“If You Really Want to Cut Through the Bureaucracy, Inefficiencies, and Confusion In Return To Work,
And Eliminate Excessive Disability Payments and Unproductive Time,
This Comprehensive Guide to Successful RTW Is Just What You Need”

Developed by our dedicated team of veteran RTW professionals around the evidence –based principles of successful return to work, these handbooks are a landmark guide to successful RTW. You will learn all about the three critical areas of effective RTW management -- Injury Management, Workplace Systems, and Depression Management. More importantly, you’ll learn how to treat injured or sick workers with compassion and dignity, while facilitating their speedy but healthy return to the workplace.

Get your free eBook copy of the Injury and Case Management Handbook of Successful RTW with your membership to RTW Matters. Click here to get it now.

Are you…

• A Newbie RTW Coordinator just starting to learn the ropes;
• A veteran RTW professional trying to find better ways to do your job;
• A small business owner wanting to foster better RTW management in your company;
• A treater in RTW seeking to serve injured or sick employees better; or
• A claims manager or insurance agent wanting to work more harmoniously with injured employees and their employers…

Whatever your role is as a Return To Work professional, the expert advice, extensive resources, and passionate support you’ll find in RTWMatters.org will no doubt help you handle RTW cases smoothly.

That’s because, as you most probably know, RTW is inherently complex. In every case, there are at least four groups of stakeholders –

• The injured employee and his or her family
• The employer and its other employees(co-workers / management)
• Treater (doctor, specialists, rehab professionals)
• Insurer (claims management, senior management, policy makers).

Without proper coordination, the different roles, needs and expectations of the parties involved could easily lead to misunderstanding, conflict of interest, and even acrimony and red tape. These can all cause unnecessary delays and unwelcome vexations.

Here Are A Few Examples Of Common RTW Problems In The Workplace

• A RTW coordinator or co-employees who don’t have any idea what to do in the first five minutes of an injury or sickness are actually setting up an adversarial RTW case down the road. This scenario could easily trigger resentment on the part of the injured or sick employee for perceived lack of care and sympathy.

• A employer who doesn’t fully appreciate the role of the treater in RTW may find himself or herself having difficulty in finding a suitable doctor or clinic when an injury or sickness occurs. And what does this all lead to?

Inefficiencies and confusion in handling RTW cases that in turn will result in:

• Keeping the injured worker away from work longer than necessary, or delaying his or her resumption of normal duties longer than necessary. This actually slows down his or her recovery and can lead to psychological complications such as depression and feelings of unworthiness for being an economic burden.

• Prolonged disability claims. This will cost the employer time, money, and resources which otherwise would have been better invested in health and productivity.

• Inconveniences, emotional and mental stress, and even discrimination against the injured or sick employee.

• And, worse of all, the disabled worker not returning to work at all. This is the ultimate price of poor RTW management.

As an RTW Professional, you know this happens all the time. And the root cause is usually lack of knowledge of the RTW best practices.

Not a very good picture, don’t you agree?

But You Can Do Something About It Right Now
Inexpensively and Conveniently

It’s precisely for this reason that RTW Matters was born - to gather together the latest research and information on RTW in one convenient place, and make this available to RTW Professionals like you, in the hope of helping you foster a healthier RTW atmosphere in your workplace.

As social advocates driven by a genuine concern for the occupational welfare of employees, we strongly believe bridging this knowledge gap is the key to solving these problems.

That’s why if you:

     are genuinely concerned about making the plight of injured or sick employees much better;
     want to help smoothen the often adversarial multi-party interaction in RTW cases; or
     want to help your company save on disability payments and reduce the negative impact of lost productivity...

... your subscription to RTW Matters and your free access to the handbooks can help you meet all that.

Quick Preview of the Successful Return to Work Handbooks

Here’s a Quick Preview of What You’ll Get from our landmark Handbooks on Successful RTW.


1.    Injury and Case Management Handbook

It's easy to miss the beginning of the RTW process. While you might think that RTW starts when an employee actually returns to the workplace, it actually starts within the first five minutes of an injury.

This handbook explains the whole gamut of properly managing an injury to settlement of claims, including advice on:

• What to do in the critical first five minutes of an injury. Follow these steps and principles and you’ll avoid rousing any resentment on the part of the employee.
• What you should do in the first 48 hours to a week after illness or injury to ensure a successful early RTW.
• How to navigate the medical industry. You’ll learn the key to establishing the right relationships with clinics, doctors, hospitals and specialists to get the best medical care just when it’s needed.
• Discovering a 9-point step by step guide to dispute a claim properly and avoid escalating the claims costs. Remember, disputed claims can easily add $10,000 to $50,000 if not properly managed.
• How to identify high risk cases that may lead to bigger disability claims if not addressed early. You’ll get a detailed checklist demonstrating how to determine red flags and take a proactive intervention early on.
• What to do if the injured employee is not back to work after 3 weeks. At this point, the chance that the employee will not return is already at 30%.
• And much more, from the proven best proactive practices to achieve successful Return to Work, deciding on return to work duties, and drawing up effective and responsive RTW plans, to injury management, disability management and rehabilitation, and understanding the barriers to RTW: the patient, the scope of work of a RTW coordinator.

2.    Workplace Systems Handbook

Experience has shown us that there’s a simple equation when it comes to returning people to work:

Good systems = Good results

While managing individual cases is important, the best way to promote good outcomes (while keeping your sanity and enjoying your job) is to have workplace systems that work.

Creating a best practice work disability program requires an understanding of work injury management, and health and wellness programs, as well as strong project management skills.

In this handbook, you will:

• Learn the four-point argument to get senior management to commit to best practice RTW systems by referring to the costs of poor injury management and the benefits of having a good system.
• Get the six powerful pointers for getting the workforce to commit to your Injury Management System.
• Discover the key to eliciting organisation-wide support for an effective RTW program.
• Learn the specific roles and responsibilities that employees, co-workers, supervisors, RTW coordinators, senior management, and Union officials should comply with to ensure the successful implementation of an effective injury prevention program and return to work management.
• Learn who is responsible for case management, and the 10 commandments of effective injury management to make it work all the time.
• Identify the best injury reporting system for your organisation.  Injury reporting can provide a great start for return to work, or be the greatest obstacle.  Learn the eight reporting system ‘must-haves’ and explore whether the five commonly used injury reporting systems provide these.
• Examine whether your system needs to be improved.
• Learn how to choose the right RTW coordinators in your company, Identify the skills and competencies you need to look out for in a potential RTW coordinator, and the training he or she must undergo.
• Learn the key elements of ergonomics programs that ensure their success, Discover how organisations that reduce injury rates and improve return to work through ergonomic initiatives have developed and implemented their programs.
• Discover the six key elements to cultivating a best practice workplace culture, and the Golden Rules of Cultural Transformation.
• Get support to develop your written work disability policy and the six major elements that it should include.
• Identity the key factors that result in a workplace health program being useful and achieve the result you want.  Workplace health programs are ‘all the rage’, but they don’t work in all circumstances, so identify what you need to do to make your program effective, and cost effective.
• Identify the three most commonly used methods for assessing, mapping and improving your company’s current RTW system.
• Learn and understand the three principles that underpin an effective partnership approach to injury management possible, asbest practice injury management is built on cooperation between all parties.
• And much more, from understanding injury, disability and lost time patterns; understanding and calculating costs of poorly managed RTW; appreciating injury prevention and safety programs; and wage replacement management.

3. Working on Depression Handbook: A practical guide to the management of depression in the workplace

Depression affects one in ten Australians in the workplace. It can affect the productivity of an employee, and may increase workers compensation costs.

An effective return to work program that manages depression in the workplace needs to be based on a good understanding of its causes, manifestations and effects.

Do you know all the facts about handling depression in the workplace?

This handbook will give you that understanding, as well as the right help and clear support to manage employees with depression and assist in their successful return to work.

Topics covered will help you:

• Understand the nature of depression: why it is relevant in the workplace, and what can you do about it.
• Know the symptoms and signs that indicate an employee may be suffering from depression, and what you should do if you suspect that someone in the workplace is depressed.
• Identify the common barriers to effective management and treatment of depression in the workplace and how you can overcome them to prevent its negative impact from escalating.
• Understand the different contributing causes of depression. Awareness of these factors can put you in a better position to recognize, manage and prevent depression in the workplace.
• Know and learn how to address the anxiety and trepidation faced by employees returning to work after a bout with depression. Failure to address these challenges can make return to work difficult for the employee and may even potentially undermine RTW altogether.
• Understand what you should aim for when implementing an effective Return to Work program and how to provide supervisors with training and education to help reduce the amount of time lost to depression.
• Learn how to develop and implement a depression awareness program in your workplace to effectively counter the still prevalent misconception that depression is a personal weakness.
• Discover eight simple steps you can take that will go a long way in preventing depression in the workplace.
• And much more, from knowing the nature of antidepressant medications and psychotherapy (what these should treatments aim for, how long they should take, and whether there should be a continuing post-depression treatment to prevent recurrence); and what to do if someone is at risk of harming themselves or others; to additional external resources to help further your knowledge on depression and ability to help employees who are suffering from it.

As I’ve said, access to the Injury and Case Management Handbook, Workplace Systems Handbook, and Working on Depression Guide Handbook is freely available to our paying members.

There’s a Whole Lot More
You Can Get from RTWMatters.org

But of course there’s so much more you’ll get as a RTW Matters member.

Aside from our landmark handbooks, you will also gain full access to a vault full of resources, tools, training and support. From the hundreds of members-only in-depth articles and features, to highly useful research, tools, resources and links to the best RTW resources from around the world.

The One and Only
Return to Work Resource
You’ll Ever Need...

Without doubt, the Handbooks to Successful Return to Work PLUS the vast collection of articles, features and resources are the most comprehensive compilation of the current best RTW practices. It’s just what you need to manage RTW cases efficiently and effectively, while doing it harmoniously and with a healthy dose of mutual respect and compassion.

I sincerely doubt if you can ever find anything like RTW Matters.org in Australia or anywhere else in the world. I believe that you won’t find another organisation that can match our dedication and expertise in employees’ occupational welfare, as well as match the massive collection of RTW resources we’ve accumulated from all of these years.

…For Only A Few Cents A Day

And the most amazing part is…

It will only cost you less than 37 cents a day to be a member of our extensive network tailored fit for RTW Professionals.

And in return for that measly amount, you will get the comprehensive Handbooks to Successful Return to Work and all the resources and support you need to promote and cultivate the best possible RTW conditions in your workplace.

Join Us
 For a Better RTW Management
Starting Today

I promise you, once you join us and have access to the handbooks and other invaluable resources, your experience in RTW will never be the same again.

So I strongly urge you to join RTW Matters.org right now and bring your RTW experience to a whole new harmonious level. Just click on this link to sign up.

Sincerely
Dr Mary Wyatt
Editor

P.S. An eBook version of the Injury and Case Management Handbook is given as a free gift to you on joining. You can download it to your computer and access it any time you want, even if you’re not online. So sign up today!

Click Here to become a member.