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Leading Reasons for Returning To Work
Key Observation
Return-to-work is typically without full recovery.
That's when the real challenges begin, which are income loss and job instability.
Social Security Administration; Industry, Occupation, and Disability Insurance Beneficiary Work Return; Social Security Bulletin; Vol. 62, No. 1; 1999; p19. Among other reasons, 19% because they wanted to work, 11% because rehabilitation made work possible, and 8% for other reasons.
A More Nuanced Approach
In the intellectual economy, being medically able to work is not enough. It's the income that matters.
Disability insurance with well-drafted Loss of Income (LOI) protection goes beyond the traditional absence-based approach to insure the income itself - focusing on the end goal of income protection when work is possible.
Guard Against Residual Effects
When a person returns to work after an extended absence, they may not be the same person, so to speak. Although the absence period may be temporary, loss of income may be permanent due to complications of surgery, side effects of treatment, management requirements, or persistent symptoms of the condition.
For Performance Occupations
In many cognitive occupations, earnings are based on performance rather than occupational title. Attorneys, software developers, management consultants, sales professionals and most executive class officers are good examples. Being medically released to work in these occupations is a poor guarantor of earnings, as evidenced by the wide variance of incomes between healthy individuals in these occupations.
Book of Business Security
Having a book of business means you also have an obligation to service it. If an extended absence results in a defection of clients, there may be an ongoing loss of income upon returning to work.
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