As workers’ compensation stakeholders, there’s one step we need to do following a work-related injury, whether you’re an adjuster, trying to find out what happened, whether you’re an employer representative, trying to find out what happened. And it’s this one step that’s most often missed that hampers and hinders our ability to actually do a proper investigation.
This post is one in a 3-part series:
The Most Important Step Is Most Often Missed – Comfort
Hello, my name is Michael Stack. I’m the CEO of Amaxx and answering that question of what happened again, whether it’s in a formal recorded statement or whether you’re an employer representative, that one step is what I want to cover with you today. And it’s the set that’s most often miss. And here it is. I want to give you some, a couple of tips of actually how to do this and how to do it effectively and consistently every time the one step that’s most often, miss is making that injured worker, comfortable making that injured worker, comfortable, making the environment comfortable to have this discussion.
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3 Tips to Make Injured Worker Comfortable
As far as what happened. I want to give you three tips here. Three sub tips under this comfort overarching category of how to actually do this and do it consistently every single time. Do it consistently every single time. If you follow these couple of steps, first thing you’re going to do
- Be nice.
I’m going to be nice, very simple, very straightforward, but it’s a step that’s often blown by have a little light conversation, have some light discussion, develop some of that initial rapport with that individual, learn about something interesting that’s going on in their life. Be nice to them.
- Take your time
Take your time. Don’t rush this discussion. Establish this comfort in order to make this environment comfortable. You’re being nice and you’re taking your time. You’re not rushing this thing. The more it’s feels like it’s being forced down their throat. The more they’re going to clamp up, and they’re not going to tell you actually, what happened most truthfully the most truthful message that there is, and the most explanatory message that there is be nice. Take your time.
- Listen
Establish comfort by being nice, taking your time and actually listening to what they have to say. There are so many things going on in our world. There’s just a million different inputs all day long, a million different inputs. I’ll all day long. When someone actually takes the time to really listen to what you have to say, and they’re not in a rush. They’re not like you’re checking their phone or checking their email, or they’ve got another call coming in, or they’ve got a meeting in five more minutes. You feel like that’s rushed. You’re not going to give as much information or be truthful with what is as much information as you otherwise would. If the person was nice and they were taking their time when they were actually listening to, if you’re an adjuster and you’re taking a formal recorded statement, do these, do this step.
Follow These Steps No Matter Your Role in Investigation
If you are a supervisor, if you’re an employee, you’re trying to figure out what happened. Do this step. This step is so often miss so often missed and it hinders our ability to actually make that connection to actually learn about what happened. And the more we learn about what happened, the more we can do a formal investigation and thorough investigation, and we can ask follow up questions, understand really what happened, and then we can effectively manage that claim. Again, my name is Michael Stack. I’m the CEO of Amaxx. And remember your work today in workers’ compensation can have a dramatic impact on your company’s bottom line, but it will have a dramatic impact on someone’s life. So be great.
Author Michael Stack, CEO Amaxx LLC. He is an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and helps employers reduce their workers’ comp costs by 20% to 50%. He works as a consultant to large and mid-market clients, is a 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 the founder & lead trainer of Amaxx Workers’ Comp Training Center, which offers the Certified Master of Workers’ Compensation national designation.
Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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