When a worker is injured and unable to return to their full duties, many companies provide modified work accommodations. Providing an injured employee with modified duties while they recover can bring them back to full duty work more quickly and reduce indemnity claims costs. However, typical return to work programs are reactive–they are put in place after the injury occurs.

What about the impact of a reactive plan on the employee? There is limited understanding of what happens after someone gets injured. The employee can feel like an inconvenience or have uncertainty about their place within the company.

In our Building an Effective Transitional Work Program webinar, we talk about a different approach—putting a plan in place before injury occurs. ICW Group’s proactive program can benefit your organization and your employees.

Benefits of this type of return to work policy include:

  • Reduced litigation and disability expenses
  • Employees feel supported by the company through their recovery
  • A resulting more positive work environment and improved company culture
  • Lower turnover and reduced hiring costs

With a Transitional Work Program policy, you will have a clearly written program that establishes what the injured employee can expect. It also lays out the requirements and tasks they may be asked to do during their recovery.


Identifying Transitional Job Tasks

You can identify transitional job duties with two main questions:

  • What tasks need to be done but are not because they are low priority?
  • If you had an extra employee in your department, what tasks would you have them do?



Steps for implementing your transitional work program policy include:

  • Secure leadership support that emphasizes the value of identifying transitional work tasks prior to an injury, and a strong commitment to a positive work environment.
  • Get Human Resources involved in establishing communication on this topic and working with managers to ensure transitional job tasks are created and updated as needed.
  • Use manager feedback and knowledge to identify transitional work tasks that may be lower priority but are still necessary to complete.
  • Roll-out employee communication so they learn up front during the orientation process that the company has established a process to ensure they are valued and supported during their injury recovery process.
  • Establish a mutual understanding that creating meaningful transitional work tasks is a top priority.



When you partner with ICW Group, you have access to our Transitional Work Program template, which includes:

  • A documented policy that outlines the process for implementing and maintaining your program
  • Letter templates communicating the process to the injured employee
  • Sample task list templates
  • A transitional work assignment form that documents approved modified work tasks

You can also reach out to your dedicated Risk Management Consultant for more personalized assistance.



Alternative Options

While it’s helpful to have a proactive return to work process, that may not always be possible. We want you to know that if you’re unable to accommodate temporary modified duties, ICW Group is pleased to offer additional resources to assist in these situations.

Through our partnerships with return to work program organizations, we can provide access to transitional employment opportunities with local non-profit agencies. This solution is available at no additional cost as part of your workers’ compensation policy and serves as an extension of your current workers’ comp return to work program if one is in place.

If you are interested in this alternative, please contact our Claims Department for more information.