10 questions about a work potential assessment

What exactly is work potential?

Since early 2026, an employer has been able to submit a request to their external service to have an assessment conducted of the work potential of an employee with a long-term illness or who is incapacitated for work.

How is the work potential assessment carried out?

The occupational nurse or occupational physician assesses the work potential using two standardised questionnaires (as well as information that is available about the employee’s health). No medical examination takes place.

When does an employer request a work potential assessment?

Since 1 January 2026, an employer has been obliged to request a work potential assessment for employees who have been incapacitated for work for more than eight consecutive weeks.

Does this mean you have to immediately request this assessment for all employees who have been incapacitated for work for eight weeks?

No, not necessarily. You can submit a request as of eight consecutive weeks of incapacity for work, but it does not have to be after eight weeks to the day. This means you have a margin of discretion.

A work potential assessment is always necessary if an employer wants to initiate a reintegration process but does not have the employee’s consent. Do you have (documented) consent from your employee to initiate a reintegration process? In that case, an assessment of their work potential is not necessary.

When is a work potential assessment not (yet) useful?

A work potential assessment is not useful in every situation.

• For example, is your employee returning to work soon (before six months of incapacity for work)? If so, an assessment offers little added value.

• This also applies if an employee will soon have an operation or be admitted to hospital.

• Furthermore, if your employee returns to work (either full-time or part-time), the period of incapacity for work is interrupted. So in this case, you must wait another eight weeks of uninterrupted fulltime incapacity for work before you can request another assessment.

• If an accident at work or occupational illness has not yet been consolidated, you, as an employer, are not obliged (nor is it advisable) to carry out a work potential assessment. If, at the time of consolidation, the employee has already been unable to work for more than 8 weeks, you may proceed immediately with the application for an assessment.

How do I request a work potential assessment via Mensura?

Send an e-mail to your account manager attaching this completed request form Dutch or French. We will contact your employee by e-mail, phone or possibly by post.

How is the result of the work potential assessment communicated?

The employee and employer are both notified in writing by means of an official certificate. The work potential assessment is added to the employee’s health file.

My employee offers work potential. What do I need to do?

If there is work potential and you employ more than 20 employees, you must submit a request for a (formal or informal) reintegration process to be initiated within a period of absence lasting six months. If you opt for an informal process and the employee is unwilling to cooperate, or if this does not result in a return to work before the end of the six-month period of incapacity for work, you will still need to initiate a formal process.

My employee offers no work potential. Now what?

In that case, we recommend you stay in close contact with your employee. Regularly assess when would be an appropriate time to initiate a reintegration process.

What if my employee does not respond to the invitation to have their work potential assessed?

Mensura makes two attempts to reach the employee. If there is no response after the second attempt, the request is terminated. In that case, the default conclusion is that the employee offers no work potential. The certificate does not state whether negative work potential is the result of an assessment or of an employee’s failure to respond.

Starting from ten weeks of absence, the health insurance fund contacts the employee with another questionnaire. The aim is to provide the Back-to-Work coach with information about the employee’s potential reintegration. If the employee in question does not cooperate, they risk losing (some of) their benefits.

What factors promote the likelihood of a successful work potential assessment?

The government wants to get as many employees with a long-term illness as possible back to work. It is important to keep in touch with the employee who is ill or incapacitated for work from day one. You must notify the external service as of four weeks of absence. This allows the occupational physician to inform your employee of the options for reintegration.

An employer must also notify the employee in time if they will be sent a questionnaire to assess their work potential after eight weeks of absence. Explain the purpose of this when doing so.

Maintaining regular contact is essential with any form of reintegration. You already build mutual trust by regularly touching base when the employee is at work. As a result, if an employee calls in sick, they will not feel at all threatened when you contact them. On the contrary, the employee will continue to feel engaged and valued.