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Are THEY ready?
Preparing the work group
for the return of an injured
employee
16th September
2008
SIAV conference
Alexina Baldini - Psychologist
Outline
• Preparation of the team and
workplace – prior, during, after injury
• Workplace systems – micro, meso,
macro
• Identify issues relevant to the
particular work group – physical,
behavioural, social, cognitive,
emotional/psychological, existential
• Managing the issues for integration
Preparation prior to injury
• Policy
• Procedures
• Occupational Health and Safety
structures
• Communication
• Privacy
• Confidentiality
• Training/support of management and
peers
Preparation continues
• During the injury period
• Clear Critical Incident Response/support for all
involved
• In the immediate hours following injury
• Psychological First Aid
• Mental Health First Aid
• Physical First Aid
• During the first few days and weeks
• Meaningful contact
• Updating and ‘keeping in mind’
• Over the months and years
Preparation – keeping the end
in sight
• What will the successful integration
of the injured worker look like?
• How will work group members
behave when that is achieved?
• What are the specific steps involved?
• How will the work group celebrate
this achievement?
• How will the support team record this
for history? Learning?
Perceptions of the barriers and
facilitators for RTW
Health
Services
System
Injured
worker
system
Workplace
System
Economic,
Social,
Legislative
systems
Adapted from Friesen, Yassi & Cooper (2001) Return-to-work:
Human interactions and organisational structures Work, 17, 11-22
Micro-system
• The injured employee
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Attitude
Behaviours
Personal/Family
Empowerment
Demographics
Characteristics
Pre-injury work
Performance
Meso-systems
• Workplace system
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Union-management agreement/relationship
Workplace milieu
RTW program/policies/resources
Teamwork and communication
Organisational structure
“Buy-in” of all stakeholder groups
Personality factors
Trust and credibility
RTW team “sense of ownership”
Meso-systems (continued)
• Health Services System
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Communication
Teamwork
Resources
Delays
Trust
Continual need for education
Macro-system
• Economic
• Funding issues for health practitioners eg.
Impact of Medicare rebates on some
professions
• Social
• Workplace restructuring
• Generational differences
• Legislative
• Compensation parameters
• Injured worker legislation
Identify issues for THIS work
group
• Individualised assessment – not one size fits all
• BUT – the principles help!
• Look at broad areas: physical, behavioural, social
(observable) then those that you need to listen out for:
• Cognitive – what are they thinking?
• Emotional – how are they feeling?
• Psychological – how do those feelings
impact?
• Existential – what ‘big picture’ messages
about the workplace are they taking away
from what is happening or planned to
happen?
Physical
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Seating arrangements
Work location
Parking
Access
Equipment
Hours of work
Rostering preferential treatment
Lighting
Noise
Behavioural
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Proximity
Duration and intensity of contact
Communication considerations
Acceptance behaviours
Inclusion behaviours
Interdependence of work group
members
• Goals of work group
Social
• Connections within the work group
• Key supports within and outside the
group for the injured employee
• History of connections between subgroups
• Predicted impact the return of the
injured employee has on the overall
group dynamics
• Desired group dynamic development
Cognitive
• Fears – helping people to express
what is on their mind in a
constructive non-judgmental manner
• Concerns - about future capacity to
function
• Education around signs, symptoms
and support strategies
• Ongoing training and development in
enhancing work group performance
Emotional
• Need for reassurance – particularly
for middle management
• Approachability – that no aspect of
the return to work process cannot be
talked about/raised with key
personnel
• Relationships – imperative to help all
members of the work group feel that
they belong and are valued
Psychological
• Rejection versus acceptance
• Resentment versus embracing the
challenge of integrating the injured
worker
• Blame of management/RTW
personnel versus empowerment of
team members
• Rumours versus clear
communication of the needs of all
Existential
• Importance of work in a person’s life
• Integral role of successful return to
work initiatives to the overall
workplace culture
• Professed values of the workplace
versus values demonstrated in action
• Individual values including empathy
and other-centredness
Two injured employees
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Both female nurses
Both in mid 30’s
Both mothers of young children
Both soft tissue injuries – back/neck
Both in workplace for more than five
years
• Both well liked and respected
• Both skilled in their professional role
Two work groups
• Quick access to
expert health
professionals
• Management
effectively
communicating with
staff every day
• Open communication
between work group
members
• Strong achievement
history of work group
• Clear identity as a
collaborative group
• Quick access but
frequent changes in
health professionals
• Management ‘waiting
to retire’
• Infrequent staff
meetings – often
cancelled or
postponed
• Work group members
needing to ‘watch
their backs’
• Suspicion, ingroups
and outgroups
Integration
• Initially returned to
work after a week but
needed to take more
time off
• Returned part time
after three weeks
• Gradual incremental
time and complexity of
tasks increased over
two months
• Fully back three
months later
• Team celebrated her
full return
• Did not return to work
until four months later
• Found she was “on
the outer” and that it
was difficult to find out
information
• Struggled to feel that
she was part of the
team and vice versa
• Often cited her injury
as the reason she
could not do tasks
• Open resentment
from team members
Promoting worker health
• Teamwork is vital – facets include:
• Emotional Stability
• Adjustment
• Self-esteem
• Extraversion
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Dominance
Affiliation
Social perceptiveness
Expressivity
• Openness
• Flexibility
Promoting worker health
(continued)
• Agreeableness
• Trust
• Cooperation
• Conscientiousness
• Dependability
• Dutifulness
• Achievement
Driskell, Goodwin, Salas, O’Shea (2006) What
makes a good team player? Personality and
team effectiveness Group Dynamics: Theory,
Research, and Practice, 10, 249-271
Managing the issues
Preparation for integration from orientation of
a new work group member – expecting
successful outcomes and working towards
them
• Valuing the RTW process – at every level
of the organisation
• Individualised assessment of each
situation
• Communication – consistent and open
• Coaching – of work group and worker
• Positive relationships between
stakeholders