How to reduce your workers’ compensation costs
Don’t get caught in the rut of assuming there is nothing you can do about workers’ compensation costs, saying to yourself, “That’s why we have insurance.”
You can have a major impact on those costs by implementing a return to work program.
By bringing injured employees back to work in a position within their physician’s assigned restrictions, employers will reduce workers’ compensation costs while retaining that experienced employee. Employers have seen as much as a 20 percent to 40 percent savings after implementing a return to work program. This does not include the soft savings of not having to hire and train a new employee.
A successful program is meant for injuries with short-term disability periods and must be limited to how long an employee can remain in a modified-duty position. The employee can be brought back anywhere, employer-wide, as long as the assigned job meets the assigned medical restrictions.
But the benefits do not stop with the employer; the employee benefits by having job security. Returning to the workplace helps reduce family stress that can result from being off work. It makes the injured employee feel valuable to the employer and more motivated and productive. Studies have shown that a good return to work program will actually shorten the injured employee’s recovery time and reduce the chance of long-term disability.
— For more information about implementing a return to work program, contact Zilda Henson or one of KSBIT’s loss control specialists at 1-800-876-4552.