We know that returning injured employees to work in a timely manner improves outcomes both for the employee and the school district. That’s why the Puget Sound Workers’ Compensation Trust created a Return-to-Work Program to address the gap between workers being released back to work and districts being able to accommodate light or modified duty restrictions.
Why Return-to-Work?
An effective Return-to-Work Program is the best way to manage claim costs and improve employee recovery after a workplace injury has occurred. Statistics show that injured workers who are off work longer than 6 months only have a 50% chance of ever returning to their job.
Benefits of Return-to-Work
In addition to decreasing costs in time loss payments, medical expenses, and insurance premiums, return-to-work programs provide many benefits:
- Reduces risk of re-injury
- Lowers costs in hiring and training of replacements
- Shows commitment to employees
- Maintains employer-employee relationship
- Minimizes loss of productivity
- Maintains skills of injured workers
- Retains sense of job security for injured workers
- Improves injured workers’ sense of well-being
Our Goals
One of our key goals is to bring stakeholders together for the best workforce outcomes. To achieve this goal, we are focusing on our Return-to-Work Interactive Process. This process ensures that all stakeholders are engaged and that all available return-to work options are thoroughly explored at the district level.
