Work after brain injury: helping employees get ahead

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Supporting employees at work after a brain injury can be difficult. Suzanne Trask looks at the legal and practical considerations. Headway, the brain injury charity, estimates that there were 348,934 hospital admissions for head injuries between 2013 and 2014. A brain injury may occur because of a blow to the head – for example, in a car accident – or another kind of accident at home or on holiday. Or it may be caused by a stroke, or an infection affecting the brain, such as meningitis. When an employee returns to work after suffering a brain injury, it can be difficult to understand how to help them get back into work and move forward in their career without specialist advice. The effects of a brain injury are wide ranging and depend on a number of factors, including the type and severity of the injury. Often a person with a minor or moderate brain injury can look unaffected, so it can be difficult to appreciate any difficulties or needs that they have straight away. When someone has suffered a more severe brain injury, they may be unable to return to work. However, in many situations it will be possible for someone with a brain injury to return to do valuable work, whether it is in the same or a different role. What do you imagine someone who has suffered a brain injury to look like? How do you think you would know that they had suffered an injury? True, it may have caused physical problems with mobility, which you would quickly notice. However, they may have suffered less obvious problems such as sensory impairment, fatigue, balance problems, headaches and dizziness. Extreme fatigue is common. The injury may also mean that they have problems such as anxiety, irritability, personality changes and mood swings. These can be difficult to manage in the workplace, given that an employer will need to both enable the returning employee to adjust to working life, as well as take into account the needs of their colleagues.