If you want to be a RTW Coordinator in Australia—or if, as often occurs in smaller organisations, you’re volunteered for the job—legislation requires that you complete a training course that runs for between one and three days. In most instances, following completion of this short course you’ll only be qualified to coordinate RTW in the jurisdiction you do your training in (although Vic, NSW and QLD have collaborated on an “add on” training module, that allows RTW coordinators to move between states).

RTW Coordinators in larger organisations may well have supporting qualifications, for example in rehabilitation or human resources, but most RTW Coordinator training courses don’t mandate that this be the case. In fact, most RTW Coordinator training courses have no prerequisites: you can move into the position with a clean slate. Or, to put a different slant on the situation, you can get thrown in the deep end before you know how to swim!

While RTW Coordinators around the nation do manage to get their job done (and then some!), the fact remains that one to three days training isn’t much time to equip someone with the skills and knowledge necessary to juggle all the roles RTW Coordination entails. The training, you’d think, would want to be pretty bloody spot on. Is this the case?

According to research conducted by Liberty Mutual (which we’ve profiled in detail here) experienced RTW coordinators from Australia, Canada and the US articulate a shared view of the key competencies needed to keep their heads above water.

The top five competencies are:

• Respecting and maintaining confidentiality;
• Having ethical practices as a RTW Coordinator;
• Having listening skills;
• Ability to communicate well verbally—both in person and on the phone—and in writing, including email; and
• Being consistent in what you say and what you do.

There is broad agreement amongst RTW Coordinators that responding in a timely manner, instilling trust and confidence and demonstrating good organisational, planning and problem solving skills are also essential.

Interestingly, communication, negotiation and problem solving take precedence over other useful knowledge / skills, such as:

• Formal knowledge of workplace policies and procedures relating to RTW;
• Workers’ comp laws and practices;
• Health and disability insurance benefits and procedures; and
• The work disability implications of various medical conditions, especially functional implications of specific diagnoses.

An understanding of medical issues is seen as useful but inessential: understanding job requirements and the workplace is more important.

The researchers at Liberty Mutual also contacted the principle investigators from 13 RTW intervention focused studies, who told them that successful RTW coordinators come from varied backgrounds (including social work and education), but share some key traits. They tend to be:

• People people;
• Good negotiators; and
• Clear and credible communicators.

As the researchers at Liberty Mutual observed, this insider know-how on required skills isn’t reflected in the content of RTW Coordinator training courses.

Precisely what is covered by RTW Coordinator training in Australia varies slightly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and—depending on the degree of standardisation within each jurisdiction—from training provider to training provider. We looked at the training courses on offer in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

All the training courses we saw cover RTW plans, policies and procedures, employer obligations within the specific scheme, the relevant legislation, and also include components on managing injuries and risks. All devote time to explaining what, exactly, the role of a RTW coordinator is.

There are, however, some significant oversights. Barriers to RTW, communication and conflict management are only dealt with sporadically. The training course run by Business SA was the only one we saw that addressed the ‘physical, psychological, family / social and work elements of an injured / ill workers life’ (i.e. the biopsychosocial issues).

Is failing to provide training in these vital issues really the best way to equip RTW Coordinators for their pivotal and demanding role? While money and time are barriers to increasing the length of the courses, the curriculum for RTW Coordinator training could do with a re-think.

Many of the skills that RTW Coordinators need, however, can’t be trained for in a classroom. In fact, one thing that RTW Coordinators have stressed is that getting appropriate mentorship and work experience are more important than the training they receive.

The key features of success identified by RTW Coordinators are:

• Being able to educate supervisors, workers and providers about the importance of RTW and getting everyone on board;
• Empathy—a capacity to let everyone know that their concerns are being taken seriously and that a solution is being sought;
• Communication—keeping the messages about rtw positive;
• Negotiation skills; and
• A willingness to offer ongoing support.

RTW Coordinators also identified competencies that are best acquired via on-the-job training, mentorship, supervision and feedback, rather than via formal training. These include:

• Ability to evaluate RTW barriers and develop and implement solutions;
• Ability to organise and direct a group effort to achieve RTW;
• Ability to maintain focus on the important RTW issues;
• Effective and appropriate communication in the RTW context; and
• Consensus-building amongst diverse stakeholders.

When we googled RTW mentor and limited our search results to Australia, there were only 301 results. (And quite a few were links to the RTWKnowledge base, and RTWMatters!) Only one that we could see related to an actual mentoring program.

What other mentoring opportunities are out there? What is needed that doesn’t yet exist? If RTW Coordinator training and mentoring opportunities are inadequate (and you’d know better than us) the RTW community needs to get vocal about it.