Sometimes as a return to work coordinator you have to be all things for all people. As well as being a star, you have to find the time to deal with people, make calls, organise and conduct meetings, develop plans and follow them up, and involve and influence your team.

Efficient time planning is probably one of the most challenging tasks for a return to work coordinator. Not only do you need to use your own time judiciously but you also need the immediate supervisor and other stakeholders involved in the process to find time to get the job done.

How do you plan your own time efficiently?

As a return to work coordinator, facilitating the process of getting a worker back to work is not your only consideration. Your own wellbeing is important. Leaving work tired and frazzled is counterproductive for you and for those you assist.

If you have domestic responsibilities, planning your time becomes more important since you are managing two jobs at the same time.

Here is what you can do to manage your own time efficiently:

• Break your day up into short half-hour periods and analyse how you are using your time;
• Compare the time you are spending with your own personal and professional objectives; and
• Think about what you consider is important in your role and what you are actually spending your time doing.

If you think that the amount of time you are spending does not match your objectives, reconsider your priorities. Analyse the mismatch and work out how to change things. How can you stop spending your time on unproductive activities?

How to plan your time efficiently during the return to work process:

Excellent time planning at the workplace is essential for the return to work coordinator. Here are a few things that you can keep in mind while organizing your time at the workplace:

• Make sure you give large blocks of time to tasks such as building your team, building relationships with those you wish to influence and establishing strong systems;
• Keep in mind that purposeless and unquestioned activity will lead to wastage of time; and
• Ask yourself how much time is needed to perform a particular task and plan accordingly.

We call return to work coordination project management with love.

Project management is an approach that includes categorising tasks, creating timelines and assigning tasks to team members. It is often tracked using project management software.

Getting clear on the tasks involved in the project and then working out what you and others should be responsible for can make a major difference to what you achieve.

• Are you taking on the tasks of others?
• Have you created practical and sensible time frames?
• Are you effective in assigning tasks to other team members?
• Do you have a strong system of tracking activities and actions i.e. project management software?

Here are some approaches that can streamline your work:

• An hour spent training supervisors and line managers on their role in return to work can save you ten;
• Setting up systems so employees understand how things will happen when they have an injury pays off many times over;
• Consider your software requirements:
  • If you manage a number of cases, use good case management software. Case management software can track what needs to be done, set actions and reminders, automate emails and letters, and act as a central hub for case information.
  • If you only manage a few cases, use your everyday systems such as Outlook. Enter actions such as phone calls or follow ups and use the reminder system. You can categorise actions such as phone calls and letters, and group them to plan your day.

Here are a few things that can help you plan meetings effectively and get the most out of your time:

• Find out the best time for organizing an individual meeting with the supervisor and the employee, or a collective meeting with both of them;
• Make sure that you are fully prepared with the questions and issues that you want clarified;
• Be clear about what you want to achieve and state that up front, while still allowing time and space for issues to be raised. If there is too little focus, little will be achieved. Conversely, if you have too much focus you may miss important problems;
• Make a brief follow-up memo detailing the main solutions discussed at the meeting. It will help move things forward; and
• After a meeting, ensure follow up actions are completed. If agreements and actions are not followed through, people lose trust. It says to those involved it’s ok not to do what you say you will do. It takes an enormous amount of time to chase people up, avoid it at all costs.

A good time management strategy is one of the skills that will enable to you to be a competent and calm return to work coordinator. Plan your time in a better way and you will find that you are steadily moving towards achieving your personal and organisational objectives.