Recently, one of our readers highlighted the challenge they face in finding alternate duties for returning workers. Occupational Physiotherapist and Ergonomist Donna Valiant of Catalyst Injury Management fills us in on a few tips and tricks.

First things first

Donna points out that return to work is all about good relationships. “Ensure it’s not a blame game,” says Donna. “That’s one of the areas where the relationship can break down very quickly; if the RTW coordinator has suspicions that the worker maybe didn’t have their injury at work, or for whatever reason.”

Putting aside all preconceived ideas about the worker and the circumstances of their injury is the primary step in return to work.

Here are the key points of one of our earlier articles, which makes the case for putting aside suspicions of injured workers:

• Support is paramount. A RTW coordinator’s or supervisor’s role is to support the injured worker – regardless of reservations about the legitimacy of the worker’s claim. Empathy, communication and conflict management can side-step a cold war of soured relationships and harboured resentment later on.
   
• It’s not your call. At the end of the day, it’s not the supervisor’s role to determine whether or not an illness or injury is work-related. Leave that to the minefield of medical, legal and political processes, which may be neither predictable nor under your influence.
   
• Trust, trust, trust. Ultimately, a high number of cases that result in extended absence and increased costs - of litigation or premium rise – begin with a lack of trust between the injured worker and the RTW coordinator or management. This will end up costing the company more time and money.

Breaking it down

RTW coordinators and employers can feel in the dark when faced with finding alternate duties. Donna explains:
“The common thing we hear when we are returning people to work is employers saying, ‘this is all physical work; I really don’t have any way of getting someone back to work in this type of industry.”

Donna encourages them to simplify and focus on each element of the worker’s role.

“What we do is we break down the tasks that the person performed before their injury. So, if you break it down into smaller components, they may not be able to do their entire job, but they could probably do some components of it,” said Donna.

“That’s what we try to do when we speak with employers. We say, ‘ok, so they can’t lift that pallet or that 25kg bag of cement, but what they can do is things like receive stock.’ They can do some less physical components of their job while they upgrade and strengthen again.”

“Often it’s really just a way of breaking it down into much smaller components rather than thinking about the whole job. And that works quite well; we almost invariably find jobs for people or suitable duties for people when we break it down into smaller chunks.

Meaningful duties

Great return to work outcomes rely on providing meaningful alternate duties for a worker. If the duties are too repetitive or unstimulating, the worker may resort to focusing their attention on their pain levels or anxieties.

If the role is challenging, varied and makes the worker feel as though they are contributing, they are most likely to enjoy optimal mental and physical health. This means faster and less costly return to work outcomes, for everyone, and increased productivity.

“It may be that they can’t do their original job,” said Donna, “but they should still do meaningful duties as well. Often it’s just about being a bit creative about what’s meaningful.”

Being creative about finding meaningful duties doesn’t need to be difficult, Donna explains.

“They may be a store person and they cannot perform their store duties because it’s too physical. But, they may be able to do things like checking stock.

“Or, they may be able to do some of those projects that have been put on the backburner for a little while; that they never quite got around to completing.”

Through this creative re-working of their role, Donna says, “the person benefits, because they are doing a job that needs doing – even if it isn’t actually their own.” The employer also benefits, with improved moral and productivity, as well as more focus on extending the business in other worthwhile avenues.

The final word

If you’re still struggling to find meaningful alternate duties, think about other tasks or roles within the company the worker could perform, such as: administrative duties, customer service, reception work, or accounts. Perhaps you might ordinarily use temp contracts for these roles, which you can cut back on to allow the returning worker a new lease on work.

Re-skilling a worker, utilises their existing knowledge and perspective of your business and can allow them to contribute to your business in an unexpectedly insightful and valuable way. You could also utilise this experience by placing them in a trainer’s role.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, don’t forget to involve the injured worker and even the other employees in the process of finding meaningful alternate duties. The worker may have ideas about how to modify their existing tasks, or tell you about additional skill-sets they have that you weren’t aware of.

If you ensure that meaningful alternate duties and communication are important in your workplace, durable, productive return to work will remain important to your employee.