Make the return to the office easier for everyone.
Having an employee who has suffered an injury or other event return to work is important for all involved. You as the employer get your trained team member back on board, they take an important step in their mental and physical recovery, and ACC can stop paying for their time off.
However, it’s often not as simple as having them show up on a Monday and get back into it. For a successful return to work period, you must have a plan in place.
Why a return-to-work plan is important
Without a good return to work plan, there is a risk of re-injury to the employee in question. While rushing them back into their role might seem like the best course of action, it’s beneficial to all involved to make sure that they are not going to relapse and drag out the process of recovery.
There’s more at stake, too. A lack of communication and solid plan throughout the recovery period can lead to the employee feeling disconnected and having trouble settling back into their role. We’ve talked many times before about how happy, engaged, employees are more productive and better for your bottom line. Ensuring a smooth and safe transition back into the workplace after an injury is just another way to achieve this.
How to ensure a smooth return to work
The process of bringing an injured (or otherwise impaired) employee back into the workplace begins right after the initial incident. These are some guidelines for making the journey as smooth as possible:
While at home
- Regular contact between you as the employer and the injured person is important for both parties. You can find out how they are doing, what support could be provided to ensure a smooth and speedy recovery, and ensure they have all the information they need for ACC claims. Set an expectation for weekly check-ins to keep you in the loop. Perhaps they can come in for team meetings. A continued connection to the workplace helps with a smooth return period.
- You and the employee may also be in contact with ACC, providing them with any information they need. The agency has many resources available to encourage recovery at work and help hasten the return to work—take a look at the guides available here.
- If it is likely to be helpful, you could provide a detailed job description or position outline to any medical providers. This may help them to assess whether the employee will be able to return to full duties, taking into consideration all aspects of the job so that any clearance or restriction is fully relevant to their actual day to day tasks. General Practitioners deal in the general, and this can mean that the nuance is missed. Having all the information at hand means less likelihood of premature clearance (risking re-injury) or unnecessary absence when some duties would be perfectly fine to do.
- It’s important to both parties to ensure that the affected person is fully ready to work. So rather than just assuming they can come back once their medical certificate has expired, ensure they are cleared by a doctor first. The original medical certificate might be considered a red light; rather than just waiting for it to turn off, you should wait for a green light to proceed. Reinjury is another major upheaval that you want to avoid at all costs, and often a graduated return is safer and more sustainable. The degree of clearance should match the degree (i.e nature/duration) of the absence.
Returning to the workplace
- Have an ongoing conversation with the employee as they return to ascertain what they feel comfortable doing. Check in to ensure that they are not experiencing discomfort or pain with their cleared duties. There’s no rule that you can’t refine the return-to-work plan with new information! In some workplaces, it may be viable to have them start with lighter or different duties to allow further healing. If that is not a good option, the next point may be of interest…
- If necessary, look into the possibility of a funded return to work trial. These unpaid work trials are available upon agreement by ACC and you as the employer. The worker will return to reduced duties or a reduced schedule, while still being paid by ACC.
- A workplace assessment by an occupational therapist or physiotherapist is a great way to spot and minimise any issues. You should also consider the use of recovery aids such as back support belts, standing desks, or any other piece of equipment relevant to the role.
An important and often overlooked aspect of this post-injury process is action taken towards reducing the risk of it happening again. If the injury occurred at work, don’t forget an investigation into the cause! When you’ve had even just one employee off work for weeks or more, you’ll know that any time or money spent on prevention is well worth the investment.
The best way to conduct an incident investigation is with an unbiased third party like our own Emma, who is a licensed private investigator and auditor trained in the Incident Causal Analysis Method (ICAM).
As a side note, group medical insurance is a great benefit to offer your employees and also may help to speed up the recovery process when an injury occurs. Private insurance often gets the person seen faster, especially with the current state of the medical system. Medical insurance could be part of the remuneration package, or you may just negotiate group rates (at no cost to you as the employer, just more cost effective for employees) and leave the decision up to each team member. A group scheme can also be a great way to do tiered remuneration rewarding long service—or as an option for those who would prefer health insurance be part of their package. These schemes can waive pre-existing condition exclusions which is hugely beneficial to some families.
TL;DR: Plan to succeed post-injury
A successful return to work for an injured employee is often not as simple as picking up where you left off. It’s important to have a plan in place agreed upon by all stakeholders: employee, employer, and ACC. Communication is key, both during the employee’s time off work and as they return. Here are some top tips for a smooth transition:
- Stay in contact with the employee while they are at home and during their return to work. Keep them connected to the workplace to smooth the transition back.
- Provide ACC and medical providers with any information required to ensure the employee gets all the benefits they are entitled to and the best possible care.
- Always have them actively cleared to return, even if the medical certificate requiring that they be off work has expired.
- Consider putting them on light duties if necessary. If that’s not an option, you may be able to set up a funded work trial with ACC so they can ease back into it.
- Look into recovery aids that may help the employee work safely, and also a workplace assessment by an OT or physiotherapist.
Need help?
For advice on return-to-work and other human resource puzzles, get in touch with the Emendas team. We make it our mission to equip business owners and management to get a handle on their own people, process, and safety systems—so you can navigate this type of bump in the road with confidence.