Blazing new trails for worker recovery

I’m thrilled to launch our latest Innovations grant, which is a breakthrough opportunity designed to unleash creativity and accelerate game-changing solutions to improving return to work outcomes. We thought a lot about our theme, ‘Recovery through work’. We knew we needed to get the frame right before we could expect the Victorian community to proffer their best and boldest innovations. To me, the key word here is ‘through’ – it emphasises the potential for work as a means to recovery, not just an end point.

20 years ago when I first started working in Workers Compensation Schemes, a lot of people - including doctors - thought an injured worker should only return to work once they’d made a complete or near-complete recovery.

Back then, our thinking was pretty binary: when you’re injured or ill, you stay home and rest. When you’re better, you get back to work.

We didn’t know as much about the layers of biopsychosocial factors that can impact a person’s recovery.

But over the years, more and more research has highlighted the benefits of injured workers staying connected in some way with work throughout their recovery - not just at the very end. I’m not talking about expecting people to be back on the tools in week 2 of a back injury; that idea of ‘connection’ with work is a spectrum. It spans everything from receiving regular check-ins from colleagues and bosses in the early days post-injury, right through to workers easing back into modified, meaningful tasks.

Anyone who’s had extended time off work due to injury or illness will know the feelings of despair, boredom, loneliness, grief, anxiety and freefall that can run riot due to having too much unstructured time…

all of which compounds the pain of the primary injury. In contrast, working can provide a sense of security, purpose, identity, structure, stimulation and community.

There’s a reason why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right to work – because working is recognised as a cornerstone not just for economic rights, but for ensuring a dignified existence for people and our families.

Work, when it’s the right kind of work, with the right supports in place, is good for us.

with a focus on ‘Recovery through work’, I’m excited to see how diverse organisations across Victoria will rise to this grant opportunity.

• What types of technologies might help injured workers to stay connected with work during recovery?
• What interventions might support them to return to modified tasks, when it’s safe to?
• And what ideas could we pilot in real-world contexts, that could tangibly improve return to work outcomes for workers and employers alike?

For this round, we’re targeting interventions for people with work-related physical injuries in manufacturing, construction, transport, postal and warehousing – industries that not only have an unacceptably high injury rate but also statistically struggle to get injured people back to work at the right time, and in the right way.

If your organisation works in any of these industries, and if you share our passion for creating impact for injured workers, I encourage you to read the guidelines and apply.

Applications are open from October 6 until 2pm, November 14.

Apply now