To date, the focus has mostly been on making reasonable work accommodations that address work tools and workplace accessibility. Now add strategies like return-to-work and stay-at-work accommodations to retain valuable talent and manage HR costs associated with turnover. — By Jeremiah Prince

By now, employers are familiar with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and its basic requirements. Also to date, implementation of the reasonable accommodations ADA provision has focused on providing workplace tools, like furniture and specialized technologies, and providing improved workplace access to people with disabilities.

Now reasonable accommodations are evolving to include practices benefitting employees and employers even more: Return-to-work and stay-at-work strategies. Any time an employee leaves a job permanently, there are costs associated with recruiting and hiring a replacement, training costs, and the cost of lost productivity until the em...