While most people naturally return to work following an illness or injury, others may struggle to get back into the routine. That’s when our Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants (VRCs) can help, offering a wide range of support, guidance and expertise for all our Income Protection customers.

How we can help

Our VRCs have expertise in a wide range of areas including occupational therapy, occupational psychology, physiotherapy and nursing, and can provide support no matter where people work or live.

We can link into employers' existing absence management practices and work with their Occupational Health provider, if they have one, to help prevent short-term problems from becoming a long term absence.

Access to our rehabilitation support is available whenever it’s needed. If an employee is having problems coping at work or from day one of absence, we can suggest strategies to help. And because not every absence needs to use every rehabilitation tool, we can even answer some queries over the phone.

Our nationwide team of rehabilitation experts can:

  • give guidance on getting employees back to work
  • work with employers to identify the reason(s) for continued absence from work
  • put together a plan to help the employee return to work where appropriate
  • help identify any reasonable adjustments to help support an absent employee back into the workplace

Specialised assessments and training

We offer a number of specialised assessments that can help support employees in the workplace including:

  • Dyslexia vocational evaluation
  • Functional (physical) capacity
  • Psychometric (mental)
  • Ergonomic

We offer training for line managers and HR teams – those at the forefront of sickness absence – with our On Course workshops:

  • Cancer in the Workplace
  • Mental Health in the Workplace
  • Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in the workplace
  • Stress awareness and management
  • Sickness absence management
  • Fluctuating and recurring conditions (such as asthma, inflammatory bowel diseases, arthritis , MS, etc.)
  • Gender, health, work (webinar only)
  • U-First – a course for employees designed to improve wellbeing

We can also run these workshops via interactive webinar or at an employer’s premises. For more information, email oncourse@unum.com

Or click below for our online e-modules covering:

Our 'Cancer in the workplace' workshop is developed in partnership with Maggie’s and takes place at Maggie’s centres across the UK. For our 2019 schedule, click here.

Contacting us

Employers can access our rehabilitation support at any time, before, during or after a claim has been made. Our VRCs work closely with our claims team to identify opportunities where practical support can help absent staff members and employers achieve the best possible outcome.

For support managing general sickness absence-related issues:

To make a referral, click here

 

More useful information

Your Guide to Unum's Rehab Services
Creating a Graduated Return to Work Plan
Writing to your Employee's GP
Unum’s Mental Health Pathway