with your employee. Talk to them about their injury, or illness. Discuss which aspects of their normal job they can not perform, as well as their current ability to work.

Next, create transitional job opportunities tailored to the disabled employee(s) that will allow the employee(s) to begin working again as early as possible.

Finally, follow the progress of your employee(s), altering the transitional job when possible, until they are able to return to their regular duties.

As all employees are different, and disabilities or injuries will impact each on in a different way, it is essential that you are committed to working with each individual to tailor a transitional opportunity. By remaining consistent in your policies and follow through, you will be effective in saving money on workers compensation costs.