No one wants a work-related injury or illness to keep an employee out of the workforce forever. While treating the injury or illness is the top priority, focusing on an employee’s return to work is also important. And the sooner, the better – research shows the longer employees are out, the less likely they are to come back to work. In fact, just 50% of injured employees will return to work after a six-month absence, and only 1% after a two-year absence.