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Why am I being referred for NES when my I am “unfit”?
Despite being certified as unfit by your doctor, there are still services available to you.
* This may be simply a once off Transferable Skills Analysis service, which will involve your vocational advisor discussing your skills, experience and future employment goals with you in order to identify potentially suitable future employment options with you.
* Whilst you are “unfit”, your vocational advisor may be able to uncover vocational retraining, which you may be able to complete whilst you recover from your injury.
* An opportunity may present for you to engage in the Capacity Support Service with your vocational advisor. This service will also involve an assessment similar to the TSA (described above) in addition to exploring vocational retraining plans and discussing the same with yourself and your doctor.
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What happens after I select Work Able Consulting to be my Occupational Rehabilitation Provider?
You will need to notify your WorkSafe Agent that you have selected Work Able Consulting. This may be done by returning your provider choice letter to your WorkSafe Agent, an email or a phone call. Your WorkSafe Agent will then send a Referral to Work Able Consulting and upon receiving this referral, your vocational advisor will contact you to arrange an initial meeting at an office location near you.
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How will Original Employer Services (OES) help me get back to work?
We will work closely with you to understand how you are progressing with your return to work program as return to work will play a big part in your recovery from the injury sustained at your workplace.
As part of this process we need to understand what modifications your employer is able to make to your role in order to facilitate an initial return to work program. This first step normally consists of a meeting at your pre-injury place of employment with your employer’s nominated return to work coordinator.
After understanding the available return to work options we will need to engage with your treating health practitioners to ensure that their recommendations are taken into consideration as part of the return to work planning process while also providing guidance around possible options to facilitate your return to the workplace.
We will be involved throughout each of your return to work stages and we work towards achieving your return to work goals. Practically this will consist of follow-up return to work meetings at the workplace, ongoing engagement with your treating health practitioners and frequent dialogue between each on the stakeholders involved in your return to work program.
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How will my vocational advisor help me to find a new job?
Your vocational advisor is trained and experienced to assist you with:
* Having a highly professional resume document
* Application letter writing
* Understanding where and how to job search
* Feeling confident to attend an interview and provide you with training to succeed at an interview
* Sourcing employment opportunities and matching these to your skills and goals
* Marketing you to suitable new employers by canvassing employers with you and on your behalf
* Understanding how to discuss your injury with prospective employers
* Providing ongoing support and assistance to you once you have returned to work
* Promoting the WorkSafe Incentive Scheme for Employer (WISE) to prospective new employers
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What is the WorkSafe Incentive Scheme for Employer (WISE)?
WISE is an incentive program offered to a new employer who offers you a new employment opportunity of at least 15 hours per week. The new employer is able to access up to $26,000 over a 6-month period from WorkSafe. Your vocational advisor will organise a Workplace Assessment to be completed prior to you commencing work with the new employer to ensure the job is suitable for you when considering your injury.
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What happens if I need training to improve my employment prospects?
Your vocational advisor will review your vocational retraining needs. If it is determined that you require vocational retraining to assist you to secure a new job, your vocational advisor is able to investigate suitable course options for you and make a recommendation to your WorkSafe Agent about funding your participation in the recommended course.
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Why am I being referred to the service when I do not have a capacity for work?
Part of our role is to assist with facilitating suitable RTW options that can be presented to your treating health practitioners for feedback and guidance. This takes time we need to plan for this as part of your recovery process.
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What happens after I select Work Able Consulting to be my Occupational Rehabilitation Provider?
* You will need to notify your WorkSafe Agent that you have selected Work Able Consulting. This may be completed by returning your provider choice letter to your WorkSafe Agent, an email or a phone call.
* Your WorkSafe Agent will then send a referral to Work Able Consulting and upon receiving this referral, your allocated consultant will make contact with you to arrange a meeting time.
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Where will I be meeting you?
Our initial assessment will normally take place at your pre-injury place of employment with your employer present. We are happy to discuss alternative options if necessary.
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Will you assist with putting together an initial return to work arrangements?
Yes – we will guide through the steps required to assist you with preparing a suitable return to work program that can be presented to your injured employee and their treating health practitioners.
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What is the goal of the service?
Our role is to assist with facilitating a sustainable return to work program that adheres to your injured employee’s medical capacity and works within the capabilities of your business.
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How can you help us assist our employee to return to work safely and sustainably?
We will work in conjunction with the employer, employee and the employee’s treating health practitioners to ensure that each of the key stakeholders circumstances and recommendations are clearly understood. This will assist with implementing a return to work program that is achievable and sustainable.
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Will you visit the workplace? Will we have an initial meeting?
Yes, our role and focus is to provide workplace rehabilitation services. This will include organising an initial meeting with the employer representative and injured worker.
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Who is usually involved in the return to work process/planning?
It’s a combined effort! We need to ensure that the employers circumstances and business needs are understood while also being mindful of the injured worker’s capacity for work and treating health practitioners recommendations. To ensure this occurs we need to engage with the employer, injured employee and their treating health practitioners.
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Will you assist with developing an initial return to work arrangement/proposal?
Yes we will work with you and your employee to prepare an initial return to work proposal that can be discussed and considered by the employee’s treating health practitioners. This will be the main focus of the initial assessment / meeting.
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How can we as the employer assist with return to work planning?
As the employer you are the expert when it comes to understanding what makes your business tick. It is vitally important from the outset that we understand the factors which will impact on your injured employee’s return to work program. As a good starting point during the initial assessment / meeting we like to understand the minimum level of capacity required in order for an initial return to work program to commence.
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What is the goal of your service?
We focus on facilitating sustainable return to work programs while providing great customer service to all stakeholders involved in the return to work process. In order to achieve this we need to work collaboratively with both yourself and your injured employee to ensure that all parties are heard and your expectations of the service are met.
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What happens if I go back to work and I’m not earning as much/not able to work my pre-injury hours?
In some cases, you can continue to receive weekly payments in addition to the weekly wages paid to you by your new employer. You should contact your WorkSafe Agent to discuss how this works.
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What help is available when I return to work? What is WAS?
Worker Assistance Scheme (WAS) provides financial assistance of $200 to you, when you are currently receiving New Employer Services (NES) and have secured new employment of at least 15 hours with a new employer. The payment is not for items of clothing or equipment that the employer is obliged to provide. You should speak to your Agent about whether you are eligible to access WAS upon accepting an offer and securing of new paid employment.
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What is Capacity Support Services (CSS)?
A referral for CSS occurs when current Independent Medical opinion identifies you as having a capacity for work, however, your treating health practitioner continues to certify you with no capacity for work. CSS is a six week service with the purpose of engaging your treaters to support you in being able to return to new employment.
A Case Conference with your treater is a feature of this service, whereby we would meet with your treater and yourself to discuss your current and future capacity along with suitable employment and retraining options.
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What is Job Seeking Services (JSS)?
A referral for JSS occurs when you are being certified with a capacity for employment by your treater or your treater has confirmed that you are likely to have a certified capacity in the near future. If there is no certified capacity, CSS will be completed prior to commencing JSS (see what is Capacity Support Services CSS).
JSS is a 12 week service to provide job seeking assistance to those who are ready to commence new employment and to provide you with the skills and competencies necessary for independent job seeking. During JSS, your consultant should perform job brokerage activities that may include but are not limited to:
*Identifying suitable job vacancies by actively canvassing prospective employers (reverse marketing)
*Identifying suitable advertised job vacancies
*Preparing and forwarding applications on behalf of the worker to prospective employers, job agencies, and in response to advertised vacancies
*Marketing the worker’s experience, skills and abilities as well as their access to WISE to prospective employers and job agencies
During this service, you are equally expected to be completing regular job seeking activities agreed with your consultant that include:
* Identifying and applying for suitable vacancies advertised in newspapers and relevant online search engines
* Canvassing prospective employers by industry, location, personal and professional networks, and accessing the hidden job market
* Contacting your consultant at agreed intervals to share information and obtain support for job seeking activities
* Attending job agencies regularly to identify and apply for suitable vacancies
* Keeping a record of job seeking activities.
* Attending appointments with your consultant as scheduled
* Attending job interviews when secured
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Where and how often will we meet?
This will depend on the service that you have been referred for, however, typically speaking (for ongoing services) we will meet with you at a satellite office nearby to you on a fortnightly basis. If this does not sound achievable for you, we can liaise with your WorkSafe Agent to agree on a frequency that is suitable for you. You are also entitled to be represented, assisted and supported in the return to work process by a nominated representative such as a family member, friend, colleague or union representative.
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What is a Transferable Skills Analysis (TSA)?
A referral for a Transferable Skills Analysis (TSA) occurs when you have no confirmed capacity for employment from your treating health practitioner or an independent medical examiner. A TSA is still useful, however, to identify your transferable skills and potential vocational options. The TSA allows us to help set strategies and engage with you and your treaters at the right time to discuss your future work capacity. The TSA is also a good opportunity to explore your needs to engage in vocational retraining.
