Supporting Our Employees’ Return to Work: A Success Story

By David Dubovich, CDMS, CLMS, Disability Case Manager, North Memorial Health

Helping employees return to work is a vital part of what absence and disability managers do, yet much of that work is done behind the scenes. Building comprehensive programs that ensure a coordinated, collaborative approach that integrates mental and physical elements of recovery helps employees return to work after a leave of absence for any reason and especially in catastrophic cases.

The team at North Memorial Health — an organization that provides healthcare in Minnesota through specialty and primary care clinics, a home care offering, medical transportation services, and two hospitals including a level-I trauma center — has a keen appreciation this type of collaborative approach. The organization implemented leave of absence (LOA) and return-to-work (RTW) programs in 2020, and teams focused on job accommodations for employees with medical conditions and COVID-19 diagnoses. A transitional budget cost center for the programs was introduced in 2021 to help injured personnel return to work. Team members were assigned to temporary light-duty work or returned to regular units in supportive roles on a limited basis while they recovered.

The cost center was designed to ensure that team members who return to work with modifications do not affect their unit’s productivity metrics. Employees boost productivity through their transitional work and are not expected to fulfill their normal duties, which allows them to ease back into the workplace. The cost center supports recovery time and keeps team members engaged.

In advance of their return, supervisors and managers identify tasks that can be accomplished with medical restrictions. The transitional budget cost center is available for up to four calendar months for work-related injuries to help employees return to work as soon as possible with modified duties. Those with nonwork-related conditions are accommodated through an interactive accommodation process.

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