The first weeks or months after being injured in an accident may have you disconnected from life as you knew it before the accident. With your recovery as your focus, your days might be busy with medical appointments at your injury clinic, treatments, rehabilitation, and other activities to help you recover your health. However, hopefully, you will reach the end of your road to recovery and the next step must begin. You must now return to work and the activities you used to do before you were injured. Read on to find out more about what the process of returning to work might look like.
Ask About a Return-to-Work Program
Your place of employment may have a return-to-work program that can greatly help your case while also demonstrating your employer’s commitment to you. Return-to-work programs generally focus on establishing safe environments in the workplace to minimize accidents or curtail continuous exposure to dangerous materials.
These programs can benefit both employees who are returning to work after being injured in an accident and those who took time off for different personal reasons.
Rehabilitative Services Are Also a Great Tool
Needing to go back to work, especially if your injury happened there, might feel traumatic and scary. You may also be facing limitations imposed by the aftermath of your injury. If this is your case, you may benefit by receiving help from experienced professionals who may include physical therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and more.
If you feel the need to work with any healthcare provider to improve the experience of returning to work, talk to your employer to find out what services are offered.
Talk About Your Limitations
Your employer needs to know how the injury has affected you physically and understand what type of duties you can perform. These may not be identical to what you did at work before being injured. Also, let them know if you are feeling particularly stressed out physically or mentally by returning to work. They may offer you resources and tools that can be used to facilitate the carrying out of tasks and responsibilities related to your job.
Most importantly, keep your employer or your supervisor abreast of the state of your health when you return to work. If they are not informed, it may be harder for them to respond the way you expect them to or to offer you the resources you need.
How Else Can Your Employer Help You?
Your employer values your personal qualities and skills as well as the experience you have acquired while working for them. They will ensure a smooth transition for you when going back to work. Among the options that may be available to you might be a phased return to work after your injury in which you may take a few weeks to fully return to work, allowing you to settle back into your duties without feeling pressured to complete all the tasks assigned to you at the same speed as you did before the accident. You may be offered a lighter workload or you might be allowed to go to work only a couple of days a week at the beginning, slowly increasing the number of hours and days that you go to work as you feel comfortable doing so.
Ease Into Your Job
It may take some time before you start feeling fully ready to perform your job as you did before your injuries. In some cases, employees may now be facing a disability that prevents them from performing the duties they were responsible for before the accident. A good employer will find a way to adjust your role to match what you can now do.
Do not pressure yourself trying to be as productive as you were before the accident if your body is still not ready to do so. You may delay your recovery or cause additional issues to your health. Also, keep in mind that certain medications can make you tired or dizzy and affect your mental health or stamina levels. However, you must continue with your treatment to ensure the fullest recovery possible and your employer should be made aware of this situation. This way, they will be better prepared to understand what you are going through and to give you as much time as you need. Open and honest communication between you and your employer will yield the best results.
