18 Nov 6 Ways to Reduce Your Workers’ Comp Costs

Sometimes, accidents happen on the job. But when they do, you need to have good workers in place, excellent protocols, and financial protection. Of course, the safety of your employees should be your first concern: these are people who have families to take care of. However, you do as well, so you need to think about your business.

Want some tips on how to reduce the number of workers’ comp claims you have and lower your worker’s comp costs? Keep reading to see how we’d do it.

Be Smart When You Hire Workers

When you hire workers, you need to start thinking about workers’ compensation insurance costs. Everything is going to add up over time, but you want people thinking about their safety on the job before they even get out there. You can start creating a good environment for workers and protect yourself at the same time. Here are a few pre-employment tips:

Require A Physical

This may seem like a silly thing, but requiring a physical will allow you to have an initial record of their health. This will identify any pre-existing conditions that could prevent someone from doing their job. It will also help your workers: many people delay getting physicals until they have illnesses or injuries that are too severe. You may just be doing them a favor in the process.

Drug Testing

Ensure that you drug test all of your potential employees. Drugs and alcohol can lead to a higher number of accidents and, therefore, higher workers’ comp costs. You may want to have routine drug tests for your existing employees as well and actually stick to it. Word gets around if no one has been randomly tested for some time.

Check References

One final thing you can do during this step is to check references. Talk to people who have managed or worked with this potential employee before. Are they safe on the job? Do they have integrity? References can shed light on a new hire’s probability of becoming a workers’ comp issue.

When Your Employee First Starts

When your employee first starts at your job, there are some things you need to do as well to keep your workers’ comp costs low and simply to keep everyone at your business safe. Try these tips within the first few weeks of employment and then carry them through the entire company:

Use A Training Manual

Training needs to be consistent for everyone in the business. Create a manual that you believe in, understand, and know how to teach to new employees. Use other employees to make edits, when necessary, to the training manual.

Ensure that new workers and not only reading, but processing this information. Give them quizzes or tests. If there are changes, you need to inform the entire workforce.

Introduce Workers to Coworkers

One of the most important things you can do is introduce the new workers to your existing team. Sometimes it takes time to create bonds on a team, but simply knowing other team members’ names can be helpful. Assign your new workers to a mentor or older, more experienced team member so that they have someone to turn to when they have questions.

Too often, new workers will make mistakes because they don’t want to ask for help. Encourage them to ask.

Keep Watching

Consistency is key. Too often we will stop monitoring new workers after just a few weeks, but the truth is that most of them aren’t truly ready to be on their own. Instead, keep watching them and monitoring their performance to look for areas where they can improve. Don’t nag, but simply guide them in areas where they may need help.

Reduce Workers’ Comp Costs

We love working with small, local businesses to help them understand workers’ comp and stay on top of its costs. For more information on how to reduce your workers’ comp claims and payouts, reach out to us today. We are here to answer any questions, help you create efficiency within your business, and more!