Measuring a Successful Return to Work Program

What is the #1 cost driver in Workers’ Compensation claims? When an employee loses time from work, costing your company time and money. What is the most controllable cost in a workers’ compensation claim? Loss time. Statistics show that employees who are off work require more loss time and medical treatment than someone actively working (with restrictions).
Effective transitional work programs can impact your bottom line. Are you measuring the success and return on investment (ROI) of your return-to-work program?

Measuring the effectiveness of your Return-to Work (RTW) or Transitional Duty program will help you identify and categorize lost work days. This will allow you to ensure employees aren’t off work too long for their medical conditions. It will also provide you with the tools to determine how well your company manages the RTW process. Tracking your RTW will allow you to monitor: 1.How many of your employees are off work and 2. Your companies RTW rate.

EXAMPLE

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Predicted Disability Duration (PDD)	Days RTW prior to PDD	Average Weekly Wage (AWW)	RTW Savings
85 Days	45 Days	$910	$5850

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RTW Savings = (Days RTW prior to PDD) X (AWW)
Bringing your employee back to work within 45 days before the Predicted Disability Duration, the employer avoided paying TD of $5,850. However, the savings does not stop there. You should also consider the Hard and Soft savings.

Hard savings can include reduced use of pain medication or treatment costs
- (Average savings 7-10%)
Soft savings could be a lower number of treatments needed.
- (Average savings 3-5%)

Are you unable to accommodate your employees work restrictions? Consider partnering with a company like Sheakley Absence Management. We help our clients with RTW solutions by returning their employees to safe, productive, temporary work environments through the use of nonprofit organizations. Using our unique approach will allow you to achieve your RTW rate and accommodate almost 99.9% of your employees work restrictions. Sheakley focuses on your RTW rate and provides you with detailed reports outlining the overall savings.

If you are in a union environment we have the tools to successfully execute a return to work plan by helping you develop trust and support with the union to help bridge the gap and establishing your RTW goals.

Consider partnering with Sheakley for your Return to Work Program, and save your company time and money.