INCAPACITY AND DISABILITY MANAGEMENT
Absenteeism can be defined as a “failure of an employee to report for work as scheduled, regardless of the reason (s)”. Incapacity refers to the failure or inability of the employee to fulfil the occupational requirements of their job. Incapacity encompasses poor work performance and the inability to work as a result of ill-health or injury. Ill-Health retirement (Disability) refers to the retirement of an employee as a result of a medical condition that prevents them from safely performing duties of their substantive position for the foreseeable future, despite the consideration or provision of reasonable rehabilitation or reasonable adjustment.
1. ABSENTEEISM MANAGEMENT
Our in-depth understanding of the legislative framework that governs sick leave, absentee management, incapacity and disability management, and generally all health and wellness issues in the work place, enables us to provide our clients with advice and direction that is reliable, equitable and that promotes good governance. We assist our clients to ascertain the extent of the Absenteeism business problem; identify key drivers of the identified trends; identify high risk areas within the business; identify current gaps in the relevant policies, procedures and practices; and from analyzing and synthesizing the above information craft a comprehensive gap closure strategy that will focus and guide effective absenteeism management interventions. Our execution of the absenteeism programme ensures the achievement of improved work attendance and reduced costs related to sick absence.
2. INCAPACITY MANAGEMENT
In the context of illness and injury, incapacity and disability management, the process seeks to improve a particular employee’s vocational potential to the degree that he/she can remain in their original occupation. Alternatively, the improvement in their vocational potential could lead to their return to the open labour market in an alternative occupation. Our services include the provision of professional advice to managers and affected employees on:
- Fitness to return to own occupation
- Adaptations required to perform own job
- Functional capacity evaluations
- Guidance on reasonable accommodation
- Labour law and labour requirements
3. DISABILITY MANAGEMENT
An employee qualifies for ill health retirement based on the provisions made by the provident fund of their employer. These could either be proof of totality and permanence of their occupational disability for their own, or alternative occupation within that specific employer, or within the open labour market.The incapacity or disability assessment process has to be seen to be acceptable to both the employee and the employer, and that in performing such a function; every employee sees the entire process as both fair and objective. In this context, the assessment of occupational incapacity and or disability is complex and is not merely based on the General Practitioners and or Medical Specialist’s report which primarily only establishes the existence or otherwise of an impairment, but comprises a multidisciplinary assessment process with legal, ethical, occupational, financial and administrative components, requiring an understanding of labour law, risk management, occupational medicine, disease management and rehabilitation.