I am an employee

You can reach out to:

• Your manager or HR representative if you need to explore adjusted tasks across the organization. Some companies may have an internal career counselor available for assistance.

• The occupational physician: Schedule a spontaneous consultation with the occupational doctor to review the progress of your return to work or employment. Following this discussion, the occupational physician can suggest measures to make your work environment more suitable. They can also collaborate with your employer to modify workload, adjust workstations, or temporarily transition to a different role.

• Your treating doctor/medical team: Engage in discussions about challenges and potential support mechanisms to help you remain at work.

• Advisory physician from the health insurance fund and/or return-to-work coordinator: Collaborate with them to address concerns about potential dropout and devise a plan of action together.

• A workplace mediator: If you commenced working with the assistance of a workplace mediator (VDAB, GTB, or GOB), discuss how they can support you in the workplace.

• A specialised job coach: Consider contacting a job coach to explore the possibility of workplace mediation. Your employer's willingness is essential for this process.
  • How to proceed:
  • Visit VDAB, specifically 'an employee with a health issue',
  • Click on 'a specialized job coach near you'.
  • Choose from various centers per province.

• Career guidance center.

Certainly.

🤝Collaborating with

1. The occupational physician can assist in planning the progression of your return to work. Depending on the arrangements made, the occupational physician may request regular visits from you.
2. Additionally, you can seek guidance and support from the advising doctor or return-to-work coordinator at the health insurance fund. The advising doctor may recommend consultations with the occupational physician, your primary healthcare provider, or a career counselor.

💪A key factor for sustainable employment success is 'establishing clear agreements with your manager' before and during your reintegration process.You can establish agreements regarding the initial days back at work, retraining procedures, task assignments, etc. Regularly reviewing and assessing these agreements is beneficial.

GTB represents Gespecialiseerde Trajectbemiddeling (Specialized Career Mediation).

🤝Collaboration: GTB mediators can assist you in your quest for appropriate employment.

🚧Challenge: Discovering suitable work and a compatible employer necessitates diligence, patience, and sometimes a bit of luck.

💪Strategy: Engaging in career exploration (or job trials) allows you to gain firsthand experience of various job roles, understand labor market demands and expectations, explore different corporate cultures, and more.

• Through this process, you can identify your strengths, weaknesses, interests, work preferences, and feasible work arrangements.
• Specialised coaching subsidised by VDAB is available at no cost to both employees and employers.
• During job interviews, the focus will primarily be on your suitability for the position.
• When discussing your brain injury, the conversation should focus on its impact on work performance. You can communicate what support would be beneficial in addressing any challenges.

You have the option to:

• Schedule a spontaneous consultation with your occupational physician to address challenges and explore helpful strategies.
  • Your doctor can provide guidance on workload reduction, workstation adjustments, or temporary role transitions.
  • Additionally, you can discuss coping with reduced insight into your condition and how colleagues or managers can support you in this aspect.

• Engage with your manager or HR personnel to explore adapted tasks across the organization.
  • Some companies may offer access to an internal career counselor for additional support.
  • By communicating openly with your manager about both positive and challenging aspects, you can collaboratively find effective solutions.
  • Adjusted work arrangements, such as wage cost compensation (Individual Customization) or modifications to the work environment (e.g., creating a low-stimulus workspace), can facilitate your continued employment in your current role. Alternatively, you can explore alternative positions within the organization together.

• Your attending doctor/therapist from the rehabilitation center.
  • You can communicate to them that you are facing challenges and uncertain about sustaining your return to work.
  • 💼 Valuable resource: Create a checklist to highlight key areas of concern.

• Your VDAB or GTB mediator can provide workplace support.
  • You can reach out to the mediator to discuss your progress.
  • They may suggest initiating specialized job coaching, which is offered at no cost to you and your employer.
  • Your employer's cooperation is essential for engaging with the job coach.
  • A specialized job coach can collaborate with you and your employer to address various aspects, such as explaining the impact of a brain injury, addressing challenges, and developing coping strategies. The job coach can also assist in preparing how to communicate this information to your colleagues.

💪Strategy: As an employee, you can also embark on career guidance.

• This process helps you identify your strengths, interests, and refine your job preferences, aiding in making informed career decisions.

🤝Collaboration: Map out your network. This approach enables you to identify the appropriate support system when facing challenges.

After a period of part-time return to work, if it is determined, possibly in collaboration with the occupational physician, employer, and/or loved ones, that further progression is not feasible:

You can then seek approval from the health insurance fund's advising doctor to continue your part-time work reintegration.

This arrangement is typically granted for up to two years with the option for extension.

💰 Benefit: If you need to discontinue work again, your disability benefit (or sickness benefit) will be calculated based on your pre-brain injury employment.

🤝Collaboration: In coordination with the health insurance fund's advising doctor and/or the occupational physician, adjustments can be made to reduce the hours of part-time work.

💰 Benefit: If the health insurance fund's advising doctor does not approve your continued part-time work, you can explore options with your employer (HR department or union) to maintain part-time employment without altering your contract.

Adjusting your contract to fewer working hours may impact how your disability benefit is calculated if you become disabled again.

🤝Collaboration: Discuss potential modifications to your employment contract with your treating doctor, occupational physician, and/or union representative.

💡Tip: Thoroughly inquire with the social services of your health insurance fund and/or union about the potential implications of your decision.

First sit down with your supervisor to check whether they are experiencing the same thing.

• If you both agree that work is going well, you can discuss how you increase your workload (e.g. extra tasks, extra working hours or extra responsibilities).
• If you don't agree, then ...

🚧 Challenge: people with a brain injuries are often less aware of their challenges and changes in their functioning.

🤝Together: other parties can support you and your supervisor.  

• Discuss this with your friends and family.
  • They can help assess whether this job is feasible.
  • They can estimate whether the job requires a different approach to a number of things at home.
• The rehabilitation team can help you assess your capacity and whether there is room for expansion.
• Specialised job coaching can be brought in.
• You can also make an appointment with the health insurance company. After talking to you:
  • They can advise your supervisor to increase your work, e.g. to increase the number of hours.
  • They can also advise you to remain at your current workload if they believe it is still too early to increase it, or if they think it would be too much for you.
• You can request a meeting with the occupational physician.
  • The doctor can adjust your reintegration plan in consultation with you and your employer .

💪Hefboom: 

• Het is belangrijk dat je dit benoemt.  Bij een hersenletsel komt het vaak voor dat mensen zich minder of niet bewust zijn van hun beperkingen en de veranderingen in hun functioneren.

Samen:

• Bespreek dit met je leidinggevende: Maken jullie dezelfde inschatting, dan kunnen jullie bespreken hoe jullie de uitbreiding zien.
  • Dit kan bijvoorbeeld door meer uren per week te werken of het takenpakket uit te breiden.
• Je kan het ook met je behandelend arts bespreken.
  • Als jijzelf het gevoel hebt dat je meer aankan, maar je leidinggevende hieraan twijfelt, dan kan de arts mee inschatten wat jouw draagkracht is en of er ruimte is voor uitbreiding.
• Je kan ook gespecialiseerde jobcoaching inschakelen.
• Je kan een afspraak maken bij de adviserend arts van het ziekenfonds.
  • Na een gesprek met jou geeft deze advies over het opdrijven van het aantal uren bij deeltijdse werkhervatting via aangepast werk.
  • Maar deze kan dit ook weigeren als de arts van mening is dat het nog te vroeg is of een te zware belasting zou inhouden.
• Indien je in een formeel re-integratietraject zit kan je een gesprek aanvragen met de arbeidsarts. Deze kan in overleg met jou en de werkgever ​​​​​​​het re-integratieplan aanpassen.
• Bespreek dit ook met je naasten.
  • Zij kunnen mee inschatten of dit haalbaar is en of dit vraagt dat een aantal zaken thuis anders worden aangepakt.
  • Zo kan je bijvoorbeeld meer poetshulp inschakelen of een rustmoment inbouwen na je werkdag.