Communicating with your Employer after your Injury

Returning to work after an injury or other stressful event can be challenging due to situational stress, coping with pain, financial uncertainty, and more. Depending on your situation, it may be important to communicate with your employer as you transition back to work.  Remember: it is important for you to focus on your recovery and to return to a comfortable quality of life. Balancing work demands with a healthy recovery timeline can be challenging, but good communication can make the process smoother.

The tips we provide are not legal advice and are not intended to provide or replace professional advising regarding injury and work. What follows is some general guidance to help you think through your return-to-work process.

How you return to work will depend on your specific situation. For example, was your injury work-related? If so, your employer will likely be working with you through the worker’s compensation process.
However, regardless of whether the injury was work-related, it could impact your ability to perform work duties. Here are a few things to consider doing before you return to work:

  • Before you return to work, talk with your medical provider to set a timeline for you to return to work.
  • If your medical providers have placed limitations on what you can do, make sure you talk with them about how to communicate with your supervisor about this. What kinds of tasks do you need to avoid doing as you recover? How long do you need to avoid doing them?
  • Discuss any changes you may need to make and work with your medical provider to set realistic goals for yourself. Communicate these needs with your employer and ask for additional support or flexibility in work schedule and tasks if needed.

Before you return to work: Things to Consider and Information about Resources

You may be eligible for support as you transition back to work, including workplace rehabilitation and/or medical leave such as FMLA. You can consider talking to your employer's HR department to find out about benefits that may help you in this transition.

A workplace rehabilitation provider may help you resolve problems/barriers associated with returning to work.

It is important to consider your comfort level with discussing your health and your injury with your employer. Are there boundaries that you need to set with regards to disclosing health-related information? What might you need to disclose (for example, aspects of your injury that might impact your work duties)? What information would you prefer to keep private? Setting your personal boundaries early on may help you retain control during the transition back to work.

Talk with both your medical provider and your employer about whether you can return to the same work duties. It is important to think realistically about your ability to handle physical tasks, psychological stressors, and social situations. Is the work environment that you are returning to appropriate for you during your recovery?  For example, are there uneven surfaces that may impact your ability to move comfortably when completing work-related tasks?  

Depending on your circumstances, your employer may be required to assign you different work tasks during your recovery. You may want to start thinking of the following questions in order to make your transition back to work as smooth as possible.

  • Do you need to modify your work duties or hours? If so, for how long?
  • What specifically can your employer do to help you recover at work?
  • How can you communicate your progress with your employer?

Remember to advocate for yourself. You understand your body and know what work situation will be best for you and your recovery. Also know your legal rights; discrimination, harassment, and retaliation because of an injury or disability is illegal.

Set your own goals for the conversation prior to meeting with your employer. Ask yourself: “What specific result do I want from this meeting?” Working with your supervisor to create a plan that works for everyone may be a difficult task, especially if there are many unknowns. Spending time developing your own goals will help keep the conversation on track.

  • Discuss the circumstances with your employer and clearly explain the reasons for any requests that you are making.
  • State your requests clearly.
  • Use a confident tone when speaking to convey that you deserve what you are requesting (e.g., make good eye contact, speak clearly).
  • Be sure to communicate clearly about what you can do during your recovery period, so your employer has a good sense of how you can contribute at work during your recovery.
  • Be willing to negotiate (that is, be willing to give in order to get) if your employer provides alternatives.
  • Keep records of your interactions and discussions. It may be a good idea to email a summary of discussions to your employer after you meet to ensure there were no miscommunications.