Redeployment

Redeployment to a new employer occurs when the injured employee is permanently medically unable to return to work with their pre-injury (or same) employer.

When an employee needs to be redeployed the hierarchy below should be considered in the following order:

• Same Job / New Employer
• Similar Job / New Employer
• New Job / New Employer

When the return to work goal for an injured employee is to find employment with a new employer, it is recommended that the rehabilitation case manager develops a Return to Work Plan in consultation with an approved rehabilitation provider and the treating doctor.

Activities that may support the successful redeployment of an injured employee could include:

• Transferable Skills Analysis
• Vocational Assessment
• Work trial
• Vocational counselling
• Job Seeking Skills, including:
  - assistance with developing a resume
  - submission of job applications
  - job seeking support and accountability
  - interview skills
• Retraining (should only be considered in certain circumstances and must be identified as the most cost-effective means of returning employee to work)

Remember, redeployment can be costly, time consuming and difficult to achieve successfully. It would only be a course to take as a last option after all other possibilities to return to the same employer have been pursued.

Approved Rehabilitation Providers and Job Seeking Assistance

Rehabilitation provider skills and expertise are a key element of successful redeployment by employers. Comcare encourages rehabilitation case managers to consider engaging an appropriately qualified approved rehabilitation provider to provide job seeking assistance services.

Employers are encouraged to put in place arrangements that will define and monitor the services provided by an approved rehabilitation provider to ensure they meet the agency’s needs. This should include access to job seeking skills and/or coordination of work trials when redeployment of an ill or injured employee is necessary to achieve a return to work outcome.

You can locate a rehabilitation provider in your area in the Directory of Approved Rehabilitation Providers.

Interagency Job Placement Program

The Interagency Job Placement Program (IJPP) was a redeployment initiative developed in 2004 by Comcare to assist employers to identify and place injured employees who were medically certified unfit to return to their pre-injury employer.

Rehabilitation case managers met together to propose possible candidates and positions vacant for agency placements within the Commonwealth.

IJPP has now evolved into an employer-managed program in most states and Comcare has minimal involvement in administering the program.

You can continue to access the IJPP supporting material and forms that were developed for employers and approved rehabilitation providers.

Further information

For any further information regarding redeployment or the Interagency Job Placement Program, please send your enquiries to PIMS.Help@comcare.gov.au.