Setting goals and expectations

People respond to goals and objectives. "I will finish the report" versus "I will finish the report by the 14th of this month" have very different connotations.  An RTW plan that includes goals and objectives  is more likely to be successful.

People respond to goals and objectives. These may not need to be rigidly adhered to, the report may be a day or two late, but it is more likely to get done if a timeline is set. Timelines and deadlines give focus, something to work towards.

A return to work plan that includes goals and objectives with hours of work, dates and work duties is more likely to be successful. But the employee needs ownership of the goals and objectives, otherwise they are not their goals.

The scenario. Mr W returns to work after two months, commencing

3 hours a day, 3 days a week

After another three weeks the hours increase to

3 hours a day, 4 days a week, and then

4 hours a day, 4 days a week followed by 4 hours a day, 5 days a week

The back pain then increases and the hours of work are dropped down to

2 hours a day, 2 days a week and the graduated increase of hours repeated.

The cycle continues, moving between nine hours a week and the maximum reached at 20 hours per week over a nine month period.

It is extremely unlikely that Mr W will ever be successfully reintegrated back into the organisation's workforce with this pattern of return to work.

Breaking the cycle needs to be done early. Find out what is going on? What is the person's commitment? What is going on at the workplace? What needs to be changed? Is the person going to get back to their usual job? Do they need retraining to change jobs? Are there other issues that need to be dealt with to 'unstick' the situation?