We have work to do when accommodating injured/ill employees.

The best way to accommodate an injured/ill employee is to modify and/or alter their pre-illness/injury position, and make the accommodation in their own job, and in their own department. This takes a bit of work however and in our busy work schedule, some are more apt to take the quickest way to make the accommodation happen. I can guarantee you in the end, this could pose problems to a regular return to work.

More times than not, I find employees take longer to get better and longer to return to their pre-disability position, along with a feelings of isolation, away from their usual crew of co-workers, and potentially supervisor.

The best way to accommodate into their own position is to ensure you are extremely familiar with the employee’s job – get out of your office and go and look at the job. If possible, do the job yourself. If this isn’t possible, ask other workers that perform the job, and at the very least, involve the injured/ill employee in the arranging of modified work in his/her own job.

Obviously there is always some extenuating circumstances that may prevent this from happening, but in most cases, the employee will recover much quicker doing a portion of his/her own job, with his/her own co-workers and own supervisor and/or manager to oversee his/her work.


If, as a case manager, you don’t have the skills to dissect the pre-injury position into tasks, and then attach physical demands to each task, then ask for some professional help from either a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, occupational health nurse, kinesiologist, or other trained professional to assist you in this endeavor.

It is a crucial component of the accommodation process to thoroughly understand which tasks an injured/ill employee can perform with the documented limitations provided, without finding an alternate job for them to perform.

Get in touch with me and let’s see how I can help your team and your organization with your occupational health needs, remain and return to work programs and absenteeism.