Your recovery and return to work

Employers, workers, care providers and the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) must work together to prevent work injuries and, when injuries happen, assist injured workers back to work as soon as it is medically safe.

Working together, we can address workers’ medical needs, arrange for meaningful work during recovery and provide benefits.

The WCB will work with you and your employer to develop a suitable return-to-work plan. This plan will include your current abilities as provided by your health-care provider.

Returning to work after an injury is an important aspect of recovery and claims management. According to a report from the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC), the longer injured workers are away from work, the less likely it is that they will ever return to productive employment. Workers who return to work as soon as it’s medically safe usually recover faster.

“Most injuries do not lead to lost time; with medical treatment, the worker returns to work before lost time begins,” reads the IAIABC report. “It is commonly understood that 5-10 per cent of workers’ compensation claims account for 80-90 per cent of claims costs.”

Read the full IAIABC report: Return to Work: A Foundational Approach to Return to Function

Why is returning to work early important?

When a worker gets back to work as soon as it’s medically safe, the physical and emotional impact on that worker, the worker’s family and other employees is reduced.