What’s in it for me? The importance of an early return to work

Supporting injured workers early makes good business sense. As an employer, your attitude towards your worker is critical to return to work. When a worker considers their employer’s response to their injury to be fair and constructive, their return-to-work rate is between 43 to 52 per cent higher.

Best practice

You know that supporting injured workers early makes good business sense (PDF, 1.71 MB).

By supporting your workers right away, you increase the likelihood of a faster recovery and early return to work.

Why this is important

The risk of a poor outcome is about four times higher for a workplace injury compared to a non-workplace injury.

As an employer, your attitude towards your worker is critical to return to work. When a worker considers their employer’s response to their injury to be fair and constructive, their return-to-work rate is between 43 to 52 per cent higher.

If you support your workers early, you will benefit your business by:

• less disruption to everyday business-as-usual with reduced work absence
• building a positive workplace culture and morale
• lower staff replacement costs and premium costs.

You will also meet your legal obligation to take all reasonable steps to provide rehabilitation for injured workers to facilitate their early and safe return to work.

Your toolkit

• Build your capacity and knowledge about rehabilitation and return to work by subscribing to this e-bulletin and the Return to Work Queensland Facebook page, and share these resources with your colleagues.
• Complete an approved training course for rehabilitation and return to work coordinators to build or consolidate your skills and abilities.
• Intervene early and plan your worker’s return to work as soon as possible after they’ve been injured. Research shows that you can do this by:
  • making genuinely supportive, regular contact with an injured worker
  • offering alternative work duties to assist with an injured workers’ recovery
  • providing injured workers with information on their rights and responsibilities
  • treating workers fairly during and after the claims process, for example, by being transparent and timely with communications, and not punishing workers by withholding hours or opportunities in future.
• Have suitable duties available and use job task analysis and return to work checklists to help identify opportunities to return to work safely.
• Use return to work checklists and plans to help treating providers and supervisors identify early return to work options and keep everyone informed and working collaboratively.
• Offer supervisor support and training to build stronger teams (PDF, 0.09 MB) and generate a positive workplace culture.
• Read WorkCover Queensland’s Employer Return to Work Guide (PDF, 0.06 MB) and support injured workers to recover by providing some certainty about what to expect when they are ready to return to work.
• Promote the benefits of early return to work in your workplace policies, and with your supervisors and RRTWCs.
• Be inspired by real world examples of how other employers have overcome challenges when a worker is injured.