Our better at work approach helps us manage claims by focusing on recovery. Research, including evidence from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM, 2006), shows that staying active and returning to work helps people recover faster. Returning to some form of work also leads to better health outcomes than medical treatment alone.
Our better at work approach follows these four key principles:
1. Work is important to overall well-being
Work is generally good for physical and mental health, and promotes well-being. It also helps people feel a sense of self-worth and identity.
Remaining inactive for a long period of time can delay a person’s recovery and increase the risk of chronic pain and other complications. Research has shown that unemployment can lead to poorer physical and psychological health outcomes and higher mortality rates.
2. Early intervention is key
Returning to work early after a workplace injury is a vital part of the rehabilitation process and is key in preventing permanent disability. Even short absences from work can create psychosocial concerns. After 12 weeks away from work, the risk of prolonged work absence increases dramatically. By six months, only 50 per cent of people ever return to full-time employment. Returning to work early is more effective at resolving symptoms of depression. This suggests there a critical window of time during which returning to work has the greatest positive effect on a person’s health.
3. Returning to work enhances recovery and is part of the rehabilitation process
Research has shown that returning to work is critical to the recovery process and should be used as rehabilitation to enhance recovery, increase activity and function, and optimize successful and sustained employment. Some people think that resting and doing less helps everyone heal faster from any injury and that working makes things worse. But research shows that too much rest can actually slow down recovery and may even cause harm. There is a positive association between returning to work and health outcomes in a variety of populations, at different times and in different settings.
4. Barriers in returning to work are often wrongly seen as medical problems
In many cases, there is no medical reason for someone not to return to work immediately. Research shows that non-medical issues are frequently treated as medical problems when they shouldn’t be. Factors that often prevent people from working are organization of work, quality of life management, inflexibility of the workplace and changing nature of work. Other barriers include lack of education or skills, poverty, and limited employment opportunities. By focusing on workplace flexibility and better communication, we can help people return to work safely and sooner.
Better at work in practice at the WSIB
Our current programs and practices support the better at work approach. For example, the guiding principles for managing low back injuries focus on appropriate health care and return to work as part of the person’s rehabilitation to promote active recovery. Better at work and our case management framework share the same goal: helping people achieve a successful and lasting return to work.
The better at work principle is also strongly aligned to our return to work policies. Legislation, policy and practice are all based on the idea that active recovery happens in the workplace and that returning to work is a key part of the recovery plan. Our definition of suitable work, which means work must be safe, productive and consistent with the person’s functional abilities. While not everyone can return to work immediately after an injury, early conversations about the better at work principle can lead to a suitable return to work and health recovery.
References
There are many references for better at work. We used these references for this article:
- American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2006). ACOEM Guideline – Prevent-ing needless work disability by helping people stay employed. Retrieved 14 December 2011. http://www. acoem.org/PreventingNeedlessWorkDisability.aspx
- Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2011). Australian and New Zealand Consensus Statement on the Health Benefits of Work: Realising the Health Benefits of Work. October/ November. www.racp.edu.au
- Black, C (2008). Working for a healthier tomorrow: Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of Britain’s working age population. London: The Stationary Office, 17 March.
- (Advice to stay active as a single treatment for low-back pain and sciatica) [Review] Hilde G, Hagen KB, Jamtvedt G, Winnem M. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Date of Most Recent Update: 23 August 2005. Date of Most Recent Substantive Update: 31 January 2002 {Cochrane Back Group}.
- Rueda, S, Chambers, L, Wilson, M, Mustard, C, Rourke, S, Bayoumi, A, Raboud, J, Lavis, J (2012). As-sociation of returning to work with better health in working-aged adults: A systematic review. American Journal of Public Health. Volume 102, No. 3 p. 563.
- Waddell, G and Burton AK (2006). Is Work Good for Your Health and Well-being? London: The Stationary Office.
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