Helping Workers Stay Employed After Injury or Illness

The Challenge: Preventing Job Loss After Injury or Illness

Explore all our case studies to understand how AIR is making an impact.

You’ve spent years mastering your trade—working as an electrician, welder, or mechanic—building a career that provides for your family and gives you a sense of pride. Then, an unexpected injury changes everything. A back strain, a knee injury, or the onset of a chronic condition suddenly makes it difficult to meet the physical demands of the job. You worry about losing your paycheck, your health insurance, and your ability to support your family. It feels like your only option is to stop working and turn to public assistance.

Once someone begins receiving SSDI, their chances of returning to work are slim—less than 5% ever do.

This is the reality for more than 2 million workers in the U.S. each year who are forced to leave their jobs due to a serious illness or medical condition. For many, this marks the end of their careers. Without steady employment, they often turn to public benefits like Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). And once someone begins receiving SSDI, their chances of returning to work are slim—less than 5% ever do.

But when workers can stay employed, everyone benefits—families remain financially stable, communities stay strong, and businesses keep experienced employees. The challenge is ensuring that people who want to keep working have the support they need to do so safely and successfully.

AIR's Approach: State-Led Solutions for Retaining Talent

To help injured, disabled, or ill workers stay on the job or return to work, the Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) launched the Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury or Illness Network (RETAIN), a nationwide initiative supporting states in developing effective return-to-work strategies.

Through a $9.9 million partnership, AIR provides ongoing technical assistance and expert support to five states—Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, and Vermont—as they build and implement programs that help workers stay on the job. This includes:

Guiding state teams in designing and improving their stay-at-work and return-to-work models.
Training state agencies, employers, and healthcare providers on best practices for supporting workers.
Helping states identify and remove barriers that prevent employees from successfully returning to work.
Providing research-backed solutions to ensure RETAIN programs are effective, sustainable, and scalable.

AIR’s role is to ensure each state has the tools, knowledge, and support needed to create a system that works for both workers and employers.

The Impact: Keeping More Workers on the Job

AIR’s work with RETAIN is changing lives in communities across the country:

Kansas: A statewide awareness campaign has reached more than 18,000 state employees, ensuring they know about RETAINWORKS and the options available if they face an illness or injury. Watch testimonials from Kansas.
Kentucky: More than 500 employers have completed training, while their workers are learning how to advocate for the support they need to stay on the job.
Minnesota: Nearly 3,200 workers are receiving personalized support to return to work safely. Watch testimonials from Minnesota.
Ohio: RETAIN is actively helping more than 4,800 people transition back into the workforce and regain financial security.
Vermont: Almost 800 workers are getting hands-on assistance to navigate their return to work. Watch testimonials from Vermont.

By strengthening state-led return-to-work programs, AIR is helping more workers stay employed, support their families, and remain active members of their communities—even after illness or injury.