National Return to Work Survey Data

The National Return to Work Survey aims to improve understanding of return to work outcomes and experiences for injured workers receiving workers’ compensation. It examines both the return-to-work process and the factors that influence successful outcomes.

First introduced in 2012, the survey collects insights from workers and employers to measure the experiences of ill or injured workers who are currently receiving or have previously received workers’ compensation. These findings help track progress toward the National Return to Work Strategy 2020-2030, which aims to “Minimise the impact of work-related injury and illness and enable workers to have a timely, safe and durable return to work.”

Target Population

The survey includes injured workers and employers who meet the following criteria:

• The worker had at least one day away from work due to a workplace injury or illness.
• A workers’ compensation claim was lodged within the specified 24-month period.
• The claim was either open or closed at the time of sampling.
• The worker was employed in a premium-paying organisation (including own businesses) or a self-insured organisation.

Exclusions

The following groups are not contacted:

• injured workers who are deceased
• injured workers who are involved in active legal proceedings (including appeals)
• injured workers identified as being likely to be adversely affected by participating in the survey
• claims for compensation for fatalities and/or where a date of death is recorded
• injured workers under the age of 18 at the time of sample extraction
• injured workers classified as 'risk clients' (e.g. 'violent' or similar indicator) for whom an interview is deemed inappropriate by the jurisdiction
• injured workers who 'opt-out' of research from their respective jurisdiction
• injured workers who are residing outside of Australia (in the case of Australian jurisdictions), and
• claims that have been rejected.

Data Weighting

To ensure the results accurately represent the target population, a weighting factor was applied to each respondent. All reported data from the National Return to Work Survey are weighted, unless otherwise noted.