Active engagement of managers in employee RTW and manager-employee relationship: managers’ experiences of participating in a dialogue using the Demand and Ability Protocol

Figures & data

Figure 1. Presenting the strategy for inclusion of participants in the study among managers of patients at the rehabilitation program who fulfilled the two presented inclusion criteria.

A flow chart describing patients and inclusion criteria for the rehabilitation program, recruitment of 30 individuals to the DAP, recruitment of 17 managers to be interviewed on average 1.9 months after participating in the DAP.

Table 1. A presentation of the six domains included in the DAP, number of items in each domain, and example of items^a.

Domains	Number of items in domain	Examples of items in domain
1. Mental and cognitive ability	7	Concentration, memory, act goal-oriented and independent
2. Basic skills and social ability	10	Writing, reading, handling conflicts and own emotions
3. Tolerance for physical conditions	8	Heat, cold, personal protective equipment, dust, vibrations
4. Ability to work dynamically	14	Work with hand and fingers, forward bending, rotation of body
5. Ability to work statically	6	Sit, stand, work with arms above shoulders or in forward bent position
6. Ability to work certain times	3	Working hours per day or week

^aThe content of the table has been reproduced from a previous study, with permission from Johansson et al. [20].

Table 2. Characteristics of participants.

	N = 17
Gender
Women	10
Men	7
Industry/sector
Childcare/school	4
Sales	1
IT/administration	3
Health care	7
Industrial/construction	2
Manager experience (years)
1–2	6
3–5	8
6–10	1
≥10	2
Manager of (n) employees
≤10	1
10–20	7
21–30	6
≥31	3

Figure 2. Describing the two main themes (T1 and T2), which contexts they are described within, the eleven sub-themes, and how they influence on an individual level, employee-manager relation, or organizational level.

Illustrate how the subthemes within main theme 1 and 2 respectively can be divided into different levels – the organization, the employee/manager relationship, and the individual - and that the context of main theme 1 is the three party meeting, and the workplace for main theme 2.

Table 3. The analytical process identified two main themes and eleven sub-themes.

Main themes	To converse with a clear structure and setup	To be involved with the employee’s rehabilitation
Sub-themes	Openness in the conversation A comprehensive dialogue felt reassuring Balance during the conversation Identify what works well and what works poorly The facilitator provided new perspectives The structure clarified roles and responsibilities	Increased insights into the employee’s problem Promote dialogue and understanding for each other The manager became aware of the role as providing support to the employee New insights about the work environment There is a limit to how much accommodations can be made for the job

Johansson E, Svartengren M, Danielsson K, et al. How to strengthen the RTW process and collaboration between patients with chronic pain and their employers in interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs? Patients’ experiences of the Demand and Ability Protocol. Disab Rehabil. 2022;10:1–8.

 Google Scholar

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request.