{"id":91,"date":"2017-07-05T22:09:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T22:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/?p=91"},"modified":"2017-07-05T22:09:32","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T22:09:32","slug":"how-hr-departments-help-companies-reduce-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/05\/how-hr-departments-help-companies-reduce-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"How HR Departments Help Companies Reduce Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHealthcare costs continue to rise<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0This is true not only for individuals but also for companies, whose employees\u2019 well-being directly impacts productivity, output, and cost.<\/p>\n

Everyday there is a risk of an accident happening or an employee getting sick. Hence, the need for insurance.\u00a0 Workers Compensation Insurance (WIC) and Employee Benefits (EB).\u00a0 But what if we can reduce that risk?\u00a0 Would that reduce costs and lead to a better RoI?<\/p>\n

The question then is \u2013 how do we reduce that risk?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alisa Locricchio, VP Employee Benefits and Risk Services at Poms & Associates suggests that companies take an \u201cintegrated approach\u201d to risk management.\u00a0 A Workers\u2019 Comp injury claim today can very likely lead to an Employee Benefit claim years from now \u2013 from the same employee.\u00a0 Instead of a separate silo for Workers Comp and a separate silo for Employee Benefits, she suggests a broad and holistic view of risk so that proactive measures can be taken that promote overall employee health and wellness.<\/p>\n

Here are some specific steps to take in order to develop an integrated approach to risk management:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gather data on what CAUSES the claims.<\/strong>\u00a0 Come up with a brainstorm list of the leading causes<\/strong> of claims (both for your company and the industry) \u2013 regardless of whether it\u2019s a Workers\u2019 Comp claim or an Employee Benefits claim.\u00a0\u00a0 You might already have a starter list based on what you know of your organization\u2019s culture and the general lifestyle of your workforce.\u00a0\u00a0 Ask the different \u201csilo owners\u201d (Risk Manager, Safety Manager, Health & Wellness Manager, HR Manager). Focus on the big picture.<\/li>\n
  2. Identify low-cost changes that can be done.\u00a0 <\/strong>Did you know that flossing your teeth everyday can reduce your risk of heart disease?\u00a0 Did you know that many carriers offer some free preventive care services?\u00a0 What about offering employees \u00a0incentives or making a game that develops good habits such as taking 5-minute stretch breaks, or doing breathing exercises?<\/li>\n
  3. Create a tailored Employee Wellness communications plan that is based on your company\u2019s claims, culture, and demographics.<\/strong>\u00a0 How about \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d wellness ideas?\u00a0 Let employees make suggestions or share wellness success stories.\u00a0 Foster conversations, create \u201cbuzz\u201d about wellness activities, let people talk about what\u2019s worked for them.\u00a0 All these are for the greater good, which people generally like.<\/li>\n
  4. Evaluate and measure your progress.<\/strong>\u00a0 Within a defined time period, monitor the impact on # of claims,\u00a0 turnover, morale, absenteeism, presenteeism (physically present, but not really focused on work).\u00a0\u00a0 Make changes along the way as new ideas emerge.<\/li>\n
  5. Finally, communicate with all stakeholders.<\/strong>\u00a0 Talk to the carriers, show them the progress, ask about free services that can be added to the program, negotiate for lower costs,.\u00a0 Get your executives involved and let company culture develop an over-all wellness mindset.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cHealthcare costs continue to rise.\u201d \u00a0This is true not only for individuals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[6,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrnetsourcedemo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}