While most people are happier if they are performing productive work
rather than being at home and isolated, there are factors that may make
a return to work less likely. It is the role of the return to work
coordinator and joint labour-management committee to identify and
eliminate these personal and environmental barriers when possible, or to
diminish their effect.
Some of the barriers and examples of how they might negatively impact
return to work include:
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Design, delivery and entitlement of benefits: Some
benefit programs do not permit maintenance of benefits during partial
return to work, thereby forcing disabled workers to stay off work
until fully recovered, possibly increasing the length of recovery
time. Others do not permit a trial return to work or penalize the
worker if a trial return to work was not successful.
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Corporate policies: Some companies may discourage or
ban communications with injured or ill workers, thereby disconnecting
workers from their social ties in the workplace and eliminating
discussion of possible accommodations that would allow the worker to
return to work. Other policies may charge the cost of accommodations
or modified return to work to the specific departments in which an
individual works, while charging disability premiums to overall
administrative budgets. As a result, a department which accommodates
a worker with disabilities may see its productivity adversely impacted
despite an overall cost saving to the company.
-
Collective agreement issues: Some provisions of
collective agreements may make it difficult to return the worker to a
modified or different job, either temporarily or permanently. These
may include clauses on call back after layoff, seniority provisions or
job classification.
-
Psychological factors of disability: Disability,
especially when permanent and life-changing, may have profound impacts
on the person's mental health and social network, leading to
depression, anger and personality changes, especially when the
individual also experiences a loss of income and a loss of the status
and social contacts that come from meaningful employment The worker
may be reluctant to return to work, fearing reinjury. If workers have
been off work for a long period of time, they may have adjusted their
lives to a pace and structure that makes it difficult to return to
regular employment. In addition, they may have become isolated from
their coworkers and lack the social connection to the workplace.
-
Location and type of organization where the injured/ill worker
is employed: An employer located in a remote community with
few social or health services may find it more difficult to return an
injured or ill worker to modified or full-time employment than one
located near many services and support bodies. Smaller organizations
may have more limited resources, and may lack experienced and trained
labour and management representatives familiar with the health care
and rehabilitation issues related to effective return to work.
-
Nature of disability: Temporary disabilities
requiring relatively short rehabilitation and modified work times
before an individual returns to their pre-disability employment
generally impose fewer difficulties for workplaces than severe
illnesses and injuries. The latter may require longer periods of
rehabilitation and graduated return to work and/or result in a
permanent disability and inability to return to the previous job.
Progressive chronic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis where the
person's health status may be continually changing, may also present
challenges to accommodation. Mental health issues are often the most
difficult to accommodate due to social attitudes about these problems.
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Legislative implications: Provisions of the
employment standards and occupational health and safety legislation
may be a barrier in returning some individuals to work. For example,
some provinces have legislation requiring that a person be paid for a
certain number of hours per day even if they work shorter hours. A
worker returning to work may initially only be able to work a couple
of hours a day because of disability.
-
Performance/productivity issues: Permanent
modifications to a job may place additional demands on coworkers that
may decrease their productivity and increase their chances of illness
and injury. If workers are returned prematurely to duties that they
are not able to handle, they may reinjure themselves or jeopardize the
safety of others working around them.
-
Workplace environment challenges: The age and
condition of the workplace and the nature of the work performed may
make it difficult to make the physical changes and workplace
modifications that allow the individual to return to work. Workers
with certain types of disabilities, e.g., diabetes may find it
difficult to return to work in remote or isolated settings.
-
Lack of related experience and requisite skills and training
in the employee with a disability: An employee who cannot
return to the previous job or requires extensive modification may need
education or training to operate the assistive technology or perform a
new job.
-
Supervisor knowledge of how to make accommodations:
Supervisors may know very little about the assistive technology
available to assist a person with a disability. They may also not
know how to modify work during the recovery/rehabilitation process.
-
Attitudes or stereotypes among co-workers and supervisors
towards persons with disabilities: Coworkers and supervisors
may be fearful that the person with disabilities may not be able to
"pull their weight" or make meaningful contributions. They may be
particularly fearful of persons with a mental health issue or
judgmental about a person with a substance abuse problem.
