It's ALL in the Small Details How a Hard-to-Read Brochure Sabotaged One Company's Program A well-known manufacturing company spent $30 million a year on workers' comp costs. The company put a lot of effort and dollars into it's managed care program with great expectations of saving lots of money. Somehow, the program wasn't producing the savings expected. It's A Puzzle No one could quite figure out why there weren't cost savings. Qualified medical providers who knew about the workplace setting were available to treat injured workers promptly. They communicated effectively with their employees. Or did they? Ah Ha. . . A Solution! It took some detective work to discover their very expensive employee brochure was written at the 11th grade reading level (think Wall Street Journal) way above the reading abilities of many employees. The brochure used the language of management, not plain English, (think 6th grade reading level) easily grasped without a struggle. Even though the brochure contained all the necessary information on how care was managed and what to do when an employee was injured, it was not effective because most employees did not fully understand it. Frustrated by big words and jargon, they tossed it out, and as a result, the program wasn't used nearly as much as the employer expected. After rewriting the brochure in the employees' language, the program was more widely used and savings materialized. (workersxzcompxzkit) AND, let's not forget, English is not everyone's prefered or most comfortable language. Consider translating communications documents into the next and even third preferred language of your employees. Don't run the risk of a more serious employee injury because there is a language barrier to obtaining help. Author: Rebecca Shafer, J.D. consults for mid-market and national accounts focusing on project management, risk management assessments, data review, benchmarking, and development of Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Programs. Projects focus on development of training and education programs, document design, evaluation and integration of insurance claims administration and TPA services. Contact her are: RShaferB@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com
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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workman's comp issues.
