Return to Work
Resources
for Managers

Working Through Stage 2: Determining RTW arrangements 

This section of the RTW plan (and RTW planning process) focuses on the arrangements which will be put in place to support the employee’s return to working. This includes arrangements such as  

• How much they will be working (eg the hours and days they will be working) 
• Where they will be working (eg working from home, from their normal work site, from some other location) 
• What they will be doing (the tasks and roles they will be performing) 
• Arrangements to support their current state of health, and any treatment they are receiving (eg providing flexible start times so they attend counselling appointments) 

The RTW plan itself has four components:

• The work plan, of what work they will be doing, where, with whom, and when
• The safety plan, which details the supports they will need to feel and be safe to do that
• The communication plan, which details what information will be communicated to other people about the arrangements, and in what level of detail
• The implementation plan, which specifies how the other arrangements will all be put into place and by whom

That may seem like a lot to work out, but please know that: 

The RTW process, and the RTW plan, will both work better if they bring together and reflect  

• Your employee’s input about how they are feeling, what they feel capable of doing, and what supports they will need and benefit from  
• Advice and guidance from your employee’s healthcare provider about what your employee is (and is not) currently capable of, and what supports they need 
• Your input about what options your organisation can provide  
• Advice and guidance from other stakeholders such as your employee’s RTW coordinator, or rehabilitation counsellor, about how they return to work can be supported  

The other important thing to remember is: planning for, and supporting a RTW work, is a dynamic process. 

You and your employee will develop a plan based on what you both think will work to support the employee when they return to work. But neither of you will be able to anticipate everything that will be needed, because some of those needs will only become apparent as they arise.

Your employee’s support needs will probably change over time, and so may the types of support that the organisation can provide, so the plan will likely need changing and refining over time. Or you may find that the plan doesn't work as you both anticipated, and you need to start the planning process over again. That’s all OK!

The goal here is to use the plan, and the planning process, to provide the best match between the employee’s needs, and the organisation’s support, that can be achieved at any given time.

The best plan, and planning process, is going to be one which is flexible, responsive and open to change. Because that will give your employee, and your organisation, the best chance for a safe and successful return to work. 

The figure below, developed by ReturnToWork, illustrates the overall process for developing the RTW plan.

Developing the Work Plan

The focus of the entire RTW plan is to develop, and put in place, the workplace adjustments that your employee will need to give them the best chance of successfully and safely returning to work. So the overarching question which guides the whole planning process is:

What reasonable adjustments and accommodations does the employee need?  

Arrangements put in place to support an employee’s return to working are also known as ’reasonable adjustments’ or ’reasonable accommodations’. Reasonable adjustments are any changes made to a job, or the way it is performed, to help someone perform more effectively in the workplace. Adjustments might include 

• flexible work arrangements (such as job rotations, changes to, or variable start and finish times) 
• changing the tasks that has been allocated to a person (such as re-allocating them from working on one single demanding project to working on a number of smaller tasks) 
• changing the place, location or area in which they're working (such as a quieter work area, or work site at which they can work on a different range of tasks or roles) 

It is actually a legal requirement for organisations to provide reasonable accommodations to people whose health affects their capacity to perform their job, which means that one of your legal responsibilities as a manager is to support a worker with mental ill- health by determining  

• whether and how the person’s health situation impacts their capacity to perform the inherent requirements of their job, and  
• what supports the organisation can provide so the person can meet those requirements. 

Those supports are the ‘reasonable adjustments’.  

a) What are they currently capable of doing?   

The first - and arguably most important -  thing for you to know in a return to work plan and planning process, is how the person’s health situation is currently affecting them - such as symptoms they are experiencing, when and how those impact them – and what they are therefore currently capable of doing. 

To explore this with your employee, focus on understanding: 

1. Their diagnosis, treatment and recovery support/arrangements
   
   This is particularly important if they are receiving worker's compensation, as Tasmanian legislation requires that a RTW Plan for someone receiving worker’s compensation specify the diagnosis, treatment and/ or rehabilitation arrangements for their recovery. 
   
2. The impact of their symptoms, medication or treatment on them as a person  

Even if some of those symptoms and impacts are only affecting them outside work time, it will still be helpful for them and you if you know that this is occurring for them, and this is part of what they are dealing with and working through as they are returning to work. 

We’ve detailed in Topic 3 some of the different ways that depression and anxiety can affect people, and affect how they function in the workplace, to help you understand the different impacts your employee might be experiencing. But how people experience depression and/ or anxiety disorder, and how it impacts their life, varies from person to person. So the most important things to keep in mind here are: 

• your employee’s experience is their own – it may be quite similar, or very different, to what is described in Topic 1 
• arguably the most valuable and useful thing you can do to understand what your employee is experiencing is to ask them. This will help ensure that you have accurate information about what they are actually dealing with (so you don’t have to assume or second-guess that), and also establishes a foundation for talking with your employee about their situation.  

3) Impact of symptoms, medication or treatment on their capacity to work  

You may find it helpful to think about - and discuss -their current capabilities in terms of

• Periods of time they are capable of working (hours, days, periods of time between breaks)
• Type of work environment they are capable of working in (eg private space, space shared with one other person, open plan space)
• Locations they are capable of working in and from (eg home, usual work site, other work site)
• People inside the organisation are capable of working with (team members, other members of the organisation)
• People outside the organisation are capable of working with (clients, members of the public)

4) Any other stresses or strains your employee is dealing with

While they have been away from work, and as they are returning to work, your employee might also be dealing with, or have been dealing with stresses and strains such as

• financial worries about being away from work
• how their ill-health is affecting their family and home life
• concerns about when they will recover and how long that would take
• if and when they will be able to return to their normal job

Or other life challenges such as unwell family members, bereavement, relationship difficulties or breakups.

So its important for you to know – if your employee is comfortable to tell you - if there are any other stresses and strains they are dealing with which might also be affecting their mental health, resilience, or need for support.

Relatedly, if your employee has been going through the worker's compensation process this can also create additional strain and stress.

The most important thing here is empathy and demonstrating understanding that someone has been through this. Acknowledging that does not mean you're ‘weighing in’ on the worker's compensation situation. It just means you're acknowledging that someone has gone through this additional process and strain and that you understand that might have been hard for them.

5) What they are currently capable to do  

This is the information you’ll need to work out with your employee what sorts of work they can potentially do when they return, and what sorts of support they’ll need. The more you know about how they are and what they are dealing with, the better position you’ll be in to work out what they need and how the organisation can best support them. So essentially, in this stage, you’re working out what the success factors would be for your employee to return to work safely and successfully.

Even if their healthcare provider has provided information about what duties would be suitable and any restrictions that apply, it is crucial that you also talk through with your employee about

• what their current state of health is, and
• how their health situation is currently affecting them.

The more you know, the better you will understand their situation, so ask them to tell you as much as they are comfortable to share with you.

6) What are the goals for the RTW plan

With the information provided by your employee and their healthcare professionals, you can then work out with your employee what the specific goals and focus of the return to work plan might be.

This would usually include the milestones the plan will focus on helping the employee to achieve towards fully returning to their previous work arrangements. However, if that is not possible, or it is not known at the current time if and when that will be possible, then the plan should specify what ‘successful’ RTW would entail for the employee’s current situation.

For example, if your employee is currently capable of
- Working a maximum of 10 hours per week
- Working from home only
- Undertaking administrative tasks but no client
contact

Then the goals of the plan might be set around enabling them to safely and successfully work from home for ten hours per week for the next 2 months undertaking administrative tasks.

b) How much will the employee be working  

In most cases, a person returning to work from an absence related to depression and/ or anxiety will not come straight back into full time work. They are far more likely to initially work reduced hours and then progressively increase the amount of time they work. For instance, they may come back 5 days a week but only a few hours a day, or they may work a full day but only a few days per week.  

They may also need to work shorter periods at a time and have more rest breaks or more frequent rest breaks during their work time.  

Decisions and arrangements about the amount of time that someone will be working – overall and in any given work period – go ‘hand in glove’ with considerations and decisions about what the person will be doing. Because the tasks they are undertaking, and how much focus, concentration and energy they take, may mean the employee needs more breaks to compensate. Conversely, the amount of time they can work may influence what sorts of tasks are suitable for them to do.  So decisions and arrangements about how much time someone will be working should be reviewed again once it is known what they will be doing, so that such adjustments can be made.  

c) What will the employee be doing  

The next part of the RTW plan and planning process focuses on determining what duties would be suitable for the employee to undertake with their current capabilities.  

What you and they are essentially working out in this stage is: 

• Whether it will be suitable for the employee to return to their current role and work environment, with adjustments and accommodations provided,  

and, if not,  

• what other roles and work environments are more suitable for their current capabilities  

Generally speaking, it is preferable for the person to return to their existing roles, tasks and work environment so they are returning , as far as is currently possible, to their ‘normal’ work situation. This, in turn, means that they have to deal with as little additional change as possible, and can focus more on their recovery and return.  

These could include stressors such as the demands of their workload, traumas they have experienced in the course of doing their work (such as having a patient or client pass away), workplace conflicts, or having experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace.   

Arguably the biggest consideration here is that the employee is not sent back into the same work environment which made them unwell in the first place.  This may mean it is better and safer for them not to return – or return yet – to their existing role and work environment, but instead to return to working by working in a different role or set of work conditions eg working in a different team.  

Identifying suitable duties  

There are 3 steps to determining whether it will be suitable for the employee to return to their current role and work environment: 

Identify the inherent or core requirements of the person’s job  

The inherent or core requirements of the employee’s job are the fundamental aspects of the job that can't be changed or altered => what the job inherently is or entails. These include the key tasks that a person must be able to undertake and perform, and the key skills they must have and be able to utilise to perform it.  

That said, the core requirements of a job can and do change over time as roles evolve or workplace needs change. So it's also really important to ensure that any information or guidance you have about the core requirements of the job, such as a position description or list of key tasks and responsibilities, is accurate and up to date and reflects the actual core requirements of the job at this point in time.  

Determine which aspects of the job might need to be adjusted  

The next step is determining what aspects of the employee’s job, and work arrangements need to be adjusted in light of their state of health. You can do this by working out  

• which of core aspects of the employee’s job the employee can currently do as they are  
• Which aspects they can currently do with some support / adjustments  
• Which aspects they can’t currently do   

This will help you work out how much – and which aspects – of their current job they can re-engage with in their current state of health. But it will also help you work out whether they may actually be better able to perform another role. In that situation, the RTW arrangements might instead then focus on supporting the employee to return to working by going into a different role than the one they had before.  

Generally speaking, there are four main scenarios for returning to working: 

So when you are working out with your employee what work they can do, you should also consider the options for them to potentially return to working into a different role or work team if those might provide a better fit with their current capabilities and support needs. Those options pose other trade-offs and support needs, which we discuss in the section about developing the Safety Plan.

Identify the reasonable adjustments that can be provided to support the worker

In this part of the process you focus on determining the adjustments that can reasonably be made to support the worker. You can do this in two parts:

• Working out ALL of the adjustments or changes that could help the worker do their job
• Then working out which ones the organisation can reasonably provide

Doing it this way can help ensure that you, your employee, and anybody else involved in the process of identifying potential adjustments (such as your organisation's HR people, or the employee's return to work coordinator) can think creatively about options to best suit this particular situation.

When you are identifying the adjustments that could be needed and provided, it’s important to consider, and work through this for

• Their current role (if it is an option for them to return to that)
• Any other roles or duties they may potentially return to instead

This is because the nature of the work they are doing, and hence the support they need to do it, will depend on the actual work they will be undertaking. Likewise, the suitability of them doing particular work may depend on the adjustments that can -or can’t – be provided. So its very important to work out the ‘total package’ of

• What the tasks and duties would be
• What the adjustments will be

For each option so you and they can make a fully informed decision about which scenario is MOST suitable for their situation.

Key points to remember when working out adjustments

Find out what has worked for others  

 Think creatively and flexibly rather than take a “one size fits all”  

 Have backup and alternative options as support needs and the usefulness of different accommodations may change over time.  

 Confirm which accommodations and adjustments the organisation can reasonably provide.  

Be honest about the adjustments you can actually make 

Types of accommodations

Flexible work options

• Providing flexibility (variability with days worked or start/finish times)
• Working from home. 
• Part-time work
• Working from a quieter location (alternative office/working location)
• Working from a more private location (own location, or privacy screen)
• Changing responsibilities or tasks (eg. admin tasks instead of face-to-face interactions). 

Supports for difficulties with thinking processes

• Provide a diary or electronic organizer to write down deadlines
• Use diagrams, aids or models to demonstrate how to perform a task
• Provide a go-to person so you can discuss progress or issues
• Highlight tasks that you'd like to prioritize
• Provide a keyboard overlay to remember shortcuts/functions
• Write down instructions

Supports for difficulties with organisation and planning

• Develop a written plan of action with achievable tasks and set times for completion dates or times
• Allowing extra time to complete tasks
• Reminding the worker of important deadlines through informal emails 
• Setting up informal meetings to discuss progress (being aware of body language and ensuring it doesn't seem like performance management).
• Organising a mentor with similar skills, knowledges and experience to support
• Providing access to an external provider (EAP) for support 

Supports for difficulties with social interactions

• Allowing worker to work from home for a short period of time
• Not making social interactions mandatory
• Allow personal calls during work hours to external support people (partner, doctor, etc)
• If regular meetings are required, making these less social 
• Relocating to a more private space with less social interaction.

Supports for difficulties with energy levels and fatigue

• Reducing writing tasks by enabling the worker to record meetings
• Introducing assistive technology to enable the worker to reduce keyboard activity and reading from a computer screen (e.g. speech recognition software allows a person to use speech to access all functions of the computer)
• Providing training to the worker about accessible computer functions, such as use of speech to text and text to speech
• Reducing physical activities by identifying less physically demanding tasks
• Providing short breaks to relieve any physical or mental fatigue
• Allowing work from home for a period of time to allow work and rest throughout the day

Supports for required absences from work

• Providing limited paid time off if a worker has to attend medical appointments during work time
• If the organisation cannot financially support paid leave for the employee to attend long appointments, establish a time-in-lieu arrangement.
• Encouraging the worker to organise medical appointments on a quieter day of the week, grouping appointments together or booking appointments at the start or end of the working day to minimise the impact on the workplace
• Providing a limited number of cab vouchers to assist the worker to attend medical appointments.

Supports for difficulties with emotions and anxiousness

• Allowing flexible timing of breaks to enable the worker to use stress management techniques.
• Encouraging the worker to walk away or step away from frustrating situations
• Demonstrating more positive responses to frustrations at work. 
• Taking immediate action if you’re concerned that a worker is in danger of hurting themselves or someone else - physically or psychologically; you have an obligation to keep workers safe.

Effects of reasonable adjustments on pay and entitlements 

It’s important to also work through with your employee any impact that potential return to work arrangements might have on their pay or other entitlements. For example, if they are going to be returning to work by initially working less than full time hours, then they will need to know how this will affect their pay and their capacity to afford their life. This will help you and them ‘sense-check’ how workable the arrangements are, and for how long they can be sustained. It will also help you and you employee avoid being caught out by any unanticipated consequences, and build confidence that the arrangements will be workable to implement.     

Developing the Safety Plan

The safety plan details the additional arrangements or supporting the employee’s safe return to work, beyond those needed to ensure the work duties they have align with – and aren’t too much for - their current capabilities.   

1) Identifying and managing safety risks  

When you are developing options for your employee’s return to work arrangements, it is crucial that you also consider whether there are any factors in play that may pose risks to your employee and, particularly, reduce their psychological safety. You have a legal obligation to determine whether any psychosocial factors in the workplace pose a risk of harm to mental health. These factors include stress, bullying and harassment, and workplace trauma. You can find more information here about addressing psychosocial risks, especially those stemming from stigma about mental health.

Addressing stigmatising attitudes and behaviours in the workplace |
Mental Health-Related Stigma in the Workplace

Conducting this kind of risk assessment is crucial for supporting an employee to safely return to work. But is also crucial to the process of working out what options the organisation can, and cannot, provide to reasonably accommodate the employee, and how likely they are to enable the employee to return to work safely and successfully. This includes working out which options have a better chance of achieving that than others do.  

As you are doing this, it is crucial that you assess this on a case-by-case basis and by considering the individual circumstances of each person and situation. This is because any individual person may have different individual capabilities and support needs, and even two people experiencing the same mental health issue may find it impacts them in different ways and so has different impacts on their capacity to perform their role. This means that you must  

• consider the actual capabilities and needs of each person individually. Don’t assume or presume that their needs and capabilities are, for example, the same as another worker who has experienced the same health issue, or performs the same role  
• Determine the actual degree of risk posed by the situation, including how likely it is that the risk will actually occur, and seriousness of that risk to the person’s health and safely. This then makes it possible to determine - and take – proportionate action to prevent, minimise or eliminate that risk.   

However,  it is also crucial to remember that when we're talking about risks to psychological safety, how safe the employee feels is just as important as how safe they are. For example, if your employee feels unsafe about being around a particular person in the workplace then they may feel very unsafe all the time, even if the actual amount of time they are around that person is relatively small. So the issue here is not how often they would see that person, but how unsafe they feel about the potential of being around that person.   

Types of risk to consider, assess and manage  

Risks posed by their current work environment  

If they are returning to their usual tasks, work team, and work location:  

Consider the risks posed by  

• The risk and strain posed by the tasks they usually perform  
• The risk and strain associated with learning and performing any new or different tasks  
• The risks posed by their physical work environment (eg noise, physical layout)  
• The risks posed by the psychosocial environment such as interactions with coworkers, managers (including yourself), staff who report to them,  clients or customers, and with members of the public (if that is part of their role).   
• Any risks resulting from what was occurring in the workplace at the time that the person went on leave. There are a number of issues to think about here, and it’s important because any of them could have affected or be affecting  
  • how the person was feeling at the time they went off work 
  • how they may be feeling about coming back to work 
  • how safely and successfully they're able to come back into the workplace and feel supported 

Risks posed by a new work environment  

If they are going to be working with different tasks, work team and / or work location:  

Consider the risks posed by  

• The tasks they will be undertaking (including risks associated with having to learn new tasks and ways of doing them) 
• The new physical environment  
• The new psychosocial environment.  Your employee is going to work with new people they don’t know, and who don’t know them, and they may also be expected to interact with those people in ways which are new and different to what they have done in their current role. So it’s important to explore with your employee how they might feel about that, whether those scenarios feel like they might help and or harm the person’s state of health, and whether those feel like better or worse options than returning to their current role and team. 
• The additional risks and strain associated with having to adjust to a new work situation.  

Risks posed by medication  

If someone is taking medication to treat and support their mental ill-health, there may also be a potential risk that their medication may affect their capacity to perform their work safely, and hence pose a potential risk to themselves and others.  

2) Support for the employee if they become unwell at work or aren’t coping  

Planning your employee’s return to work should also include developing a plan about what to do if their health worsens. This should ideally include information/ details about  

• What signs (eg behaviours, mood states) would tell them – and possibly other people around them - that they are becoming distressed, not coping, or need support  
• What actions they and other people around them can take if that occurs  
• When it would be appropriate to contact someone – such as a doctor or family member – if they become unwell at work,  
• Who that person should be and how to reach them if necessary  

Developing the Communication Plan

Who (if anyone) to tell and what to tell them 

In the process of planning your employee’s return to work, it is VITAL that you discuss with your worker how they would like you to explain their absence and what information they give you permission to share about their health situation. So you'll need to work out with them- and they will need to explicitly agree

• whether you can tell people in the workplace that they have been on leave because of a mental health issue 
• whether you can tell people in the workplace what the mental health issue was, for instance that they have been experiencing depression. 

 Even if they do agree that you can share that information with other people in the workplace, it's important to carefully consider  

• why you would do so,  
• what benefit that will likely have, and  
• any potential risks that that may pose to the worker.  

It's particularly important to consider whether other people in the workplace have previously demonstrated that they have an accurate and supportive understanding of mental health issues, and whether they're likely to treat that information respectfully and sympathetically. 

How other workplace members should help if the employee becomes unwell  

You and your employee should also consider, and plan for, what other staff may need to know in order to be able to support the employee’s return to work. This might include  

• what signs or behaviours might indicate the employee is unwell and/ or needs support  
• What to do if they observe those signs or behaviours, or the employee becoming distressed   
• That the employee might need different forms or levels of support over time 
• how they can reduce stressors and factors that can undermine the employee’s return to work  
• How they can support the employee’s recovery and assist a safe and successful return to work  

 So again, a key question here would be who REALLY needs to know. For instance, if the person is going to have a workplace buddy to support their return to work, then it may be that the buddy needs be told this information but other members of the team or department might not. The buddy should also be told - explicitly - that they are not allowed to share that information with anyone else. Alternatively, if the employee is going to be working with a number of different people, then it may be more appropriate for more people to be told.  

But again, the key consideration here is  - who the employee feels safe about knowing this. If they feel unsafe about people around them knowing these things, then the best option may be to tell others in the workplace the circumstances under which they should contact you so you can then arrange support for the employee.  

How workplace accommodations will be communicated  

You should also discuss with your employee how other people might respond when accommodations are put in place, and how they and you could prepare to respond to any questions or speculation about that. For example if your employee is going to be working at a different workstation or working different hours than they previously did, other people in the workplace might ask why this is occurring, and may even begin to speculate or gossip about this. So it's important that you and your employee have both thought about how other people might respond to and interpret those adjustments, and decide in advance how you might each respond to that.  

Working out in advance what you might say and how you might say it will help both of you feel more comfortable and confident about handling that situation. If your employee knows in advance how you're going to respond to those situations that could be really helpful for making them feel more supported as well.  

Additionally, working out, together, how you will respond to those kinds of questions and comments, will help you also work out whether backup responses might also be needed. For instance, you might plan to say simply that “this person is going to be working part time for a while”, and then realise that other people in the workplace might respond by asking why the person will be working part time, or how long that is going to be the case.

You might then also plan that you would respond to such questions by saying that these arrangements are related to a health issue, so they will be in place for as long as the person needs them, and you can't predict right now how long that will be.  

If your employee agrees that you can tell the people in the workplace about their mental ill health, then you should also discuss with them how you plan to explain the reason for the adjustments so that you can do that in a positive and supportive way. 

Developing the implementation plan

The final part of the RTW plan, and planning process, should address, and document, how the arrangements for the employee’s return to work are going to put into place. This should include details about 

• What tasks will need to be done  
• Who will do them  
• Time frames and deadlines by which they will need to be implemented, and checked, in order for everything to be in place by the time the person commenced their RTW.   

It can be helpful to think specifically about  

• What tasks you will need to do, and what information, resources and support you might need to do them   
• What tasks your employee will need to do, and what information, resources and support you might need to do them   

This will help you work out whether either or both of you also need advice, information, input or support from other people to get these tasks done. For example, there might be details needed from the employee’s medical professional, or support needed from your organisation's HR department.  

The most important thing is that you work these details out together, so you both know what is to be done, who is to do it, and when.  

Checking support arrangements before the employee commences work  

The implementation plan should also include arrangements for checking that supports are in place before the employee commences their return to work. This should include a check-in meeting with your employee before they commence work so you can discuss together  

• Whether all the planned arrangements are in place, and if not, when they will be  
• Any contingency plans or arrangements that might be needed  
• How the employee is feeling about returning to work 
• Any other support they might need to feel as confident and comfortable as possible about returning to working.   
• Arrangements for their first day, including arrangements for them to check in with you and/ or their workplace support buddy  

One way to do this is to arrange a site visit to the location and team in which they will be working, so they can see how things are set up, see where they’re working, reconnect with colleagues and mentally prepare to walk into the workplace. 

Plans for handling the first day  

You should also discuss with your employee how they want to handle their first day. If your employee is comfortable to do so, the first day should include a welcome /welcome back so people in the workplace have an opportunity to encourage and support the person.  

For example, if it is normal practice in your workplace to welcome someone back from leave (of any kind) by mentioning this at morning tea, or doing something else to mark the occasion, then you should ask your employee whether they are comfortable for you to do that for their return as well.  

It can be helpful here to think about how this would occur if they were returning from recovering from physical injury, and then ask whether they are comfortable to take the same approach. If their return is being acknowledged, check again what they are comfortable for you to say about what they are returning from, and what their current situation is. They may be quite comfortable for you to say they are recovering from depression. Or they may want you to ask other staff to not mention their health to them or ask questions. It may also be helpful for you to tell people beforehand what sorts of things they could say, in case they fear they may ‘say the wrong thing’. For example you might tell other staff that instead of saying anything about them having been unwell or recovering, you can just say ‘its good to have you back’ or ‘its good to see you again’.   

The most important thing is that you know what their preference is, and you have worked out with them what you will say so they know how that is going to be handled.  

Arrangements for handling disputes  

The plan should also specify processes that will be used should any disputes arise about what should be occuring with the your employee's' returned to work.  

Reviewing RTW arrangements  

The final part of the RTW plan should also address, and document, arrangements for reviewing the employee’s return to work and return to work arrangements to determine  

• whether and how the return-to-work arrangements are working as anticipated  
• Whether they are proving effective in supporting your employee in their work and recovery 
• Whether your employee’s support needs have changed  
• Whether different supports and arrangements are needed    

Recovery from mental ill-health, like any recovery process, can have fits and starts, good days and less-good days, and people sometimes feeling better or worse even when they are improving overall. Actually returning to work, and re-engaging with the workplace again, can be very taxing and stressful for people, because of the extra mental, physical and emotional load of resuming work routines and re-engaging with the work environment. So it's also quite normal for people to feel a range of different emotions, and more tired, as they go through the first days and weeks of returning to work.  

For these reasons, it’s important that you and your employee are aware that their energy levels and capabilities might vary a lot when they first return to work, and that you both factor that into your expectations of what they can do and what help they might need.    

The plan should also specify the date(s) for reviewing the plan so that  

• Everyone concerned knows when that will be undertaken and  
• The plan complies with Tasmanian legislation that requires that RTW plans for people receiving workers compensation include the review date for the plan.

References

Content for this page sourced from

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2010). Workers with mental illness: A practical guide for managers. Australian Human Rights Commission.

Beyondblue. (n.d.). Supporting the return to work of employees with depression or anxiety. Melbourne: Beyondblue.

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