Frequently Asked Questions

The benefits of a return to work for both the employer and the worker are many. Please refer to the Employer’s Guide to Return to Work for the benefits of RTW (p. 1 of the document).

You will probably want to know the legal context, specific to Quebec and Canada, which obliges employers to provide work accommodations. In addition, a summary table of the impacts of disability at work in Quebec, Canada and the world is available. It shows the impacts on the worker, but also on the societal, organizational and economic levels.

The first milestones to be put in place are:

• develop and clearly communicate a return-to-work policy and organizational procedures that specify the roles and responsibilities of each category of actor;
• plan the resources and structures to be put in place for their implementation.

To ensure a healthy and sustainable return to work, organizational culture, policies and procedures will need to be addressed.

The following are essential activities to consider:

1. The workplace has a strong commitment to health and safety;
2. The employer makes an offer of modified work (also known as work accommodation);
3. Those responsible for planning RTW ensure that the plan supports the worker without disadvantaging co-workers and supervisors;
4. Supervisors are trained in work disability prevention and are involved in RTW planning;
5. The employer makes early and considerate contact with injured/ill workers;
6. Someone has the responsibility to coordinate RTW;
7. Employers and health-care providers communicate with each other about the workplace demands.

The way in which these activities are carried out depends on the context in which your organization is situated, particularly in terms of available and potential resources and structures. These modalities can be both in terms of roles and responsibilities and concrete actions. It is a matter of adapting these suggestions to your context.

The person designated to coordinate the return to work plays a pivotal role. The study that examined this role showed that it can be performed by a variety of players (organization, health professional, insurer, etc.).

It is a good idea to review the entire return to work section from a workplace perspective, based on the internal and external resources you may have available. Throughout this information, the following items are of particular concern to you:

• Consult information regarding the immediate supervisor, the worker and co-workers, i.e. their roles and responsibilities and the specific actions they can take at different stages of the return-to-work process
• Some practical information applies to you directly, such as (1) a checklist for planning the reintegration to work, (2) communication tips to get the message across to the worker and (3) a tool to help you set up a temporary assignment
• Finally, you can consult the section on workplace accommodations to help you target what you can do with your resources.

• Develop a return to work plan, including developing the solution with the worker, supervisor and co-workers;
• Establish an effective communication plan between the actors, plan the contacts to be made with the worker, and ensure the follow-up of the worker’s progress over time

The roles, responsibilities and concrete actions of each actor depend on the context in which your organization is located, particularly in terms of available resources. Simply adapt these suggestions to your context.

There are disadvantages to disclosing some information, but there can also be advantages. It all depends on the agreement with the worker on how to manage this information. A seven-step management plan is available to help you manage this sensitive situation

As a supervisor or line manager, you have roles and responsibilities to ensure a healthy and sustainable return to work for one of your employees. More concretely, you must take specific actions depending on the stage the worker is at in his or her return-to-work process.

There are things to consider before, during and after your meeting with the worker, in preparation for their return to work. A checklist of elements to consider is available. Communication tips are also available to ensure that the message gets through to the worker.

In Quebec, temporary assignment, which is one of the possible accommodations in the workplace, is a legal right of the employer. The tool, SPATEQ (Support Tool for Temporary Assignment Practices in Québec Companies), is available to help you implement temporary assignment. A case study is also available. It gives the example of a worker with back pain for whom temporary assignment was used unsuccessfully and proposes solutions to prevent such a situation from happening again.

Communication is essential for the proper transmission of information, but also for the resolution of potential conflicts. A summary of the basic elements of communication is available, as well as an example of initial communication with the worker from the human resources department. There are many elements to consider, but most are easy to implement and can make a big difference in terms of results with the worker. The main idea can be to implement one element at a time, as the key is often to take the initiative.

Different roles and responsibilities are possible for a worker’s representative, whether unionized or not, in order to promote the worker’s reintegration. More concretely, you will be called upon to take different actions depending on the stages of the return to work.

Various actions and attitudes can be taken by an insurer representative to support the RTW. However, the Canadian standard CSA Z1011:20 (Workplace Disability Management System) states that organizations benefit from choosing informed methods, technologies, resources and procedures, which refers, among other things, to research findings. It becomes the responsibility of the experts, whether they are members of the organization or external consultants, to apply the evidence (i.e. scientific) specific to their field of expertise.

Different actions and attitudes  can be taken by a health professional to support RTW. However, the Canadian standard CSA Z1011:20 (Workplace Disability Management System) states that organizations benefit from choosing informed methods, technologies, resources and procedures, which refers, among other things, to research findings. It becomes the responsibility of the experts, whether they are members of the organization or external consultants, to apply the evidence (i.e. scientific) specific to their field of expertise.

Workplace accommodations can be very different in nature. Fortunately, there are many options available to accommodate the resources available in the organization. These accommodations have been classified according to two approaches. The first is a classification by accommodation category, either for MSDs or for CMDs. The second is a classification by specific targets, for example gross motor disorders in different sectors of activity (industrial, office, service, medical), fine motor disorders, management of fatigue or weakness, maintenance of concentration, etc.

The legal and judicial context surrounding workplace accommodations in Quebec and Canada must also be taken into account.

Three vignettes describing different scenarios have been prepared to illustrate examples of good practice. The first vignette focuses on a worker who is off work due to a musculoskeletal disorder, the second on a worker with a common mental disorder and the third illustrates how the various return to work stakeholders can communicate and collaborate with each other to provide a return to work solution.

A few practice guides have been developed for returning to work. It is important to identify the one that is closest to your reality.

The scientific team is made up of 10 researchers in the field, supported by research officers and postdoctoral fellows, which helps establish the scientific credibility of this site. In addition to this team, there are 12 social partners who are representatives of the various return-to-work actors, i.e. future users of this site. Their participation allowed us to validate the usefulness of the site’s content. These social partners have indeed asked for adjustments, but have also had content removed or added. The organization chart and the functioning of this large team are explained, as well as the sources of financing and the management of conflicts of interest.

Research evolves slowly, as it involves several rigorous steps, not only in the development of projects, each of which takes 2 to 5 years on average, but also in the multiple stages of evaluation of its quality (at the time of funding and at the time of publication of the results).

In addition, it usually takes several research projects to answer a question, as it is the totality of the results that allow for informed judgments to be made on complex issues. It is not surprising, then, that some content takes up to three to five years to evolve enough to require an update of the content on a site like this.

In other words, in most cases, the latest research published during the year does not carry enough weight, on its own, to change the current consensus of all the results published to date. You have to be patient and, above all, confident with content that may seem old even if it is a few years old. You have to accept that scientific credibility has a price, which is this slow response time.

The work of the research team, supported by a professional in information research, has led to multiple sources of information. A selection was made in order to retain the most reliable sources, hoping that you will be able to find an answer to your need.

The Canadian standard CSA Z1011:20 (Workplace Disability Management System), published in September 2020, provides a comprehensive approach to the sustainable management of workplace disability in all forms of organization. The information is both complementary and similar to some of the content provided on the site. Note that this standard informs that organizations benefit from choosing informed methods, technologies, resources and procedures, which refers, among other things, to the results of research. It therefore becomes the responsibility of experts (health professionals, ergonomists, occupational hygienists, etc.), whether they are members of the organization or external consultants, to apply the evidence (i.e. scientific) specific to their field of expertise. This evidence is not part of this standard, but fortunately is the reason for this site.