3 Prominent Benefits of Occupational Therapy for Companies

You might have heard about occupational therapy. But are you sure you really know what it is? Occupational therapists help people having illnesses and/or injury restart work duties gradually through transitional work. Thus, there are a lot of benefits of occupational therapy to companies. Here are only a few of them.

1. Helps Modify Work According to Ability

Occupational therapists learn about the employees’ job requirements and their functional abilities. Next they determine the tasks that an emplooyee can do safely and dependably. Then they sit with the employer to determine the modifications that can be done to the task and environment that can support the work. The occupational therapist sets certain parameters for modified work and recommends them to the treating physician who releases the person to the work. Occupational therapists closely monitor and discuss the work performance with the employer and the employee, and with the increase in the tolerance, work tasks are advanced to make them suitable to the employee’s increased abilities. This process is continued till full or maximum recovery. The final goal is full duty work, though this may not be sometimes achievable.

2. Designs and Monitors Transitional Work Programs

Occupational therapists have knowledge, abilities and skills to address a great range of physiological, cognitive, psychosocial and biochemical functions of a person. Being healthcare experts, they understand the impact of a wide array of health conditions on the body. They are trained to assess a person’s physical, motor, cognitive and psychological body functions, and to compare the person’s abilities to those needed by the person’s job. With this knowledge, occupational therapists can design and monitor transitional work programs to assess and analyze the factors affecting work performance.

3. Employees are Benefited by Transitional Work

Transitional work benefits employees in several ways. The employees start imagining themselves as efficient workers able to take up work responsibilities and meaningful work roles. They can maintain normal work routines. Their damaged body structures get time to heal while still activities are enabled thus deconditioning due to disuse is prevented. Because of participating in activities, the worker’s functional abilities required to perform a job like strength, mobility, endurance, manipulation, cognition and emotional tolerance are improved. When they can perform the modified work tasks successfully, their confidence also increases. Due to the occupational therapy, like occupational therapy Denver for example, the employee can learn how to compensate for restricted functional abilities through task and environmental modifications. Thus, even if the employees are ill and/or injured, the employer can make the best use of their abilities due to occupational therapy.

So, have you started planning to have occupational therapy for your employees?