Sickness absence stood at 5.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025, while the number of WIA disability applications rose above 88,000 in 2024. Those figures will be familiar to you as an employer, HR professional or occupational physician. Which is why it matters to get clarity in good time about what an employee can still do, what limitations there are and which steps reintegration calls for.
An occupational capacity assessment, carried out by a labour expert, offers that clarity. The assessment analyses whether someone can return to their own work, whether adjustments are needed, or whether other suitable work inside or outside the organisation is called for. That touches directly on occupational medicine, absence guidance and sustainable employability.
Although an occupational capacity assessment is not required by law, UWV attaches a lot of value to its findings. Without a well-founded view of what work is possible, it becomes harder to shape reintegration carefully and to demonstrate that you did. Certainly now that psychological absence is rising and wage sanctions can run high, using an assessment in good time can be wise.
What exactly is assessed?
An occupational capacity assessment maps what possibilities an employee still has for working during long-term absence or when they are at risk of dropping out. The labour expert looks not only at limitations but above all at what someone can bear, at suitable duties, at how the workplace is set up and at whether a return to their own work is still feasible.
In practice an assessment usually turns on four questions:
- Can the employee return to their own work?
- Can their own work be made suitable with adjustments?
- Is other suitable work possible within the organisation?
- If not: is work outside the organisation called for?
That matches the way UWV and the Gatekeeper Improvement Act look at reintegration. First the possibilities within the organisation are considered, only then work outside it. The Dutch association of labour experts on track 1 and track 2 (in Dutch) sets that principle out clearly.
For employers this assessment matters because it helps found the choices made during reintegration. For employees it gives clarity about what is and is not suitable. For the occupational physician it is a practical translation of medical limitations into work possibilities.
When do you use one?
Around the first year of illness
An assessment is often used between the 42nd and 52nd week of illness, around the first-year evaluation. That makes sense: at that moment it has to become clearer whether reintegration into one's own work is still realistic and whether track 1 offers enough prospect.
Even so, there is no fixed statutory moment at which an assessment always has to take place. In some cases using it earlier is wiser, for instance when it is quickly clear that returning to one's own role does not look feasible. It is precisely then that a timely assessment prevents delay.
That fits well with the steps in reintegration after long-term absence for employers. The sooner there is clarity about suitable work, the better employer and employee can act deliberately.
With uncertainty or stalling
An assessment is also worthwhile when reintegration gets stuck. Think of situations in which:
- the employee still seems employable, but not in their own role;
- employer and employee see suitable work differently;
- it is unclear whether adjusting tasks or hours helps enough;
- no suitable internal role is immediately visible;
- the question is whether track 2 has to be prepared.
In such situations an objective judgement helps. The labour expert looks at the content of the role, the strain in the work, education, experience and realistic placement options. That makes the conversation more concrete and keeps the file from lingering on assumptions.
Useful preventively as well
Although an assessment is often linked to long-term absence, it can also be used preventively. For instance with a recurring pattern of drop-out, a role that is structurally too demanding, or an employee at risk of dropping out because the balance between capacity and workload is under pressure.
In a labour market with rising absence that is relevant. According to Statistics Netherlands on absence (in Dutch), absence stood at 5.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025. Looking preventively at suitable work and employability can deliver a great deal then.
The assessment and the Gatekeeper Improvement Act
Is it compulsory?
An occupational capacity assessment is not literally required by the Act. Yet in many cases it is an important step, especially when capacity is limited and a return to one's own role is not a given.
At a WIA application, UWV assesses whether employer and employee have made enough reintegration effort. Without an assessment it is often harder to show that it was seriously and carefully investigated what work possibilities remained.
That touches directly on the obligations of employers around working conditions and absence. A well-founded file matters not only administratively but financially.
The assessment and tracks 1 and 2
Under the Act, a return within the organisation has to be considered first. That is track 1. When no suitable and lasting possibility appears there, track 2 comes into view.
An assessment helps make that weighing carefully. The labour expert judges whether one's own work can still be made suitable, which adjustments are possible and whether other roles are available within the organisation. Only when that offers insufficient prospect does a process outside the organisation become logical.
That reasoning matters towards UWV, but just as much for employer and employee themselves. It keeps track 2 from starting too early or too late.
The assessment and the risk of a wage sanction
If UWV finds that an employer has done too little about reintegration, a wage sanction can follow. That means wages have to be paid for up to 52 weeks longer. In practice that can be a considerable cost, quite apart from cover, workload in the team and extra guidance.
An assessment does not automatically reduce that risk, but it does help show that work possibilities were investigated seriously and objectively. That makes it an important part of a defensible file.
How an assessment runs in practice
An assessment usually starts with a study of the file. The labour expert looks at the available information about the absence, the role, the reintegration steps and the medical limitations as the occupational physician has translated them into capacity.
Then usually follow conversations with:
- the employee;
- the employer or manager;
- sometimes both together in a three-way conversation;
- possibly an additional workplace assessment.
The labour expert then judges the strain of the work in relation to what the employee can bear. Experience, education, skills and practical placement options are also considered.
The result is a report with founded findings and advice, for instance on:
- returning to one's own role;
- adjusting tasks, hours or workplace;
- using other suitable work;
- the feasibility of track 1;
- the moment at which track 2 may be called for.
For employees, what matters most is that it becomes clear what can be expected of them. For employers, the report gives direction to the next steps. For the occupational physician it offers a concrete link between medical employability and work.
The occupational physician's role
An assessment cannot be seen apart from the occupational physician. The physician does not judge which role is suitable but sets out what the medical limitations and possibilities are. The labour expert then translates that into work, tasks and reintegration options.
That division of roles matters. The physician stays responsible for the medical assessment, while the labour expert looks at practical employability in work. Together those perspectives form a strong basis for good advice.
You can read more about that division in what an occupational physician actually does. In our practice we see that reintegration becomes clear sooner when medical and labour expertise connect well.
Arboportaal on the BAR instrument (in Dutch) shows that this cooperation is getting more attention nationally too. The aim of BAR is to let occupational physicians, labour experts and insurance physicians communicate more consistently about capacity and reintegration options.
What it means for employer, employee and physician
For employers
For employers an assessment is above all a tool for giving direction to reintegration and limiting risk. You get an answer to the question of which duties are still suitable, which adjustments are possible and which next steps are logical.
That helps with:
- holding realistic conversations;
- founding choices in track 1 or track 2;
- strengthening the reintegration file;
- preventing unnecessary delay.
For employees
For employees an assessment often brings clarity and calm. Not seldom there is uncertainty about what is still possible, or about whether returning to one's own work is feasible. A careful assessment makes that space more concrete.
That is not only practical but mentally important. Certainly now that psychological absence and long-term drop-out are rising. UWV figures on rising WIA applications (in Dutch) show that the pressure for good guidance only grows.
For the occupational physician
For the physician an assessment is valuable when translating medical capacity into concrete work becomes complex. Think of doubt about suitable work, a change of role, workplace adjustments or a possible move to other work.
The labour expert then adds a work-related analysis to the medical assessment. That produces better-founded advice for everyone involved.
Quality and objectivity
An assessment only has value when it is carried out carefully, objectively and traceably. The report has to make clear which facts, conversations and observations the conclusions rest on.
Within the profession, professional standards play an important part. The revised code of conduct of the Dutch register of labour experts (in Dutch) underlines the importance of independence, transparency and professional responsibility.
For employers and employees that matters because it gives confidence in the outcome. For the occupational physician it matters because good cooperation only works when each advises clearly and with reasoning from their own expertise.
With timely insight into what is possible, you take the right step towards fitting reintegration sooner.
With a timely occupational capacity assessment you prevent unnecessary delay in reintegration and get an earlier view of what an employee can do and which steps fit. That way you keep a grip on the process and work deliberately towards lasting, healthy work.
Key takeaways
- An assessment does not only show limitations but highlights above all the employee's possibilities and employability.
- It supports a well-founded choice between track 1 and track 2 and contributes to a strong file that holds up at UWV.
- When things stall, when suitable work is in doubt or when someone is at risk of dropping out, an independent labour expert offers a valuable, practical analysis.
- Close cooperation between occupational physician and labour expert makes translating capacity into concrete duties easier to carry out.
- Used preventively, the assessment helps prevent drop-out and organise suitable work or adjustments to the role sooner.
- With early prevention and targeted guidance you invest in sustainable employability and reduce long-term absence.
By using an occupational capacity assessment in good time and with thought, you create a valuable basis together with your people for healthy, fitting and future-proof work. That way reintegration becomes not an awkward obligation but a chance to organise work better for the long term.