Did You Just Hire Your Next Workers’ Comp Claimant?

News & Articles   ·   December 19, 2008

Let’s evaluate a typical hire for most companies:

There is an open position so you place an advertisement in the newspaper or online. Multiple resumes come in, you narrow your search to ten people, however only three people show up for the actual job interview. Of the three, you decide to hire Jack. After completing the background and reference checks, Jack is told to show up at 8:00 A.M. Monday morning and report to the HR Department to complete his paperwork.                                            

Monday morning, here is the exchange that takes place:

“Hi, Jack. Welcome to the company. Fill out your paperwork, sit in the break room and watch the safety video and I will take you to work with Charlie, our senior employee. You will watch how Charlie does the job for two or three days, then you’re on your own. We are here if you have any questions. At XYZ Company, we have an open door policy.”

With this scenario, you are hoping that Charlie, your superstar employee, will pass down all of the requirements for the job. In reality, Charlie is frustrated because he has to train all of the new employees without any recognition, pay increase or bonus of any kind, and he passes down his bad habits, his frustrations and what I like to call his accumulated employee baggage to Jack. Before Jack has a chance to get his feet wet, he is already forming a negative opinion of your company. Before long, you are totally surprised because Jack is injured and out on workers’ compensation.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 percent of all injuries occur within ninety days of hire, 23 percent occur within the first four hours on the job!  These statistics highlight the one ingredient that is often missing for most employers – effective workplace training programs. Employers fail to understand that passing the torch is not training.

Employers often hire based on an unrealistic idea that all they need is a warm body in a position because “anyone” can be trained to do the job. This is the first mistake on the road to a workers’ compensation claim. It is essential that each job fit the worker and that each worker fit his or her job. What does this mean?

Employees must understand the specifics of each task you are asking them to do. Along with the specifics, they should be provided with appropriate safety training and the safety rules that apply to their job and their work areas. Employers, who have successful injury prevention programs, create a training matrix that outline the minimum safety training required for all positions. They use the matrix to implement training programs that are uniform, consistent and job specific. New employees immediately understand the importance of working safely and they understand the safety exposures within their work areas. 

In addition, employers with effective injury prevention programs spend the time to write detailed job descriptions, after they evaluate the essential and marginal functions for each job within their organization. They also take this process one step further and present the job description to the employee during the interview process.

Remember you are evaluating the candidate to determine if they meet the requirements for the job. During the interview you should ask specific questions based on the job description to make sure the candidate understands the job requirements. This process also allows the candidate to evaluate your company just as you are evaluating the potential employee. In today’s labor market, candidates want to know what you are expecting from them so they can make an educated decision before they accept your job offer.    

After presenting the job duties and selecting the candidate, it is your job to use the probationary, or introductory, period to train and evaluate the employee. This period is called the “introductory” period for a reason. Introduce the new employee to your work environment, job concepts and evaluate their performance, then determine if they are the right fit for the position. 

This brings me full circle to why I feel, every workers’ compensation claim starts with an employment decision. As the employer, either you did not provide enough training and oversight to the employee or you hired the wrong employee to do the job or you kept the wrong employee too long. Most workers’ compensation claims can be traced to one of these HR decisions.

Employers must recognize that bad hiring decisions and improper training programs can increase the likelihood that an employee will be injured. Spend the money to train your employees correctly-from the beginning. If you evaluate the overall cost of one workers’ compensation claim-including: the loss of manpower, the administrative cost to manage an injured employee, the workers’ compensation premium cost and the overtime to cover jobs that would have been done by the injured worker-you will see the cost benefits of integrating an effective safety training program into your workplace.

Understanding the specifics of each task you are asking your employees to do is essential to preventing injuries. Training your employees, mandating that they follow appropriate safety procedures and providing ongoing educational opportunities is the key components of an effective injury prevention program.