On a regular basis, the employment experts of Puls the question from employers how far they should go in offering suitable work to an employee who is no longer able to perform their own work due to medical complaints. The term job carving is sometimes used in this context. But what is that exactly?

What exactly is job carving?

Job carving involves creating a new position by removing tasks from other positions. An appropriate set of tasks is created to keep an absentee employee employed.

As an employer, am I expected to apply job carving?

The term "jobcarving" is included in the Participation Act. Jobcarving can be a great way to offer work to people distant from the labor market. Organizations are deliberately working to make this happen.

An employee who is employed by an employer and who is absent from work there is not covered by the Participation Act but by the WULBZ (Wet Uitbreiding Wondoorpalingsplicht bij Ziekte). In order to redeploy a sick employee, it is not obligatory to apply jobcarving

When assessing the Reintegration Report (RIV) that is sent along with the WIA application, a single Occupational Assessor UWV sometimes asks an employer why no job carving has been applied.  That Occupational Assessor It's okay to ask about that, but an employer doesn't have to panic about it. The question has no legal basis. The employer does not have to apply job carving. Failure to apply job carving is not a reason to impose a wage sanction or to refuse a dismissal permit.

Am I allowed to apply job carving?

Applying jobcarving is allowed of course! Suppose you have an employee who has been with you for a long time and can no longer do his own work. The employee is only a few years away from retirement age and you have the opportunity to create a lighter job by taking some tasks away from colleagues. If this does not make the work too hard for the colleagues and you prevent the absent employee from ending up in the WGA, this can be a very good choice. You show good employment practice, make the employee concerned happy and avoid being confronted with an increased differentiated premium. Then it's a win-win situation!

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Would you like to know more about job carving or the Occupational Assessor Investigations of Puls? For more information, please visit our website and feel free to contact us for a no-obligation quoation.