Professional survey
Return to work professional insights survey
We are gathering insights from RTW professionals to help develop realistic composite return to work case studies focused on mental or psychological injury. We are not asking for identifiable worker details or formal case records. Instead, we are interested in the patterns, challenges, supports and decision points you see most often in practice.
This version combines the standard professional survey with topics from our sector-specific interview guides (claims and insurer journey, roster/EBA constraints, safety-critical clearance, and the AI opportunity), so it can be used either as a self-complete survey or as a semi-structured interview prompt without asking anything twice.
Internal question preview — the controls below are illustrative only.
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1
Respondent context
1.What is your role in RTW processes?
2.How much experience do you have supporting psychological injury or stress-related RTW cases?
3.Roughly how often are you involved in psychological injury RTW matters?
2
Common case types
4.What are the most common types of mental or psychological injury RTW cases you see?
Select up to 5.
5.Which of these case types tend to be the most difficult to support well?
0 / 2000
6.Thinking broadly, what are the most common worker/job contexts involved in these cases?
Select all that apply.
3
What helps
7.What are the top 3 factors that most improve the chances of a successful RTW outcome in mental injury cases?
Choose a different factor for each rank.
8.In your experience, what workplace adjustments or supports are most effective in practice?
Select up to 5.
9.Which of these supports are most effective but underused?
0 / 2000
10.What does “good early support” look like in a psychological injury RTW case?
0 / 2000
4
What delays or derails cases
11.What are the top 3 challenges you see in mental injury RTW cases?
List the three challenges in priority order.
0 / 2000
12.What are the top 3 factors that most commonly delay, stall or cause setbacks in mental injury RTW cases?
Choose a different factor for each rank.
13.Which delays are most preventable?
0 / 2000
14.At what points do cases most often go off track?
Select up to 3.
15.What are the most common reasons a return is not sustained?
0 / 2000
5
Worker and context variation
16.What worker factors most shape how a mental injury RTW case unfolds?
Select up to 5.
17.What workplace factors most shape how a mental injury RTW case unfolds?
Select up to 5.
18.What communication or support needs do workers in these cases commonly have?
For example: slower pacing, reassurance, written follow-up, one clear contact person, predictable check-ins, low-burden communication or a trauma-informed tone.
0 / 2000
6
Realism for composite case studies
19.If you were designing a realistic composite case study for training or AI support, what ingredients would it need to include?
0 / 2500
20.What are the most important decision points in a typical mental injury RTW case?
For example: first contact, involving specialists, discussing work capacity, choosing suitable duties, responding to hesitation or revising a plan that is not working.
0 / 2500
21.What nuance is usually missed when people think about RTW cases only as process or compliance matters?
0 / 2500
22.What makes a mental injury RTW case feel realistic rather than oversimplified?
0 / 2500
7
Build archetypes
This section will help us develop useful, realistic composite cases.
23.Which of the following case patterns do you see most often?
Select up to 3.
24.For one of the patterns above, briefly describe what typically happens.
What tends to trigger the issue, how does it play out, and what helps or worsens it?
0 / 2500
25.If you had to create 3 realistic case study archetypes for this topic, what would they be?
For example: a smooth early-support case, a delayed/conflict-heavy case, and a fragile partial-return case.
0 / 2500
8
Claims & insurer journey
These questions map the process end-to-end, including where the claim itself creates friction.
26.Can you describe the end-to-end journey of a typical case – from when a psychological injury is first identified, through claim lodgement and RTW planning, to formal closure?
Feel free to note anything that happens immediately on day one.
0 / 2500
27.At what stage does the insurer typically become involved, and how does this change day-to-day contact with the worker?
0 / 2000
28.How does a disputed claim (versus an accepted one) tend to affect a worker’s engagement with the RTW process?
0 / 2000
29.Where do systemic or process-level delays most often originate?
Select all that apply.
30.Which insurer(s) or claims agent/consultant(s) do you typically work with on RTW claims?
General context only – please don’t include individual claim or case details.
9
Roster, EBA & safety-critical constraints
Practical, industry-specific constraints on modified duties and clearance decisions.
31.What union, EBA, or rostering constraints most limit your ability to offer modified or light duties?
0 / 2000
32.What non-safety-critical alternative duties or tasks have worked well in practice?
For example, temporary reassignment away from machinery, driving or other safety-critical work.
0 / 2000
33.How do medication side effects, fatigue or concentration issues factor into clearance decisions for safety-critical roles?
0 / 2000
10
Frontline tools & the AI opportunity
This helps us target what the AI tool should actually solve for supervisors and managers.
34.What guidance, tools or checklists do frontline supervisors/managers currently use to navigate these conversations, and where do they fall short?
0 / 2000
35.If this tool could solve one significant challenge for your frontline leaders, what would it be?
0 / 2000
36.Is there anything else you think would be helpful for us to know about supporting RTW after psychological injury that we haven’t already covered?
0 / 2000
11
Get involved
37.Would you be interested in participating in a follow-up interview with the SmartRTW team to explore your experience in more depth?
If yes or maybe, please share the best way to reach you (optional).
End of internal question preview