Self-Service Tech Facilitates the Interactive Process

By Megan G. Holstein, Esq.

SVP, Absence & Claims
FINEOS

By Lori F. Welty, Esq.

Absence Management Sr. Compliance Attorney
FINEOS

If the first half of 2020 has taught us anything, it’s how to use digital tools in the workplace and life. As a result of people working from home, shopping and socializing online, employees have catapulted into the digital era. Is your accommodations interactive process digitized? Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers must engage in the interactive process to provide accommodations to comply with state disability, state pregnancy, and domestic violence victim laws. This article will discuss how to create and communicate a viable process utilizing self-service web portals and app tools to facilitate the interactive conversation between employee, employer, and third-party administrator. Each of the three parties holds an integral role in the interactive process, and today’s technology brings the roles together in one convenient hub.

Most employers and administrators engage in the interactive process via meetings, phone calls, emails, and documents. Keeping track of the process, storing documents and information, and finding convenient times to connect with the required individuals proves more difficult with each passing year. Employers who were forced to utilize online sharing tools due to pandemic conditions should consider enhancing those tools for their accommodations interactive process. Here is how:

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