The benefits of a strong return-to-work program for employees and employers alike are clear, but many organizations struggle to accommodate injured workers. Bringing in dedicated, data-driven expertise in workers’ compensation, safety and return-to-work programs can make a difference.
An injured worker who is unable to get back on the job quickly suffers several negative consequences. Chief among them is the loss of wages. The loss of productivity and a regular routine can also be damaging to mental health, which further impairs the recovery process.
Employers feel these effects too with lost productivity and increased costs. Making accommodations and bringing injured workers back on the job with modified duty positions can support the worker’s recovery and improve workers’ compensation claim outcomes for employers.
“For the employer, the absence of a coordinated return-to-work system leads to an obvious increase in temporary total disability (TTD) days. They end up paying employees to be out when they could have had them back functioning as productive team members,” said Aaron Becker, return-to-work team lead at Broadspire.
“On the claimant side, staying at home can lead to feelings of unproductiveness and frustration with the recovery process. They feel helpless, receiving only a fraction of their usual wages through TTD. Having an advocate on their side and feeling more involved in the process can decrease litigation.”
Given these benefits, why don’t more employers offer robust return-to-work programs?
Here are the key challenges employers face in implementing a return-to-work program and how the right resources can help overcome them, benefitting workers, employers and payers alike.
Challenges in bringing injured employees back to work
Lack of effective communication
Communication is a critical piece of the puzzle in an effective return-to-work program. The injured worker, employer, medical providers and claim professionals all need to be on the same page. Clear, timely communication and a collaborative approach are necessary to identify safe accommodations for a claimant’s return to work.
Some experience and expertise in the workers’ compensation system is necessary to manage all the communication needed among claimants, providers and employers. A deep familiarity with the claim process is something that many organizations simply lack.
“One of the primary issues is the lack of dedicated resources and expertise within their organizations to manage these programs efficiently,” said Mark DeLew, vice president of analytics and return-to-work coordination at Broadspire. That lack of expertise often underpins communication challenges.
Lack of clear policies and procedures
“Another significant challenge is the absence of clear policies and procedures surrounding return-to-work. Employers may not have well-defined guidelines on how to accommodate injured workers or may struggle to find suitable modified duties that align with the employee's restrictions and limitations. This lack of structure can lead to delays in the return-to-work process and ultimately hinder the employee's recovery and reintegration into the workplace,” DeLew said.
Without clear policies to guide them, many organizations default to denying a claimant’s bid to return to work until they are able to perform all their typical duties without accommodations.
Lack of insight into cost savings
In organizations without clear policies, the job of facilitating return-to-work typically falls on the injured worker’s supervisor. In most cases, this person is focused on managing day-to-day operations and finding accommodations likely isn’t their top priority. They don’t realize that the cost-saving and productivity-boosting benefits of accommodating an injured worker far outweigh the initial efforts of creating that accommodation.
“Return-to-work has always been a significant challenge for risk managers, as division presidents and location heads often prioritize operations and profitability over accommodating injured workers,” DeLew said.
All of these factors can lead to an injured worker feeling uncared for and unproductive while healing at home, often with little communication from their adjuster or employer. Those feelings have ripple effects, damaging an organization’s overall image and reputation.
The solution
An effective return-to-work program that helps employees heal and saves money for employers requires three things: a dedicated return to work coordinator who serves as a central point of contact for all parties, a return-to-work tracking system, and an analytics-driven improvement process.
“A dedicated return-to-work coordinator can oversee the entire process and ensure smooth communication between all parties involved, including the injured worker, healthcare providers and the employer. Without this central point of contact, the return-to-work process can become fragmented and less effective,” Becker said.
This is especially true for larger companies with multiple locations and departments. They need a dedicated resource that can understand each unit’s specific needs and tailor specific solutions.
This dedicated return-to-work coordinator needs a system designed for their workflow.
“We have designed a robust system that tracks all data related to return-to-work, including medical appointments, changes in work status, releases and restrictions, with automatic notifications sent out when this information has been entered. We even send automated notifications to capture more information from the employer or employee asynchronously. This means action can be taken more quickly. The information isn’t just sitting there,” Becker said.
“By coding this data, we can create compelling analytics that demonstrate the financial impact of not bringing employees back to work even after they have been released. This enables risk managers to advocate for better allocation and chargeback programs that align financial incentives with the well-being of claimants and the overall functionality of the location or division,” Becker said.
This data also helps to identify underlying factors that drive injuries in the first place and prevent accommodation. Tying these factors to the financial impact of increased TTD days gives risk managers the evidence and tools they need to drive cultural change around injury prevention and return-to-work programs.
“For example, if a particular location has the highest rate of non-accommodation, we identify why these people are off work and the reasoning behind the safety manager not bringing them back. We present this to the risk manager, so they are empowered to drive systemic change,” Becker said.
In one case, Broadspire found that about 90% of a site's injuries were from people with 0-6 months or 10+ years of tenure, with only 10% in between. This highlighted the need for training for both new and long-tenured employees that could significantly drive down injury rates and associated costs.
“By pinpointing the sites, employee types and locations these trends applied to, we were able to work with the risk manager to implement changes and see reductions. Our analytics tools enable us to work hand-in-hand with risk managers, giving them clear visibility into what's happening with their claims and locations,” Becker said.
Ultimately, these insights help to create a workplace culture that makes employees feel empowered and cared-for. Knowing that their employer will support return-to-work helps to allay the fears and frustrations of injury recovery.
“Our primary objective is to facilitate the return-to-work process and encourage all departments to collaborate in finding suitable accommodations. By doing so, the employer conveys the importance of reducing lost workdays and the overall benefits of the program,”
DeLew said.
“We provide that centralized focus and expertise to ensure return to work remains a key objective.”
To learn more, visit: https://www.choosebroadspire.com.
