• Projektnummer : F 2459
• Projektdurchführung : Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status : Abgeschlossenes Projekt

Projektbeschreibung :

Significance

Gradual return to work (GRTW) processes are a key element of operational integration management (OIM), aiding employees to get back to their jobs after long periods of sickness. They help individuals overcome ill health, promote equal participation in working life and self-determination, and stabilise workability.

Research Focus

This project examined how GRTW is implemented in Germany at the moment, analysing the challenges presently being faced and the potential for its further development. In particular, attention was paid to the action taken by returning employees and organisational stakeholders when GRTW processes are prepared, implemented, and followed up. The factors experienced as favourable and disadvantageous were analysed in closer detail. 

Methodology

Data were gathered by means of structured interviews and group discussions with returning employees during or after GRTW processes, as well as with relevant organisational stakeholders (e.g., OIM officers, supervisors, human resources professionals). The data were evaluated using the Documentary Method of Interpretation (R. Bohnsack).

Results

The results show that GRTW is viewed by all involved as an essential and central element of the return-to-work process after a long-term illness. In particular, it is a major challenge, but of central significance to adapt the programme’s content and stages individually to take account of the returning employee's current resources and abilities while they are still off sick and recovering. The intrinsic and extrinsic pressure to return quickly to work and normality is often underestimated, as are the impacts of long-term illness on the mental health of those affected. During a long absence, employees often develop anxieties, concerns, and reservations about their own workability and how their colleagues will react. Organisational resource shortages, pressure, and a lack of mindful and caring support hinder the implementation of GRTW processes and increase the likelihood of employees feeling overwhelmed. Major differences are apparent in how employees who have been sick for long periods are treated at both the individual and structural levels, which are compensated for in isolated cases with assistance from an experienced mentor who enjoys the employee’s trust. A flexible, needs-oriented, individual approach to GRTW is necessary, with both the returning employee’s current limitations and their resources being considered. The results emphasise the importance of a therapeutic and sustainability-oriented GRTW process that stabilises recovery in the workplace, addresses incapacity for work as a collective challenge, factors in long-term perspectives, and allows the employee to carry on working healthily. They also highlight the crucial role of experienced workplace health management professionals, as well as trained, sensitive supportive managers and teams if these processes are to be successful.

Conclusions

The results illustrate the need to optimise GRTW, especially with regard to early preparations to alleviate employees’ fears, the resource-appropriate individual design of the measures taken, the influence of an appreciative organisational climate, the necessity of managerial training, and clearer OIM structures. Future research should focus on further developing early interventions and prevention activities that help people stay at work. Practical measures should highlight sustained recovery as the goal of GRTW processes and contribute to greater awareness, destigmatisation, and more understanding in dealing with employees affected by long-term illnesses or at risk of such conditions.