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The Importance of Workplace Social Relations in the Return to Work Process: A Missing Piece in the Return to Work Puzzle?

  • Chapter
Handbook of Return to Work

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability ((SHHDW,volume 1))

Abstract

The chapter elaborates how workplace social relations influence practice in the return to work process. The social conditions in which the return to work process is embedded, and the way social interaction and relations between the sick-listed worker and other workplace actors (supervisor and coworkers) evolve, have only been researched to a limited extent. In this book chapter, we will discuss critical new dimensions of social relations research in the field of return to work that can “make” or “break” a workplace return to work process. These critical new dimensions highlight the importance of viewing return to work as a dynamic process over time, where supervisors and coworkers display shifting roles depending on phases of the process. The chapter conveys new dimensions of social relations, acknowledging the positive contribution of coworker efforts in the process, which may have an important impact on workplace-based return to work interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Helath Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalens University, SE-72123, Västerås, Sweden

    Åsa Tjulin

  2. School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3G1

    Ellen MacEachen

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  1. Åsa Tjulin
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Correspondence to Åsa Tjulin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. and Special Education, Dept. Edu. and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada

    Izabela Z. Schultz

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA

    Robert J. Gatchel

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Tjulin, Å., MacEachen, E. (2016). The Importance of Workplace Social Relations in the Return to Work Process: A Missing Piece in the Return to Work Puzzle?. In: Schultz, I., Gatchel, R. (eds) Handbook of Return to Work. Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7627-7_5

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