STAYING IN THE GAME: With record low unemployment, it pays to help injured and ill workers get back to work quickly.

• Author: Cunningham, Josh
• Position: LABOR

When a hang glider crashed on a Colorado mountainside in 1990, Tom Young, a firefighter from a nearby town, arrived to assist in the rescue operation. As fellow first responders treated the critically injured pilot at the scene, Young secured the wrecked glider from being sucked up into the rotors of the hovering rescue helicopter. But a sudden gust of wind caught hold of the glider and dragged Young down the mountain. A large rock brought his tumble to an end, breaking his neck in the process.

In a matter of seconds, Young's life changed forever. The 29-year-old husband and father of two young children would spend the rest of his life paralyzed from the neck down. His initial thoughts were far from his job as he struggled with what this new reality meant for his family.

"I didn't know how I was going to be a father," he says.

As depression set in, Young's wife, Linda, suggested he go back to work. "You're 29 years old and you still have a lot to offer," he recalls her saying. "That was the turning point," Young says. He started looking into whether he could go back to his old job. After two and a half years of physical recovery, navigating workers' compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits and securing some creative workplace accommodations, Young returned to the fire department in his pre-injury administrative position--minus the daring mountainside rescues.

Staying on the Job

In the blink of an eye, anyone can experience an injury or illness serious enough to affect their ability to continue working. At least 4.6 million American workers are injured on the job every year, according to the National Safety Council. Keeping them on the job, if possible, benefits not only the workers but also their employers and communities.

With unemployment at its lowest point in generations and a record number of unfilled jobs, losing a productive employee can be costly. In fact, health-related work absences cost businesses as much as $230 billion annually, including an estimated $60 billion in lost productivity, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Given this unprecedented job market, employers and policymakers are seeking ways to help injured employees stay in the workforce.

When injured or ill workers are off the job for a year, their chance of returning to the workforce drops to 32%. At two years, the likelihood of working again falls to just 5%. Without employment, many of these people exhaust temporary...