Elements of a Good Return-to-Work Program

Posted on: January 15, 2016 by Signature Insurance Group

As much as you try to prevent them, accidents happen in the work place that put employees out of work for a while do to injuries. While you want to make sure you have a great Southern California Workers Compensation Policy to help cover the costs associated with these injuries, the ultimate goal is to get your employee back to work as quickly as possible. To do that you need to have an effective return-to-work program in place. Here are some of the best practices that make a successful RTW program.

Integrated Disability and Absence Management (IDAM) strategy

Integration is the key with this principle. Studies have shown that when companies operate different areas of their benefit programs independently, they eventually become dysfunctional. Lack of communication between areas like work related and non-work related absences or short-term vs. long-term absences results in higher costs and a greater risk of fraudulent claims.

Encourage Employee Participation in Health Programs

While encouraging every employee to participate in programs designed to improve their heath is always a positive thing, special care and encouragement should be taken with employees with chronic conditions. Disability claims account for nearly 50% of employee medical costs. Encouraging employees to focus on medical compliance can help to prevent disability related claims. For example, reward employees that successfully quit smoking for 6 months with an extra award after a year. This little reward encourages your employee to not only better their health but lowers the risk of having to pay disability claims for respiratory issues. Prevention and intervention is key.

Implement Transitional Work Programs

Sometimes, do to injuries employees are unable to do their original job either temporarily or even permanently.  As a business owner, your goal is not to lose workdays. Having a program in place that will allow injured employees to temporarily do an alternate job if they are only on temporary disability gets the employee back to working for you lowering the costs associated with that injury. Having a program in place that allows employees that are permanently unable to fulfill their original role within your company, to be relocate internally to a different job classification not only gets an employee back to work but creates a lasting loyalty between you and the worker.

At Signature Insurance Group we understand the importance of making sure that your employees are able to get back to work after an injury. Call us today at 855.972.9437 or more information on our So Cal Workers Compensation Insurance.

Posted in: Workers Compensation

Tagged: Return to Work Program Workers Compensation