About the ReIntegrate Project

About Reintegrate

There is increasing evidence that longer term absenteeism due to ill health is a major and rising problem in many sectors. Features of this trend include the ageing of the workforce, an increased proportion of absence being due to mental health problems and high rates of early retirements due to ill health.

Longer term absence (more than 20 days) typically accounts for about half of all absence and carries significant costs for employers and employees. It may be due to occupational causes (accidents and occupational diseases, but typically more than 70% is due to non-occupational causes.

More responsive approaches on the part of employers and worker representatives can significantly impact on the workability and employment of ill and injured workers. RE-INTEGRATE supports employers in encouraging employees to return to work in a safe and timely manner, thereby reducing costs to the employer and employee and minimising the impacts of absenteeism on the organisation.

RE-INTEGRATE provides a set of tools to improve employer practice in return to work - needs assessment, costs assessment, organisational practice assessment and knowledge assessment. These are provided via a face to face training course and within an e-learning environment.

RE-INTEGRATE can be used by individuals who want to improve their skills and knowledge of return to work practices or by organisations, who wish to improve their corporate performance in return to work.

RE-INTEGRATE is of value to any person involved in managing return to work practices. However, it should be especially useful to Human Resource Staff, line managers and trade unionists. RE-INTEGRATE will also be of use to people who provide services in relation to return to work. These include occupational health personnel, rehabilitation professionals and others.