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NEWSLETTERS
NEWSLETTERS
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561-683-8383
February 2007 |
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In this issue
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Case Study:
Supervisor Training Cuts Claim Frequency and Cost |
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From employee to manager: Sound HR practices reduce Workers' Compensation exposures
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Buying the assets of a business and/or a change in ownership can affect your Experience Mod |
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Case Study:
Supervisor Training Cuts Claim Frequency and Cost
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Insured:
The insured is a social service agency with 390 employees in 22 locations. The organization provides occupational training and habilitation services to developmentally disabled adults.
Situation:
In one six-month period, the employer experienced 27 workers' compensation claims totaling $89,000.
Assessment:
A Certified WorkComp Advisor (CWCA) looked into the situation and discovered supervisors played no role in managing their employee's injuries. It was left to the employee to seek medical attention and return to work when his or her doctor recommended it.
Employees routinely went to the hospital's emergency room or to their personal primary care physician. These doctors ordered lengthy periods of rest and made no effort to assess the employee's work capacity. Supervisors made no effort to stay in touch with employees or return them to work on modified duty.
Solution:
In May of 2006, the CWCA conducted a training session with the organization's 34 supervisors. The training explained how claim costs impact workers' compensation insurance premiums; how to work with an occupational medical clinic; and how to support and manage a comprehensive return to work program.
With this new awareness, supervisors took steps to resolve safety issues and employee behavioral problems. They began directing employees to an occupational clinic whenever possible. They stay in contact with employees during any disability and actively seek opportunities for modified duty.
Result:
In the six months since the training, the employer's claim frequency was cut in half (only 11 claims). Amazingly, these 11 claims total less than $1,000. The CWCA is now planning a celebration to congratulate the insured's supervisors for this remarkable turnaround and to encourage on-going vigilance.
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From employee to manager: Sound HR practices reduce Workers' Compensation exposures
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Whether you have five employees or 50,000, seasoned HR executives or not, sound HR practices can go a long way in controlling Worker's Compensation costs. Front line managers are key to an effective Workers' Compensation program, yet often an excellent employee is promoted to manager with disastrous results.
Our partner, HR That Works, offers the following suggestions to make sure you are bringing the best people into management positions:
1. Don't choose managers based solely on their product knowledge or seniority.
Many companies take their best contributors or employees with greatest longevity and turn them into managers, making the dangerous assumption that there is some kind of natural progression. Yet, technical skills and longevity seldom equate with managerial competence. Managerial skills require competencies all their own. Define these competencies for your company with your leadership team and/or profiling the best of your existing managers and test potential managers. Determine if they have held leadership positions in other settings - volunteer, sports, church, etc. and what they observed and learned from the experience.
2. Don't assume that the person really wants the job.
Studies show that more than 50% of all employees do not want their boss's job. Always start by asking and not assuming if someone is interested in a promotion.
3. Define how their performance will be assessed.
Clearly define the benchmarks that will be used to evaluate performance. Describe the process for feedback. Employees who are promoted to manager should not be basing their performance on reviews from subordinates.
4. What will be done if they don't succeed?
The way to avoid ill feelings and the loss of a valuable employee is to talk before the promotion about what happens if they don't succeed.
5. Help them understand that they are responsible to their employees, not for their employees.
Because of their technical expertise, promoted employees often find themselves doing the job of their subordinates. It's important to help them understand how to deal with employees who are constantly asking for assistance.
6. Help them understand the distinction between being a "buddy" and a "manager."
One of the most difficult things for a manager to do is to confront a former peer. Clarify the guidelines and values in this area. Perhaps you don't want them going out with former co-workers or there is a place they can go and speak with the employee privately.
7. Assign a mentor. There is nothing like being able to speak with someone who has been there and done that. It does not have to be someone from the same department, just someone who will check in with them periodically and whom they can go to with a problem.
8. Train them.
A combination of in-house and outside training will help build confidence and skills.
9. Do it one step at a time.
Promoting someone into management is not an all or nothing proposition. Testing the waters by putting them in charge of a project or training session, or organizing a charity event is a good way to see how they perform. Evaluate their performance with them.
10. Teach them to dress the part.
If the position warrants it, when you give them a promotion, give $500 for a new wardrobe. Also share with them that profanity, off-colored jokes and similar conduct are a thing of the past.
11. Don't give them more than seven people to manage.
Even an experienced manager finds it very hard to manage the performance of more than seven people at a time.
12. Reward and reinforce good managerial conduct.
Nurture your good managers and their good conduct. Don't take it for granted.
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Buying the assets of a business and/or a change in ownership can affect your Experience Mod
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It is a common misconception that purchasing the assets of a business will not affect a company's Experience Modification Factor. The sale, transfer or conveyance of an entity's physical assets to another entity that takes over its operations is considered a change in ownership. Generally, this means that the data related to the Experience Mod is also purchased. This can be true even when purchasing the assets of a business in another state.
The rules governing change in ownership are complex and may result in a change in the Experience Rating Modification, combinability status with other entities, premium eligibility status, anniversary rating date and rating effective date. Before entering into a sale, transfer, conveyance, merger, consolidation or formation of a new entity, it is important to discuss the potential impact with us.
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Study shows fatigue in the workplace costs employers $136 billion
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According to a study in the January 2007 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, nearly 40% of U.S. employees experience fatigue, a problem that carries billions of dollars in costs of lost productivity and lost time. With adjustment for other factors, fatigue was found to be more common in women than men, in workers less than 50 years of age, and in white workers compared with African-Americans. Workers with decision-making responsibilities and relatively high paid jobs reported higher rates of fatigue.
The study examined the effects of fatigue on health-related lost productivity time as well as absenteeism. For U.S. employers fatigue carried overall estimated costs of more than $136 billion per year in health-related lost productivity - $101 billion more than for workers without fatigue.
"Interventions targeting workers with fatigue, particularly women, could have a marked positive effect on the quality of life and productivity of affected workers," the researchers conclude. They suggest that companies could offer "work-life" programs to help employees balance their work and personal responsibilities and take steps to improve assessment and treatment of workers who have fatigue along with other health conditions.
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Employers must post OSHA 300A in February
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As a reminder, employers must post OSHA Form 300A Summary of Injuries and Illnesses for 2006 in a common area in the workplace from February 1, 2007 to April 30, 2007.
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