Supervisor’s Roles and Responsibilities in Preventing Prolonged Disability in Workers with Musculoskeletal Disorders

The objective of this article is to present courses of action for supervisors and verify their feasibility and applicability. A multi-part sequential qualitative study proposed course of actions for supervisors and verified their relevance, feasibility, and applicability by on-line questionnaire, and two focus groups with nineteen supervisors and other stakeholders from 19 Quebec organizations in 6 different sectors. Overall, respondents found courses of action as relevant, well formulated, and applicable in some favorable contexts. These contexts depended on the formalization of the supervisor’s role and responsibilities, the organization’s culture and resources, the decision-making flexibility given to supervisors regarding temporary work changes, and the possibility of training supervisors regarding the actions required as part of a worker’s reintegration. For organizations, two main challenges stand out: formalizing in clear and unambiguous terms each party’s responsibilities; and gathering knowledge, experience, and know-how regarding sustainable RTW for all parties involved in the RTW process.