Employee Return to Work Program
All employees are not the same. To keep your business running every day, do you know that you speak and approach each employee differently? That same method can hold true when working with employees to get them back to work quickly and safely after a workers’ compensation claim.
Return-to-work approach, one employee at a time
Just as the tasks and duties correspond to each employee, so should the return to work program. There are many different return to work programs that can be used. Match the program to specific employee personalities for the most successful results. While one employee may respond well to several phone calls a week, another may find it too intrusive. Finding the balance is the key to getting employees back to work quickly, effectively, and to the benefit of your business.
In general, there are mainly four different employee personality types ranging from completely satisfied to completely dissatisfied. The four types are:
Satisfied and Committed: One who is happy and does not need to produce to return to work.
Satisfied and Not Committed: One who is happy, but willing to be out of a job.
Unhappy and Passive: Someone who is unhappy, but doesn’t deliberately make plans to lose their job. However, they can take advantage of the system to stay out longer than necessary.
Unhappy and Active: Someone who is very unhappy with their situation and will actively try to take advantage of the system. This employee doesn’t want to come back, makes plans to stay away longer, and is actively working on a plan to never come back to work.
Most employees will fall into one of these description categories and will respond similarly to different return-to-work strategies. The key is to handle each situation according to the personalities of the employees.
Adapt to the personality of the employee
for example, a satisfied and committed The employee might be someone who hasn’t missed a day of work in years, attends company events, and is always seen as an entrepreneur. A workers’ compensation claim can be perceived as a setback for this type of individual and it will take little interaction from the employer to return them to work. In this case, a recommended strategy is to send out a recovery card and work in partnership to provide a productive transition service position. The employer’s actions in this case, such as aggressive surveillance, can have the opposite effect and make the employee unwilling to return to work. With a satisfied and disengaged employee, a more interactive approach can be used. For example; invite the employee to seminars or training events prior to return. This will provide an introductory stage to the return to work program.
a committed and unhappy employed in the same situation will require a completely different approach. This type of employee is usually trying not to return to work. Employers of compromised and dissatisfied employees will need to take a much more aggressive approach that includes designing and implementing fraud prevention measures, surveillance procedures, hiring investigators, and having constant and frequent contact with the employee. Without starting the return to work process, the employee will put you on hold forever.
Finally, put the slogan of your return to work program by employee as you know the employee. A cookie cutting program is the least successful program.