How Diversity Impacts Workers’ Compensation Strategies
This session at the National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference in Las Vegas focused on the increasing diversity in today’s workforce and how that is impacting workers’ compensation. Jennifer De La Torre, Executive Director of Workforce Diversity at AT&T, and Elizabeth Demaret, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Relationship Officer at Sedgwick, explained how the aging, multi-generational and multi-cultural workforce is demanding workers’ compensation programs to evolve.
Aging & Retirement
The issues:
- It’s estimated that Baby Boomers will make up one-fifth of the workforce by 2015.
- They are likely to have more disabilities than their younger counterparts.
- Injury duration tends to be longer because it takes longer to heal.
- Because of the economy, this group financially needs to return to work and is motivated to do so.
Workers’ compensation strategies:
- Report on-the-job injuries promptly. Not only does this result in a faster resolution of the claim, it also helps get the appropriate treatment for the injured employee, which is important because older employees’ claims tend to be more severe.
- Focus on good return-to-work programs. Older employees, as a whole, work well with return-to-work programs because they are motivated to return. Older employees are more likely to react positive to modified duties that utilizes lighter physical requirements and technology.
Multi-Generational
The issues:
- There are currently five generation in the workplace and each brings different workplace characteristics.
- Generation X tends to be the least loyal and will not feel compelled to return to work.
- Generation Y is, overall, the most heavily medicated generation, so comorbidities need to be managed closely.
Workers’ compensation strategies:
- Tailor your communications differently to each generation. They all have different preferences and will respond better to paper versus electronic, for instance.
- Gen X responds well to non-work environments like telecommuting and job sharing. These can be worked into your return-to-work programs.
- Gen Y prefers to be communicated to electronically and systems need to be developed to handle this from a privacy and technical level.
Multi-Cultural
The issues:
- Comorbidities like obesity and diabetes change their prevalence by location and ethnic group.
- Geographic availability and access to healthcare institutions may have more significant impact on minorities.
- Cost control efforts and the movement to managed care may pose greater barriers.
- The language barrier poses a problem because workers can’t properly communicate to physicians.
Workers’ compensation strategies:
- Provide access to multi-lingual physicians and information like pamphlets and posters.
- Create multi-lingual claims reporting lines to help improve communication, reduce fear, improve level of care and reduce litigation potential.
- Develop a list of providers who can ensure balance of ethnicity, location and access.
Safety National’s “Conference Chronicles” showcases the educational content from risk management industry events around the nation, providing highlights from sessions so that those not attending can benefit from the insights and trends shared by industry thought leaders.