Accommodations Don’t Just Boost Return to Work and Cut Costs — They Also Build Worker Trust and Morale

Accommodations for workers returning to their jobs after an injury are a necessary part of the workers’ comp system. Temporary accommodations, or modified duty assignments, help workers return to their careers while providing needed support to recover from their injuries.  

When used effectively, these combinations can be a win for everyone. An injured worker gets to return to work and earn money to support their family. Employers get to work toward claims closure while continuing to support their employee’s recovery.  

Still, there are many pitfalls that a claims manager may encounter. There might be confusion around communication between different stakeholders about how accommodations should be implemented and what they should look like.  

Implementing a few best practices can help the accommodations and recovery processes run more smoothly. Here are five to consider so that your accommodations can help claims flourish, rather than causing them to fester.   

1) Perform a Thorough Assessment

Understanding the extent of an employee’s injury and what they physically can and cannot do during recovery is key to implementing successful modified or accommodated duty programs.  

The specifics of accommodation types are wide-ranging but familiar to most workers’ compensation professionals. They include workplace modifications that adjust the way an employee might perform certain job duties because of their injuries, using different equipment to complete essential functions, shifting schedules and providing extra breaks for rest or medical appointments are all methods with a track record of success. 

“You want at least limited-duty roles so they can phase back into work,” said Jeff Vari, physical therapist and director of commercial partnerships at FIGUR8. 

Vari, whose company works within clinics to perform these objective assessments, explained that this step is crucial, primarily because job analyses alone cannot provide the level of personal detail required to launch and manage an accommodation.  

Jeff Vari, director of commercial partnerships, at FIGUR8

“The most important thing in this process is doing a proper assessment of the injury and making sure you understand the true severity of the injury by doing a thorough evaluation using objective tools,” Vari said. “It’s understanding what their capabilities are so that you can provide the appropriate accommodation.” 

Objective tools are not limited to the realm of sophisticated medical technology. Tried-and-true methods like guideline assessment and adherence still provide a useful way to measure employee progress against the standard. It’s important to remember these are guidelines rather than treating them as prescriptive rules.  

“You can have the best job description in the world, with essential functions and physical demands tied to it, so you have a clear understanding of what they have to do, which is great from an employer perspective. But if you haven’t done a thorough assessment with objective tools, you’re probably limiting yourself in terms of understanding the true capacity of an employee,” Vari said. 

In addition to helping the claim move, “the use of evidence-based guidelines gives us rock-solid documentation,” said Karen Thomas, vice president of clinical solutions for CorVel. 

2) Ensure an Open Dialogue Between All Stakeholders

Typical accommodations, like light duty, are not one-size-fits-all, and as a fulsome assessment develops, experts may recommend the use of a designated person to guide the process and keep the communication flowing between all parties, especially when an injury is severe. 

“One of the biggest things is having an open line of communication — where you have the employee and the employer and health care provider openly communicating and there’s a dialogue,” Vari said.  

“That forms trust within all stakeholders so it’s not one-sided. In terms of employee reticence, I have felt at various times in my career that they didn’t feel communicated with and so kept that open line of communication and support, even training for the accommodation.”  

This advice may be familiar to many claims managers. Communication between stakeholders — including adjusters, nurse case managers, medical providers, employers and the injured worker — is key to a successful claims resolution, and that applies to accommodations, too.  

3) Understand the Cost-Benefit Analysis

The cost of accommodations is one of the reasons employers frequently give for a reluctance to implement these kinds of programs after injury on a policy basis, but the data shows that this is mostly unfounded.  

An April 2024 report from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service of the Office of Disability Employment Policy within the Department of Labor, found that nearly half of all accommodations cost absolutely nothing to implement, and of those that do incur a one-time cost, the median expenditure decreased when compared to previous reports by the same office to just $300. 

The JAN survey also explored employers’ motivations for making accommodations, their effectiveness and the benefits they produced.  

The report found that more than half of employers made accommodations to retain valued employees, 68.4% of employers said the accommodations made were either “very effective or extremely effective,” and another 18.3% of employers said accommodations were “somewhat effective.” Effectiveness was measured using JAN’s criteria and in consultation with employers for accuracy.   

If the goodwill effect and low cost of most accommodations is not sufficiently convincing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) watches employer obligations in this regard. Enforcement guidance from the EEOC addressing the interplay between the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and jurisdictional workers’ compensation statutes explains that while everyone that files a workers’ compensation claim is not classified as disabled under the ADA, accommodations will be considered under the “regarded as” portion of the law and need to be carefully adhered to.  

Communication is still key here when it comes to cost and compliance challenges. “If you’ve got reticence on the part of the employer, have open communication with the health care provider knowing that you’ve assessed them and are confident in certain types of physical work,” said Vari. 

4) Develop Return-to-Work Goals

As part of the larger return-to-work picture, accommodations are not set-it-and-forget-it solutions. Just as the claims advocacy movement has informed everything from Insurtech to medical devices, accommodations benefit from a whole-person model. 

“Advocate from the time of injury — what the expectations are and what the goal posts are so that the injured worker has a gauge,” said Lea Gallop, manager of case management at CorVel. “It’s essential to provide support throughout medical treatment, assessing return-to-work goals as treatment progresses and then modifying as needed.” 

Gallop also noted the key role vocational rehabilitation services and case management plays in ensuring that claims staff remain informed along the way. She also emphasized the need for a designated person or persons to guide the process, avoiding the dilution of authoritative contact with all parties and ensuring directives are met within the agreed-upon timeline. 

5) Understand Employee Impact

Accommodations reduce overall claim costs inherently due to decreased indemnity benefits paid out to employees over the course of the claim, but those savings are just one element of the overall cost containment they provide. Retaining talent reduces retraining and hiring costs and can influence an entire workplace for the better. 

“Providing work accommodations for injured workers has a positive impact on a company’s overall morale, as it shows care and support for employees, which communicates that the company values its employees’ wellbeing. This fosters a sense of loyalty, commitment and appreciation,” said Thomas. She noted other whole-workplace benefits include demonstrating inclusiveness, fairness and equal opportunities for all employees and reducing the stress and anxiety that can come with a job or income loss.  

Teamwork and empathy, as company values, are also reinforced when coworkers witness a company’s effort to accommodate injured workers, according to Thomas. “It can strengthen interpersonal relationships as well as contribute to a more positive, supportive work environment,” she said.  

The impact has a ripple effect when accommodations are implemented methodically and carefully in this way, establishing a connection to an individual’s work identity, social connection and feeling of normalcy. &