Articles

This page lists all practical and feature articles available on RTWMatters. From top ten tips, how to guides and case studies, through to webinar recordings and video interviews with industry experts.

Click the ‘Topics’ button below to drill down into all articles and research updates on your topic of interest.

Click the ‘Quick Guides’ button for practical bit sized guides that give you a sound basic knowledge base.

Your injury response is your culture. Is it saying what you think it is?

contributorLauren Finestone

What happens after a worker is injured tells you everything about what an organisation actually...

How to talk about work and recovery companion piece — The first conversation about getting better

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

This is the companion piece to the article, 'How to talk about work and recovery'. It's a guide...

How to talk about work and recovery

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

We’ve looked at how to notice when a recovery is heading the wrong way. This article is about...

Companion piece: Recognising psychosocial barriers early — Noticing on a busy day

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

Noticing the worker whose recovery is drifting is rarely on the file or in the question they...

Recognising psychosocial barriers early

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

The difference between a smooth recovery and return to work and one that stalls usually comes...

The everyday of psychosocial

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

'Psychosocial' is just the everyday forces you already know — expectations, fairness, fear,...

Psychosocial, Psycho WHAAT? — a series about the how

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

An introduction to 'Psychosocial, Psycho WHAAT?', a fortnightly 'how-to' series that turns the...

Shoulder scans after 40 — Nearly always abnormal, rarely useful

contributorLauren Finestone

If you've ever had an MRI for a sore shoulder, there's a good chance the scan showed a rotator...

Webinar recording — Four-week window: Why medication management can’t wait in personal injury

contributorLuke McGrath

Luke McGrath explores how uncoordinated prescribers and hidden drug interactions lead to...

From neuroplasticity to bioplasticity (Part 2)

contributorGrant McKechnie

Grant McKechnie, an accredited exercise physiologist, myotherapist and pain educator, explains...

From neuroplasticity to bioplasticity (Part 1)

contributorGrant McKechnie

Grant McKechnie, an accredited exercise physiologist, myotherapist and pain educator, explains...

Lead indicators — Same injury, two accounts

contributorLauren Finestone

What Australia’s first employer survey reveals about employer capability and the gap between...

Pulling out the stops — Lessons from the State Cover NSW roadshow

contributorLauren Finestone

When StateCover Mutual decided to invest in the injury management capability of its member...

Webinar recording — Early intervention in compensation systems: Why the knowing–doing gap persists

contributorDr Alison Sim

Dr Alison Sim explores why early intervention after compensable injury is recognised as best...

Waiting for claims to land is not a strategy

contributorLauren Finestone

Data scientist and organisational psychology researcher Tim Ballard tracks workers' compensation...

How you say it matters — The case for better communication in workers’ comp

contributorLauren Finestone

When a worker is injured on the job, the phone calls, letters and conversations that follow can...

Why communicating with HEART matters more than we think

contributorLauren Finestone

In healthcare and injury management outcomes are shaped as much by how we communicate as by what...

Lead indicators: What the data is telling you — and what to do about it

contributorLauren Finestone

What is the single strongest predictor of RTW outcomes that employers can actually change?

Trust, time and training — building a better system for compensable medicine

contributorLauren Finestone

A panel at the 2025 PIEF conference shared a picture of a system doing its best within real...

Webinar recording — From data to insights: Turning lead and lag indicators into meaningful information

contributorCatherine Day

Catherine Day draws on research and real-world experience to show how organisations of all sizes...

Six hours west of Dubbo — Making injury management work in rural and remote Australia (Part 2)

contributorLauren Finestone

Distance, workforce churn and mistrust shape injury management in rural and remote communities....

Six hours west of Dubbo — Making injury management work in rural and remote Australia (Part 1)

contributorLauren Finestone

Injury management looks very different once you get ‘past the granite curtain’ — proper country,...

Ignorance is bliss? Not when you’re the injured worker

contributorLauren Finestone

An American industry expert’s personal experience of navigating the workers’ comp system is just...

What Safe Work Australia’s Year 6 Scorecard tells us about lead indicators

contributorLauren Finestone

Safe Work Australia's Year 6 Scorecard offers the clearest picture yet of what's driving RTW...

Webinar recording — RTW by design: Building efficient, person-centred workplace systems

contributorDr Mary Wyatt

Good return to work doesn't happen by accident. It's built. Learn how to design the workplace...

My mind won’t stop spinning — Understanding catastrophising after a workplace injury

contributorTanya Cambey

Tanya Cambey explains, from a lived experience perspective, why catastrophising after a...

Building your lead indicator dashboard

contributorLauren Finestone

Two national measurement frameworks identify the workplace indicators that predict RTW outcomes...

When the system feels unfair — What the data tells us about trust, disputes and RTW

contributorLauren Finestone

Fairness and trust are more than just soft concepts. They're measurable, predictive and serve as...

Pain management is a human right

contributorLauren Finestone

An updated position statement on patients' rights to pain management reminds clinicians,...

Webinar recording — From lag to lead: Building a smarter injury management system

contributorEva Lai & Dr Mary Wyatt

This webinar explores the shift from lag to lead indicators in injury management and why acting...

The first 72 hours — Early contact and pre-claim help as lead indicators

contributorLauren Finestone

There is a window of opportunity after a workplace injury when the trajectory of a claim is...

Communication, pain and recovery — Part 3: Why we don't believe people in pain and what it would take to change that

contributorLauren Finestone

This is the third in a 3-part series drawn from a recent Pain Revolution event featuring...

Person-centred care in practice — A tool, not just a tagline

contributorLauren Finestone

We hear the term ‘person-centred’ all the time. But what is it, really?

Communication, pain and recovery — Part 2: not all reassurance is useful

contributorLauren Finestone

This is the second article in the 3-part series from a recent Pain Revolution event featuring...

Communication, pain and recovery — Part 1: Still waiting to be heard

contributorLauren Finestone

This is the first of a 3-part article based on a conversation between Professor Tamar Pincus and...

What AI sentiment analysis is revealing about claims and caller experience

contributorLauren Finestone

AI-driven analysis of phone conversations is helping Gallagher Bassett understand service gaps,...

The ‘employer effect’ — Why what happens at work matters most

contributorLauren Finestone

When a worker is injured, the clock starts ticking. And the most important variable in what...

Systems for a changing workplace — Inside the updated 2026 Workplace Systems Handbook

contributorRTWMatters team

The Workplace Systems Handbook has been fully updated. Here's what's changed and why it matters...