All too often our biggest focus in disAbility management is how fast can we get someone back to work. Rather than making this your goal, cultivate a culture of genuine and universal concern for your injured and/or ill employees. Their chances of a speedy recovery is exponentially increased when the organization says 'I want you back yesterday' and we can help! Too many employees [...]
This issue seems to be arising much more frequently these days and unfortunately, employers are not handling it well whatsoever. If you take one or two notes and accommodate, I can guarantee you, there is a line of employees wanting to change their shift as well. How do run an organization, let's say a hospital, if a majority of your employees only want to [...]
It's very frustrating to me when I hear or read about how employers are accommodating their sick or injured employee. There's a right way to do this, and then there's the lazy way. Let's start with the lazy way - since it seems to happen all too often. When a worker provides restrictions or limitations, it's so easy to pull them out of their [...]
I've had the pleasure lately to talk to a few organizations about disability and wellness, and unfortunately, I seem to be the only one with a different mindset. For those of you that are inclined to read and listen, you may actually be the fortunate ones. Employers believe that weight loss and exercise is the way to wellness and reduced disability claims. I'm thinking [...]
Over the years we've become very good at establishing appropriate accommodations when someone has a physical injury such as a sore back, or repetitive strain injury (RSI) but we need to get great at accommodating those with mental health issues. This seems to be a relatively new concept, one that is still yet to be adopted by most employers but definitely crucial in our [...]
WSIB has a campaign to eliminate workplace accidents called Road to Zero. In one of my earlier blogs, I wrote that I thought this was impossible. I still believe this today, unfortunately. Accidents happen all the time. The whole point of safety in the workplace is to reduce and/or eliminate them from happening but they continue to happen. With the new Rate Framework to [...]
A recent conversation with a new disability case manager sparked this blog. 'Since the employer is paying my salary, I work for the employer and have their best interest in mind. Right?' Wrong! Your job as a disability case manager is to 'sit on the fence' and represent BOTH sides with integrity and diligence. We do our job by representing the employer but not [...]
I believe in ghosts. Now you may think this is a little too far off the beaten track - the business beaten track - but to be perfectly honest, it isn't. Sometimes, we leave workplace policies, people and behaviors, in our plants, offices and other working environments that just nag at us continuously for years after we tossed them out. So, this is my [...]
Prevention is the KEY to Cost Containment With WSIB’s New Rate Framework Modernization starting January 1, 2020, it is time for employers to decrease their financial impact of work related claims and allow for significant cost containment through prevention utilizing a variety of strategies such as: advanced WSIB trainingonsite occupational health care measuresrecruitment or hiring of health care professionals establishing preferred vendor contractsimplementation of Health [...]
There hasn’t been too many times in my 30 year career in disability management where I’ve met an employee that has been too eager to return to work, but they do pose a big problem when you do have one. disAbility claims management seems to focus on the continuous effort of case managers to move the employees along to a return to work on [...]
