Implementing a successful return-to-work program requires employers to think outside the box. This includes the interested stakeholders at the employer to explore the economic realities of implementing a program that includes discussion about the amount of premium paid to the workers’ compensation insurer, or if self-insured, the amount paid out in medical and indemnity benefits.
Thinking About Return-To-Work During Medical Recovery
The thought of return-to-work in most instances takes a narrow approach. This includes failing to think about an employee’s return until they are nearing the end of the healing period, or final restrictions are being set. Failing to do this can result in a loss of productivity, which is the primary indirect cost employers incur due to a job injury related absence. This is due to many factors and includes:
- Incurring the cost of health and other insurance premiums;
- The accruing time for vacations, sick days and other employee benefits while the employee is off work; and
- Overtime hours paid to other employees to make up part of the loss of productivity or time training a temporary or permanent replacement for the injured worker is also a part of the indirect cost.
By allowing an employee to return to work, even if they have restrictions, employers can receive the benefits and contributions that person has to offer.
In an effective program, employers can seek out opportunities from their disabled workforce. One example of this altering their return to work programs to include stay at work. In other cases, an employer can allow critically injured employees to perform modified duties, or even a totally new and different job.
Create a “Win-Win” with Return(Stay)-To(At)-Work
Return-to-work is really “Stay-At-Work.” By keeping the injured worker within the labor market, they continue to be productive. They also retain a sense of worth and dignity that is often missing in the adversarial workers’ compensation system.
In a Stay-At-Work program, the employer’s workers’ compensation coordinator is involved from the onset of an injury. The workers’ compensation coordinator is involved in the medical aspects of the case and assists in understanding and coordinating with the medical provider issues concerning modified work duty within the employee’s medical restrictions. This includes providing total sedentary work if needed.
Benefits of the Stay-At-Work concept are numerous. Here are some of the benefits for each side of the equation in any workers’ compensation injury:
- Employer
- Develop defenses to future wage loss and medical benefits if the employee does not comply with offers of work;
- Development of compassionate business practices that recognize each employee is valuable; and
- Productive workforce that retains value and productivity.
- Employee
- Increased development of skills or vocational trade;
- Gainful employment during the recovery process, which often leads to quicker recovery from an injury; and
- Development of confidence in one’s self-worth.
Conclusions
The proper use of an integrated stay at work/return to work program lowers overhead cost and increases profitability by lowering the overall cost of workers’ compensation. It also had a value add by reducing the mistrust that is often present in workers’ compensation cases.
Author Michael Stack, Principal, COMPClub, Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their work comp costs by 20% to 50%. He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is co-author of Your Ultimate Guide To Mastering Workers Comp Costs, a comprehensive step-by-step manual of cost containment strategies based on hands-on field experience, and is founder of COMPClub, an exclusive member training program on workers compensation cost containment best practices. Through these platforms he is in the trenches on a working together with clients to implement and define best practices, which allows him to continuously be at the forefront of innovation and thought leadership in workers’ compensation cost containment. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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