Increasing the number of injured and/or ill employees who are able to make a sustainable return-to-work (RTW) is an important goal for all organisations; and a workplace policy priority within the public sector. Research shows that improving the supervisor-employee relationship can assist in sustainable RTW. BETA partnered with the (then) Department of Employment to develop behaviourally-informed materials to guide supervisors in their conversations with ill/injured employees during their return to work journey. The materials were tested with the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and supervisors reported they were valuable in assisting them to manage the return to work process. The Returning to work after an illness or injury report, supporting materials and video are now available.
ADDITIONAL TRIAL INFORMATION
Intervention start and end date: Monday, 11 February 2019 to Friday, 28 June 2019 (TBC)
Ethics approval: Bellberry Limited 2018-11-978, 29/01/19
BETA ethics pre-registration number: BETA ETH 2017 - 003, 10 January 2017
Experimental design: A convergent integrated mixed-methods design – relying on both qualitative and quantitative data, collected simultaneously. Qualitative data will be obtained through interviews and focus groups, and will be integrated with quantitative data from surveys and administrative data collection.
Summary and descriptive statistics will be used to describe the sample. Additionally, a number of bivariate associations will be undertaken, such as cross-tabulating time on leave with satisfaction, or type of injury with satisfaction.
No randomisation will be involved, as the mixed-methods design will contrast a comparison group against the intervention group.
Intervention(s): A package of behaviourally informed materials will be distributed to managers of employees requiring a return-to-work (RTW) process.
Control condition: This is not a randomised controlled trial so there will be no control group. However, the comparison group for the study will be workers who have been involved in the RTW process prior to the roll out of intervention materials (i.e. those who underwent RTW in 2018).
Outcome(s):
Primary outcomes:
- RTW status at trial end date
- Duration of leave from work
Secondary outcomes:
- Supervisor’s level of confidence in managing an employee on RTW and their behaviours
- Employee’s rating of helpfulness of supervisor contact
- Perceived level of supervisor support
Expected sample size: 80 cases in the treatment group and a similar number in the comparison group.
Registration number: ACTRN12619000166178
Other: ANZCTR pre-registration
Su Mon Kyaw-Myint 2019. Supporting supervisors to improve return-to-work outcomes of injured or ill workers. ANZCTR. February 5.
