Establish roles & responsibilities

As a best practice, we have identified two roles that give companies the flexibility that is needed to help the PreDisability program be successful, regardless of your specific workplace policies and culture. The two-role model can help this program fit in quickly and streamline your ability to send us referrals.

Role 1: Healthy Working Life® program owner 

This individual will be responsible for: 

• The overall management of the program within your company. 
• Communicating the goals of the program to your organization. 
  
• Monitoring utilization of the program to ensure consistency. 
  
• Serving as your company’s central internal resource for the program. 
  

In general, most companies choose to use someone from benefits management, human resources, or their safety department to serve as the program owner.

Role 2: Healthy Working Life® point-of-contact or contact person 

This individual or department will serve as the primary contact between your company and your designated vocational coach, and will be responsible for: 

• Using referral criteria provided by the vocational coach to identify and refer employees who may benefit from PreDisability vocational services. 
  
• Approving and supporting reasonable efforts by the vocational coach that assist the employee in achieving the goal to continue working. One example is instruction on the correct use of assistive equipment or devices.
  
• Notifying the vocational coach about any issues that would impact the employer’s acceptance of or installation of equipment or assistive devices. 
  
• Communicating directly with employees if the Coach's recommendations are not approved. 
  
• Coordinating the acceptance of shipments of any assistive equipment or devices to the employer’s worksite and organizing the assembly of any equipment that requires installation. 
  

Many companies choose to use their program owner as their point of contact. However, large decentralized organizations tend to use their benefits manager as the program owner and assign regional human resource representatives to serve as points of contact.