Effective and efficient return‐to‐work practices are critical when returning individuals back to work after injury, illness, or extended leave. Deconditioning can occur in as little as four weeks. However, there are some simple things that can be done to ensure a safe return for your employees.

The key to effective and efficient return‐to‐work and hiring practices is consistency in your practice. Robust physical demand documentation is the foundation of any functional testing, post‐offer testing or return‐to‐work process and should be done to ensure the safe return of employees.

If you don’t perform functional testing at your company for hiring or return‐to-work,
there are still proactive steps that can be taken to assist in this process.

 

• Task-specific exercises can be used to develop strength in deconditioned muscles.

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  Task specific stretches can assist in maintaining flexibility and reducing

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  injury potential.

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  Stepping up production processes incrementally can help workers adapt to

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  the work process.

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  A well‐constructed job rotation process can be effective in providing

• productive recovery cycles from highly physical job tasks.

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