All employees are not the same˳ To keep your business going each day, do you find that you speak and approach each employee differently˳ That same method may hold true when you are working with employees to get them quickly and safely back to work after a worker’s compensation claim˳
Return to Work Approach One Employee at A Time
Just as tasks and duties are matched to each employee so to should the return-to-work program˳ There are many different return-to-work programs that can be utilized˳ Matching the program to the specific employees’ personalities to get the most successful results˳ While one employee may respond well to several phone calls a week, another may find that to be too intrusive˳ Finding the balance is the key to getting employees back to work quickly, effectively and as a benefit to your business˳
There are generally, primarily four different employee personality types ranging from fully satisfied to completely unsatisfied˳ The four types are:
Satisfied and Engaged: One who is happy and needs no prodding to return to work˳
Satisfied and Non-engaged: One who is happy, but complacent with staying out of work˳
Unhappy and Passive: One who is unhappy, but does not willfully concoct schemes to stay out of work˳ However, they may take advantage of the system to stay out longer than needed˳
Unhappy and Active: One who is very unhappy with his or her situation and will actively attempt to take advantage of the system˳ This employee does not want to return, concocts schemes to stay out longer and is actively working on a plan to never return to work˳
The majority of employees will fall under one of these description categories and will respond similarly to different return to work strategies˳ The key is to handle each situation according to the personalities of the employees˳
Suit The Personality of the Employee
For example, a satisfied and engaged employee might be someone who has not missed a day of work in years, goes to company events, and is always looked to as a go-getter˳ A workers comp claim might be perceived as a setback to this type of individual and little interaction from the employer will be necessary in order to get him to return to work˳ In this case, a recommended strategy is to send a get well card and work in partnership to provide a productive transitional duty position˳ Employer actions in this case such as aggressive surveillance can have the opposite effect and make the employee unwilling to return to work˳ With a satisfied and non-engaged employee, a more interactive approach can be used˳ For example; inviting the employee to seminars or training events prior to the return˳ This will provide an introductory stage to the return-to-work program˳
An engaged and unhappy employee in the same situation will require a completely different approach˳ This type of employee is usually trying to not return-to-work˳ Employers of engaged and unhappy employees will need to take a much more aggressive approach including devising and implementing fraud prevention measures, surveillance procedures, hiring investigators, and having frequent constant monitoring type contact with the employee˳ Without igniting the process of returning to work, the employee will stall it forever˳
Finally, devise your back to work program per employee as you know the employee˳ A cookie cut program is the least successful program˳
Source by https://ezinearticles˳com/?Employee-Return-to-Work-Program&id=9616746
