Developing a collaborative and sustainable return to work program for employees with common mental disorders: a participatory research with public and private organizations.

PURPOSE: To disentangle the key steps of the return to work (RTW) process and offer clearer recovery-focused and sustainable RTW for people on sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMDs). METHODS: This participatory research involves two large Canadian organizations. In each organization, we established an advisory committee composed of RTW stakeholders. We collected information in semi-structured interviews from RTW stakeholders (n = 26) with each member of the advisory committee in each organization, as well as with employees who had recently experienced CMDs. The interviews examined the RTW process for employees on sick leave due to CMDs as well as RTW stakeholders' perceptions of barriers and facilitators. A thematic approach was used to synthesize the data, following which, results were discussed with the two advisory committees to identify solutions considering key RTW steps. RESULTS: Ten common key steps within the three RTW phases emerged from the semi-structured interviews with RTW stakeholders and discussions with the two advisory committees: 1) At the beginning of sickness absence and involvement of disability management team (phase 1), we found 3 steps (e.g., taking charge of the file), 2) during the involvement in treatment rehabilitation with health professionals and preparation of the RTW (phase 2), 4 steps (e.g., RTW preparation), and finally 3) the RTW and follow-up (phase 3) consists of 3 steps (e.g., gradual RTW). CONCLUSION: A participatory study involving RTW stakeholders helped identify 10 common key steps within three phases to support RTW sustainability of people with CMDs. Future research will need to address how RTW coordinators intervene in the RTW process of employees with CMDs within these steps.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONRehabilitation professionals will benefit from a detailed description of the RTW process (10 steps spread out over 3 RTW phases), allowing them to standardize it while adopting a personalized approach for the employee on sick leave.Rehabilitation professionals are informed of stakeholders' role and actions required in the RTW process; as such the communication between RTW stakeholders should be improved.RTW coordinators will be able to tailor more precisely their intervention, considering the detailed RTW process and RTW stakeholders' role and actions, and thus will become the pivot occupational health specialists for the RTW process.

[Development and User Testing of the PRATICAdr Web Application: Return-to-work Platform Focused on Interaction and Communication Between Stakeholders, Integrating a Sustainable Recovery Program]. / Développement et tests utilisateurs de l'application Web PRATICAdr : Plateforme de Retour Au Travail axée sur les Interactions et la Communication entre les Acteurs, intégrant un programme Durable favorisant le Rétablissement.

Introduction Common mental disorders (CMDs) account for 30% to 50% of all illness absences. The success of RTW is not only due to the individual but rather to the result of the interaction between the stakeholders involved in the RTW process. Numerous mental health applications have been developed to improve patient management and optimize communication between professionals, but have not been validated. Moreover, no technological solution has been developed to date to facilitate both consultation among the RTW stakeholders (e.g., managers, health professionals) and systematic support for the employee in his or her RTW. Objective To address these shortcomings, the purpose of this article is twofold: 1) to describe the development of the PRATICAdr application (Return-to-Work Platform focused on Stakeholder Interaction and Communication: a Sustainable Recovery Program) and 2) to document PRATICAdr application user testing. Method The development of PRATICAdr has been operationalized in three phases: 1) needs assessment, 2) conceptualization of the internal mechanisms of the application and programming techniques and 3) testing of the application in real situation. The application is evaluated through questionnaires and interviews to measure user satisfaction. Results PRATICAdr allows to follow in real time the path of RTW stakeholders involved in the personalized support of the employee in his RTW. The operationalization of the RTW process and the inclusion of validated assessment tools help systematize the stakeholders' consultation and shared decision-making, as well as the monitoring and actions taken to undertake a recovery-promoting RTW. The PRATICAdr interface was developed to simplify the user experience for the employee on sick leave and all RTW stakeholders. Regarding user satisfaction, results show that the first 16 users of PRATICAdr, employees in a large healthcare organization returning to work following a CMD, were very satisfied (average>9/10) with the Web application, as well as the participation of RTW stakeholders and the questionnaires included in PRATICAdr. Improvements were also suggested. Conclusion PRATICAdr is implemented in two large organizations (>15,000 employees) in order to evaluate its effectiveness with employees on sick leave due to CMD registered in a RTW process. The aim of this article was to present not only the development of PRATICAdr, but also to measure user satisfaction. Preliminary results indicate a high level of satisfaction among employees on sick leave who used PRATICAdr. In terms of future avenues, the integration of e-learning will be addressed with the objective of customizing the RTW program according to the predictions of duration of sick leave and sustainable RTW.

Does time management work? A meta-analysis.

Does time management work? We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual factors have a much weaker association with time management, with the notable exception of conscientiousness. The extremely weak correlation with gender was unexpected: women seem to manage time better than men, but the difference is very slight. Further, we found that the link between time management and job performance seems to increase over the years: time management is more likely to get people a positive performance review at work today than in the early 1990s. The link between time management and gender, too, seems to intensify: women's time management scores have been on the rise for the past few decades. We also note that time management seems to enhance wellbeing-in particular, life satisfaction-to a greater extent than it does performance. This challenges the common perception that time management first and foremost enhances work performance, and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct.

Stakeholders' Role and Actions in the Return-to-Work Process of Workers on Sick-Leave Due to Common Mental Disorders: A Scoping Review.

The lack of knowledge regarding the roles and actions of return to work (RTW) stakeholders create confusion and uncertainty about how and when to RTW after experiencing a common mental disorder (CMD). Purpose The purpose of this scoping review is to disentangle the various stakeholders' role and actions in the RTW process of workers on sick-leave due to CMDs. The research question is: What is documented in the existing literature regarding the roles and actions of the identified stakeholders involved in the RTW process of workers on sick-leave due to CMDs? Methods In conducting this scoping review, we followed Arksey and O'Malley's (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19-32, 2005) methodology, consisting of different stages (e.g., charting the data by categorizing key results). Results 3709 articles were screened for inclusion, 243 of which were included for qualitative synthesis. Several RTW stakeholders (n=11) were identified (e.g., workers on sick leave due to CMDs, managers, union representatives, rehabilitation professionals, insurers, return to work coordinators). RTW stakeholders' roles and actions inter- and intra-system were recommended, either general (e.g., know and understand the perspectives of all RTW stakeholders) or specific to an actor (e.g., the return to work coordinator needs to create and maintain a working alliance between all RTW stakeholders). Furthermore, close to 200 stakeholders' actions, spread out on different RTW phases, were recommended for facilitating the RTW process. Conclusions Eleven RTW stakeholders from the work, heath and insurance systems have been identified, as well as their respective roles and actions. Thanks to these results, RTW stakeholders and policy makers will be able to build practical relationships and collaboration regarding the RTW of workers on sick leave due to CMDs.

Dimensionality and consequences of employee commitment to supervisors: a two-study examination.

Research on the 3-component model of organizational commitment--affective, normative, and continuance--has suggested that continuance commitment comprises 2 subcomponents, perceived lack of alternatives and sacrifice (e.g., S. J. Jaros, 1997; G. W. McGee & R. C. Ford, 1987). The authors aimed to extend that research in the context of employees' commitment to their immediate supervisors. Through two studies, they examined the validity and consequences of a 4-factor model of commitment to supervisors including affective, normative, continuance-alternatives, and continuance-sacrifice components. Study 1 (N = 317) revealed that the 4 components of commitment to supervisors were distinguishable from the corresponding components of organizational commitment. Study 2 (N = 240) further showed that the 4 components of commitment to supervisors differentially related to intention to leave the supervisor, supervisor-directed negative affect and emotional exhaustion. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the management of employee commitment in organizations.