Rehabilitation: Better management is needed to help employees back to work
Calls for greater interaction from employers in the rehabilitation and return to work process of employees have been made by a leading medical scientist.
Discussing the need for a change in the way rehabilitation is managed, Professor Gordon Waddell, said absenteeism and incapacity rates will only fall if the thinking behind rehabilitation as a concept changes.
"The traditional thinking behind rehabilitation is designed for severe illness, addressing permanent impairment. This is a different way of thinking to common health problems, which are less severe. Most of these episodes get better quite quickly as they are genuine health problems that can be addressed. The real question is why some people do not recover as expected," he said.
Referring to bio-psychosocial factors that may aggravate the return to work process, Waddell explained that challenging the traditional idea of rehabilitation will help it become more effective. "Rehabilitation is about dealing with obstacles to recovery, we need a different approach to these issues. It cannot be a second stage after healthcare has failed, it must be integrated into work and occupational management," he said.
Despite acknowledging the importance of return to work schemes to reduce employee absenteeism, the call for greater involvement from employers in the rehabilitation process has been attacked by the industry.
"Employee rehabilitation and broader sickness and absence management are increasingly topical and high profile issues. However, while the importance of these issues is widely accepted, the lack of hard evidence as to which approach organisations should take to deal with them continues to hamper both advisers and employers alike," said David Prosser, corporate development manager at independent financial consultants, Sedgwick.
