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What
is Disability Management?
When
you hear the term 'disability management,' most people think of
long-term and short-term disability. In years past, these programs
were most often used simply to provide a source of income to employees
who suffered an illness or injury that made them unable to work.
Long-term disability, for example, was often used after catastrophic
illnesses, such as heart attacks or cancer.
Today,
disability management programs encompass not only providing income
to an ill or injured employee, but developing interventions and
programs to try to get the employee back to work as soon as possible.
Returning as quickly as possible to a normal routine-including work-is
seen by many industry experts as a key part of the recovery process
for any disability. Studies show that the longer an employee thinks
of themselves as disabled-whether because of an injury or illness-the
less likely they are to resume their full activities. With an integrated
disability management approach, early intervention is key. Modifying
an employee's workstation, for instance, may address concerns of
a worker who is off on disability for a back injury.
Disability
claims are expected to rise as the population ages. Workers between
the ages of 55 and 64 missed, on average, 12 days of work in 1998,
more than double the average five days missed by their younger colleagues,
according to Statistics Canada research. In fact, Canadian employees
in general are missing more work than ever before. In 1998, 5.7%
of all full-time workers, or 525,000 people, were absent from work
for all or part of any given week that year for personal reasons,
including illness and disability.
As
demographic pressures shift, progressive employers will make sure
their disability management programs support workers' abilities
and encourage employees to return to work.
For more
on disability issues, download
the PDF of UnumProvident's new disability newsletter.
Disability newsletter
archives:
Spring
2001
Summer
2001
More articles on disability
management:
A
New Approach to Disability Management
Eaton's
Lost Ones
Disability
Management Triumphs
Keep
in Touch
The
Bottom Line on Disability
Enabling
the Disabled
One-stop
Assessment Shopping
Stating
Your Case
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Disability
management (including short-term and long-term disability, sick
leave and workers' compensation) encompasses workplace-based integration
programs which restore and maintain workers' abilities while reducing
costs of disability for workers, benefits plan sponsors, government
and insurance carriers.
UnumProvident
is a world leader in protecting the rewards of work through insurance
products and services created for individual customers and employees
in the workplace. Our integrated income protection, critical illness
insurance and special risk product choices are designed to work
together to help protect our customers' paycheques, assets, lifestyles
and independence.
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