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What is a return to work/transitional work program?
BWC’s transitional work program offers meaningful, productive work to your workers with restrictions in helping them remain or return
to work sooner. It's a program the employer sets up so injured employees can return to work more quickly and safely — either in their
original job or a temporary work assignment until they're ready to resume their original job.
A transitional work program includes employee and/or union support, policies and procedures, management, supervisor and staff training,
preferred community health-care providers and program improvement. The program may involve strategies, such as purchasing tools and
equipment, modifying the work area, adjusting job tasks or allowing employees to work part time. Employers can help by opening the channels
of communication among the employee, the doctor, the employee's immediate supervisor, BWC and their managed care organization (MCO). This
increases the odds the worker will stay connected to the job and recover more quickly.
What happens if we don't have any light-duty jobs?
You and your employees can work together to identify temporary work tasks for the worker to do until he or she can return to full duty.
We recommend a company have a transitional work coordinator or someone in human resources whose role is to confer with the physician,
worker and the worker’s supervisor to identify suitable work task within the worker’s capabilities. Also, monitor the worker’s performance
while he or she participates in transitional work. Additionally, this person will serve as the liaison with the physician, supervisor,
transitional work therapist, vocational field case manager, MCO, BWC and all other persons directly, or indirectly, involved in the
administration of the transitional work program.
Examples of transitional work include: An injured worker helping stuff envelopes and putting on mailing labels for his or her company’s
marketing brochures. The manager of a restaurant assigns an injured server the work task of checking the customer’s order for accuracy.
My manager only wants workers who are 100 percent fit for duty. He fears that bringing injured employees back to work might hurt
productivity or incentives.
In most cases, some production is better than no production. It does not benefit employees or the employer to have a worker recover at
home. This prolongs recovery and allows the worker to develop a new routine at home as well as secondary conditions, such as depression,
weight gain and substance abuse. It may reduce the need for overtime help, and employers can benefit from cross training workers. Managers
can monitor the worker’s progress, activities and attitude and intervene when necessary. This may reduce litigations by the injured worker.
According to a recent study, litigated claims cost up to three times more than non-litigated claims with similar injuries. Statistics
show that injured workers rarely re-injure themselves if management assigns them to transitional work tasks that are within their
capabilities and everyone is aware of their abilities and functional limitations.
What are the benefits for the employer?
A transitional work program can help a company lower its direct and indirect human resource cost. Returning an injured worker to the job
as soon as safely possible before the worker is 100 percent recovered lowers medial costs, compensation costs and may reduce or suppress
the reserves on the claim. A program can improve a company’s bottom line by reducing claims, especially lost-time claims, reducing the
number of days a worker is away from his or her job and reduces claims filing lag time. National statistics show indirect cost for a
workplace injury that becomes a lost- time claim are four times greater than any direct claims expense. These costs include decreased
productivity, hiring and training replacements and overtime for loss work, legal expenses, loss morale, business and customer goodwill.
You can eliminate these costs or minimize them through transitional work. It’s a positive return on a company’s human resource investment
and its most valuable asset-their employees.
How will employee benefit by returning to work faster?
By returning to work sooner, an employee is less apt to face physical de-conditioning and loss of work skills. The worker will also
participate in work and keep earning money, which enhances self-worth and job satisfaction. And the quicker employees begin transitional
work, the sooner they can return to their original job. Union workers can continue to accrue seniority and union benefits. It reinforces
an employer’s commitment to his or her work force and reduces the fear of re-injury.
How do you deal with resistant injured or ill employees?
No one can force a worker to take part in transitional work. When an employer applies transitional work to an injured or ill worker who
has been out of work for an extended period of time, the worker may feel that transitional work is a cost saving measure for the employer.
The worker’s relationship with his or her supervisor or co-workers may become strained, and the worker has fears returning to the work place.
The philosophy of transitional work is to take a pro-active approach to dealing with injuries in the work place. It requires training
of all levels, which includes management, supervisors and workers. Upon hiring, employee orientation, which includes training in the
benefits of transitional work, sets up the expectations that if a worker is injured, the employer will expect he or she to return to work
with restrictions.
You need to communicate regularly training and reinforcement of the company policies. Additionally, the process needs to be the same
for everyone. There may be some variables based on each individual’s injury or illness; however, the employer must make every effort
to accommodate all workers. Every worker must feel the employer treats him or her fairly. If all employees are aware of a transitional
work program, you execute the policy well and consistently, over time you will drive out the workers who are looking to abuse absentee
policies, which results in a more committed and productive work force.
Is there a time limit for transitional program?
There needs to be a specific time limit for transitional work, and typically that depends on the type of industry. Programs generally
range from 30 days to 120 days. Since each program is specific to the company’s situation, you should continue it as long as the
transitional work committee establishes the worker is improving and the employer is benefiting from his or her work. However, as a
precaution, you should hold regular communication with the worker, physician, case manager, transitional work therapist and other
involved parties when the worker is in the program longer than 90 days. This ensures continued suitability of transitional work to allow
the worker to return to his or her regular job duties.
What do you do when an injured employee does not want to come back to work after the physician releases the worker to
transitional work?
The company’s transitional work coordinator can schedule a meeting and invite the employee to attend or call the worker. He or she
may explain to the worker that his or her physician has approved the outlined job duties as medically appropriate within the worker’s
limitation.
Doing transitional work tasks at work is one of the best ways for the employee to recover more quickly. The coordinator should obtain
the worker’s input and reason for not wanting to return. If appropriate, share the worker’s concerns with the physician and appropriate
parties to the claim. If the physician continues to approve transitional work, advise the worker that refusal to return to work may
jeopardize his or her workers’ compensation benefits.
The employer should send a registered letter to the worker along with the physician’s release to return to work, a return to work date,
restrictions from the physician and transitional work tasks that are within the workers’ capabilities. If the worker fails to return to
work on the assigned date, the employer should submit a copy of the documentation to the BWC claims service specialist handling the claim.
How does an employer get physicians to agree to transitional work?
Communicate with the physician and find out the reason the physician will not provide a release to return to work. Answer any questions
and concerns. Send the physician a copy of the worker’s job tasks and job analysis with the physical demands. Or send the physician a
job analysis of the transitional work tasks that are available. You may want to solicit help from a physical or occupational therapist
or the MCO.
If I have an issue with transitional work within my company, what should I do?
BWC can assist in resolving employers' concerns before they become roadblocks to transitional work success. Examples of these
issues include:
- Not receiving timely response from the worker’s physician of record or your managed care organization;
- Being unable to implement the program due to lack of training;
- Needing guidance with a worker in transitional work;
- Obtaining job analyses
- Union resistance.
A quick response and the creation of solutions to problems as they become apparent open communications and saves time and money.
To contact return to work services, send us an e-mail. Please include your name and
title, company name and address, e-mail address and phone number. For more information, call (614) 644-1510.
Related links:
Service office locator
TWG-EZ policies and procedures (PDF)
Division of Safety & Hygiene consulting services
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