Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Return-to-Work Programs

Each year, millions of workers in the United States develop a chronic illness, disability, or other serious medical problem that puts them at risk of exiting the labor force. We conducted a review and analysis of existing research, data, and other relevant material to provide a comparison of the costs and benefits of retaining an employee who experiences disability onset to the costs and benefits of permanently losing a valued trained employee and incurring the expense and time of recruiting and developing a replacement employee. In doing so, we assessed whether the net benefits of return-to-work investments are positive from the perspectives of the employer, the worker, and taxpayers.