Why Traditional Voc Rehab Fails
As a manager or director of workers’ compensation claims, you may have experienced firsthand shortcomings of traditional vocational rehabilitation (VR) services. The truth is, more often than not, traditional VR services lead to stationary claims, frustrated workers, and growing claim costs.
Let us shed light on two main issues with traditional VR:
Problem 1: Passive Approaches
Traditional VR providers often rely on passive job development methods, such as online job searches or expecting workers to independently seek and apply for jobs. These unengaged methods are notably ineffective for permanently restricted workers, who often must venture beyond their existing experience and skill levels when seeking employment opportunities
Consider the case of a skilled plumber, driver, or laborer with 20 years of experience who now faces a permanent lifting restrictions of 25 pounds. Through the direction of passive job-seeking approaches, the worker applies weekly to jobs online in clerical work, dispatching, and customer service, where direct experience may be lacking (remember – the worker is a laborer by trade). As a consequence of mismatched qualifications and lack of worker advocacy to hiring managers, employers will often discard the worker’s application, leading to no callbacks or interview opportunities. Sound familiar?
Here lies a significant failure of traditional VR.
Problem 2: Voc Counselor Overload
Traditional vocational providers—and even in-house programs—often place the burden of job development solely on vocational counselors. While counselors are essential, their time is split across multiple responsibilities and claims, leaving little room for effective job sourcing.
Finding viable jobs requires significant time and effort, but with limited capacity, crucial tasks like job sourcing and interview coordination are often deprioritized. This leads to claim stagnation and rising costs.
At Recharged Voc Rehab, we solve this problem by dedicating in-house personnel to job sourcing, working under the guidance of our counselors to keep claims moving efficiently.
Take a moment to browse two vocational counselor job descriptions sourced from ZipRecruiter jobs. Notice the quantity of other duties required outside the realm of finding jobs:
Vocational Counselor #1
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Vocational Counselor #2
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