Getting your employees back to work after an injury is essential to their physical recovery and mental health.
And it’s important for your business to get a valued and skilled team member ‘back on the tools’.
So when they do suffer an injury at work, there are a few essential things you should expect to help them back to the workplace, in their original role or a new one.
1. Access to quality treatment and medical providers
The evidence is clear that early intervention supports a quicker and more sustainable recovery, and a successful return to work from injury.
So you should expect your workers to access treatment within the first week of their injury.
In most instances, this should be ‘active’ treatment, like physiotherapy, exercise physiology, and psychology.
If this isn’t happening, you might need to advocate for it from the medical team or get an understanding of why it’s not appropriate for your staff member and their injury at this time.
If you are very regional, access can be more challenging.
Discussing alternatives through telehealth or coming up with alternative options is a good idea.
2. Engagement with a rehabilitation provider
Chances are, you’re one of the 97% of all employers in NSW that are considered ‘small/medium employers’.
Statistically, this means you’ll have lower numbers of workplace injuries and less experience with supporting workers returning to work following an injury.
Having an expert in your corner to guide you and your staff through this process ‘on the ground’ can significantly improve your injured workers’ successful recovery and return to work while leaving you to focus on running your business.
3. Potential use of ‘host’ workplaces to assist recovery
Regionally, there is a higher prevalence of small businesses that rely on manual labour and a workforce that needs to be multi-skilled and capable of completing a broad range of work tasks.
This can sometimes make it challenging to find ‘suitable duties’ or ‘light duties’ during recovery and rehabilitation because staff need to be a ‘jack of all trades’.
If this is the case, the rehabilitation team should seek a work trial placement with a host employer.
This is a workplace where the injured worker can supplement their treatment by participating in work-related activities to improve their recovery.
This doesn’t mean they no longer work for you or will leave your business.
It’s simply a proven strategy that’s used to get them back to working in your organisation more quickly.
At the end of the day, as a regional employer, you should get the same support as you’d expect in the city.
This means regular communication and updates, a personalised service that meets the needs of your business and your injured worker, and an undivided focus on recovery and recovering at work.
While some of the challenges for regional employers are unique due to the nature of their work and environment, having a team that can help you and the injured worker navigate these challenges together from the outset will ultimately result in better outcomes for everyone.
To learn more about how we can help your business, please contact us.
