I also enjoy spreading Christmas cheer. The best part is
there are so many ways to do it this time of year. First, you have tree hopping
which you’ve probably never heard of unless you grew up in eastern WI. Trust me;
it’s the best way to spread cheer. Then you have Christmas cards, cookies,
music, work parties, family gatherings, you name it. It’s all good stuff.
Now I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to think
long and hard about it. How do you feel about sending Christmas cards? Personally,
I love sending the first few Christmas cards each year. At that point I’m still
naïve and ambitious, bound and determined that this is the year I get them out
by the first week in December. I also enjoy picking out the stamps too. Kind of
dorky, but I find it entertaining. This year’s selection included Hermey, Santa,
Rudolph and the Bumble. You couldn’t beat it.
Since I have the attention span of a four year old, I lose
interest after about ten cards. Ten cards will take about twenty minutes, and
when I see the remaining pile waiting for my attention, I find myself thinking
of all the things I’d rather be doing. Like ice fishing, shoveling the
driveway, having my fingernails pulled out with pliers, or shopping. Okay, definitely
not shopping, but you get the idea. IT’S BORING AS HELL!!! I’m always glad I
sent them when it’s over, but at least half my list tends to get theirs between
Christmas and New Years Day. I’d be better off sending New Years cards instead.
So what does this have to do with your business? Light duty
return-to-work programs. Let’s say you are in an industry that doesn’t lend
itself to light duty work, i.e. trucking, manufacturing, construction, you get
the idea. You can only file papers and push a broom for so long. And sometimes
with doctor restrictions, you can’t even push a broom.
Most employers will end up sending their employee home to
watch daytime television. You know, the same daytime television where every
other commercial is from a law firm asking him if he’s been injured at work.
That same group of lawyers also mentions that your employee’s rights are being
violated by you, his employer, or the insurance carrier. You know where this
one is going, and it’s not going away soon.
Did you know that medical only claims are discounted by 70%
when calculating your experience mod? Just by getting that employee back to
work in a limited capacity, you can help prevent an ugly lawsuit and keep your
experience mod in check. And usually if you keep your experience mod low, your
underwriter is going to throw you a few bones as well in the form of schedule
credits. But you don’t have any light duty work you say? I have two words for you: stuffing envelopes.
Think of a local non-profit group that could use some help
stuffing envelopes. Unless your employee
has had a severe brain injury, he likely has the capacity to do this and other
simple tasks. The savvy employers are doing this for several reasons: 1) it positively
impacts their experience mod; 2) it’s great from a PR standpoint; and 3) It
will drive their employee to return to normal duties quicker than if he was
sitting at home.
Think back to your Christmas cards and how mind numbingly
boring it becomes. Now imagine doing this for eight hours a day, every day, for
weeks on end. If you’re a welder, plumber, etc. by trade, you’ll be crawling
out of your skin and do everything possible to get back to your normal job. Unless
you have some strange disease that makes you love envelope stuffing, this is
only slightly better than torture. (Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit here, but you
get the point.)If you’re an injured employee, I think it’s safe to say that some of your ambition to return goes out the window as you relax at home watching re-runs of Rocky from your living room couch. If your employee is forced to stay in a routine that brings him out of his house each day to do some charity work, I think you’ll find him much more willing to return to his normal job duties. There is plenty of charity work outside of stuffing envelopes that he could do, but just by engaging your employee you are helping limit the damage and improving the odds that he will return to work sooner than later.
Do yourself a favor and check with some local charities. You’ll
be a hero to them, and them to your business. Or you can give me a call. I’d be
happy to have your employees send out my Christmas cards next year.
Andy Bertram
Risk Advisor
C.O. Brown
abertram@cobrown.com
651-800-6173
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