Executive Summary

Return to work results

RTW rates and durable RTW rates have been declining in Victoria since 2005/06, and both are lower than the national average.

Victoria also pays a higher number of days of compensation than the national average and in 2008/09 Victorian workers returned to work more slowly than their national counterparts.

Nearly one third (30%) of injured Victorian workers reported that they were still receiving weekly workers' compensation payments at the time of the interview, significantly higher than the national rate of less than one quarter (23%). The proportion of Victorian workers to do so has been on the rise since 2006/07.

Return to work influences

The proportion of Victorian workers receiving a RTW plan was in line with the national average, although Victorian workers were less likely to find their plan helpful, or to be given assistance in following it.

The percentage of employees reporting someone has made return to work harder is increasing, a worrying trend noting the correlation between durable return to work and an employee's sense they are being supported.

In terms of workplace culture, Victorian injured workers tended to rate their own satisfaction with work (4.3/5) and the importance of work to them (4.5/5) more highly than they rated their employer's performance. Fewer injured Victorian workers agreed that people at work valued what they do (3.9/5), perceived management to help with RTW (3.5/5), thought that their employer had clear RTW policies and procedures (3.5/5) and was prepared to spend time and money on OH&S (3.4/5). Victorian workers were close to the national average on all these measures.

Victorian workers were less likely than the national average to find it easy to get the information they needed to place a claim.

Since 2006/07 there has been a drop in the proportion of injured Victorian workers who cite injury related reasons for them not being at work.  This is associated with a rise in the proportion citing retrenchment / dismissal as the reason for their non-working status.

Rating of customer services

At both the national and Victorian level, the proportion of workers with recent insurer contact has been trending upwards over the last four years, and this rate is slightly higher in Victoria than nationally. However, in 2008/09 Victorian injured workers rated their insurer performance lower than the national average on all measures. A particularly poor response was seen for the item 'response to enquiries', which fell from 3.5 in 2007/08 to just 2.5 in 2008/09.

Rehabilitation services

In 2008/09 just less than one in five (19%) Victorian workers received services from an external rehabilitation provider. This rate has remained steady over the last four years, and is markedly lower than the national rate of nearly one in two (46%).  Average rehabilitation costs per case were similar to the national average.

Previous claim experience

In 2008-09, as in the preceding years, injured Victorian workers were slightly less likely than their national counterparts to have made a previous claim. Around one third had had time off because of that earlier claim. This was the same as the national average, although in the past the Victorian proportion has been lower than the national average.