How to Reduce Workers Comp Costs Rolling Out Your Program

A Story in Several Parts – Part 7: Rolling Out Your Program

We all know CHANGE is often resisted for no other reason than it is “change.” Therefore, whether your workers’ compensation program is brand new or you are changing/adding to a current policy, it is always necessary to inform and educate everyone at all levels of the company about the new procedures.

Training occurs differently for each level of the organization. Determine what you want managers to do differently, then write up training objectives based on those actions.

For example, do you want them to: Accompany injured employees to the clinic, Have the employee fill out the work status form; Meet with the employee weekly to discuss physical abilities and improvement? If so, then perhaps during training you should develop an exercise around those objectives allowing the manager to do a task simulation.

Call the exercise “Just Ask Joe” and have the managers practice conducting a weekly meeting to allow them to become confident in their ability while demonstrating they understand the purpose of the meeting. If you are training return-to-work (RTW) coordinators have them make a list of questions to ask the adjuster about the status of the claim, then interview each other or make a call while an experienced coordinator observes and coaches during the trial call. (workersxzcompxzkit)

Moving forward can be challenging with the many other tasks you may have, so establish a timetable listing each task, person responsible and completion date. Discuss progress on these items during a standing weekly conference call or meeting. With some team members being offsite or in other regions, you will probably make the weekly meeting conference calls rather than face-to-face meetings. By establishing a set timetable, the process will continue moving forward.

Author: Rebecca Shafer, J.D.

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