A Return-to-work Program with a Relapse-free Job Retention Rate of 91.6% for Workers with Mental Illness

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the relapse-free job retention rate and cost-effectiveness of return-to-work (RTW) programs for workers with mental illness. METHOD: We retrospectively evaluated a group of 196 employees of a pharmaceutical company in Japan who had taken sick leave because of mental illness. We found that the old RTW program led to 142 employees returning to work and the new RTW program resulted in 54 employees returning to work. In the new program, we introduced the following improvements: evaluation of recovery and readiness to return to work by using the "Daily Activity Record Sheet"; planning for RTW with reasonable steps in 6 months; monthly interviews with an occupational health physician, to keep in touch with workers in the RTW process; and arranging a "Return-to-Work Coordination Meeting" with occupational health specialists, to make reasonable adjustments to a return-to-work plan. RESULTS: The median duration of sick leave was 60 days longer in the new program. The relapse-free job retention rate within 1 year was 54.2% in the old program and was increased to 91.6% in the new program. The old and new programs cost 65,945 yen and 300,898 yen, respectively. The benefits of the old and new programs were 6,226,192 yen and 8,418,514 yen, respectively. The return on investment (ROI) was 933%. CONCLUSION: The new RTW program is effective at improving the relapse-free job retention rate of workers with mental illness.