It is advisable to obtain a commitment from senior management, supervisors and staff to ensure that injured employees are looked after. Together, they can work towards preventing injury and improving injury management systems.

Other key people in the return to work process include the RTW coordinator, HR and unions, and last but not least, the injured employee.

Once senior management are on board with the policy, it becomes much easier to implement. It should be clearly defined, and provide a pathway for all parties involved. 

Teams develop better solutions to problems than individuals do. Teams should not only help to develop the policies and procedures, they should also have input into ensuring the best results for the injured employee. The side benefit is that it frees up the RTW coordinator to focus on strategic improvements to the system. 

Collaborative policies are also more likely to be followed by all employees. It ensures that all aspects are covered, and that the policies aren’t inappropriate for the workplace.

Collaboration requires mutual trust however, and this depends on what occurs between the key players. To ensure cooperation, the RTW coordinator should develop an atmosphere of trust, listening and mutual respect.

In a positive and collaborative environment, it is less likely that there will be disputes, workplace modifications occur as required, claim rates are lower, dealing with doctors is easier, delays are avoided, there is trust in the workplace and employee well-being is the focus.

In a negative and non-collaborative environment, new claims tend to be met with suspicion, employees don’t feel cared for and they have lower thresholds for submitting claims, challenges are made to claims, RTW progress is slow, doctors are more difficult and legal costs begin to add up.

(National RTW Survey 2013 - Safe Work Australia)

Caring for employees

Many employers believe that through accepting claims, there will be an increase in claims numbers. They believe that through being in control, they will avoid frivolous claims and having employees take advantage of the system. This is not true.

The research consistently shows that where care is paramount, the ultimate cost to the organisations is much less and there are better outcomes. Alternatively, where control is paramount, it costs the organisation more and there are worse outcomes for the injured workers.

Care also results in lower claim numbers, a large decrease in lost time claims, improved cooperation and a reduction in long term disability claims. There will also likely be a short term increase in claims numbers as those who have been fearful of reporting do so.

A constructive approach from employers tends to lead to employees putting in more discretionary effort. As a result, outcomes improve.

By and large, if you do the right thing by employees, they will do the right thing by you.

Sharing tasks

When tasks around RTW are appropriately distributed, there are many advantages. If a workers is on modified duties and these duties are implemented by supervisors with an understanding of the role, then better outcomes can be expected. 

The RTW coordinator is then able to spend more time on injury management and prevention, increasing efficiency, cost-effectiveness and safety, and improving RTW outcomes.

When the RTW coordinator is expected to do everything, there are many unnecessary delays and inefficiencies, with resulting frustrations demotivating all involved. The outcome is therefore worse.

When the RTW coordinator is able to delegate to supervisors, appropriate modified duties are developed more effectively, and the RTW coordinator can spend more time on influencing, implementing and engaging rather than being trapped dealing with something that the supervisor can take care of.

Employees and management must understand that the RTW coordinator’s role is to coordinate and not to complete the injury management process.

A team approach means that each key stakeholder understands what each other are responsible for in addition to their own tasks.