There are new recommendations available to help manage employees that have been off work on extended disability leaves. When an employee is absent from work for long periods of time, it can cost a lot of money. Effective management of these employees is a vital part of dealing with such costs.
Here are some of the guidelines suggested by the Disability Management Employers Coalition and Liberty Mutual for managing absent employees:
- · Limit the absences of employees by having those with chronic health conditions attend company-sponsored programs aimed at improving their overall health.
- · Create an absence and disability management strategy for handing work and non-work related situations.
- · Standardize the process required by the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act to make it user-friendly and cut down on the legal risks related to non-compliance.
- · Develop a structured transitional work program which provides those returning to work options and accommodations for modified work assignments for the occupational and non-occupational cases.
- · Keep track of the profitability and costs savings resulting from the return to work programs that have been developed.
The new recommendations were developed from a series of conferences, both live and virtual, that featured benefits professionals, human resource staff, and others which represented different employers’ demographics including large and small companies from a wide-array of industries.