Showing Compassion for Employees on Disability Can Reduce Work Comp Costs

What happens when an employee gets injured while on the job and goes on temporary disability? They can’t come into work anymore and are forced to sit at home, or they’re in the hospital with almost no contact from anyone at work. In many cases, the only work-related person who they get to talk to is the claim adjuster. They become cut-off from their peers and supervisors.

Sadly, this kind of treatment often leads the employee to feel lost, scared, abandoned, and perhaps even angry. They begin to feel as if they are not wanted around and that their company doesn’t really care about them at all. In many cases, the result of such thinking will end up leading to attorney’s becoming involved and the employee ends up being out for far longer than would otherwise be necessary. This situation is neither beneficial to the company or the employee and most employees would rather it not come to that but feel that they have no other option.

Preventing this from happening can be very simple. All it takes is a simple phone call about once a week to follow up with the injured employee and ask how they are doing. They will be glad to hear from someone from work other than the claim adjuster and it is a good way to monitor the employee’s progress. Sometimes, the information that an employee reveals through conversation can help to better understand the notes from their doctor. A small gift such as flowers or a “get well soon” card is another nice gesture that may be extended to go that extra mile and really make the injured employee feel reassured that they are cared for and eager to return to work.

Don’t Let your Employees Return to Work ‘Broken’

When an employee gets hurt on the job and goes on Worker’s Comp, they usually just end up sitting at home all day long waiting for their injury to heal so that they can go back to work. In most cases, the employee’s regular job is a very physically demanding one that keeps them fairly healthy. But when they get injured, their job becomes a far more sedentary one. This sudden shift to a sedentary lifestyle can be detrimental to their body and overall health, including a wide spectrum of different types of diseases and disorders affecting all parts of the body. Some of the risks can be increased by as much as 50% or more.

A few examples of these risks include:

  • Musculoskeletal Disorders: Low Back Pain, Osteoarthritis, Bone Fractures, Connective Tissue Tears, Osteoporosis
  • Cardiovascular Disorders: Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), Congestive heart Failure, Atherosclerosis (Hardening of Arteries), Coronary Heart Disease, Hypercholesterolemia (High Cholesterol), Cardiomyopathy (any disease affecting structure and function of heart)
  • Metabolic Disorders: Overweight, Obesity, Diabetes
  • Cancer: Breast, Colon, Lung, Prostate
  • Pulmonary Diseases: Emphysema, Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis
  • Psychological Disorders: Depression, Mood, Anxiety

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Personal Training: A Surprising Health and Wellness Room Benefit

I started training about four months ago. With an intense diet and lots of exercise, I went from a size 12 to a size 6. It was a lot of hard work, and not to mention sweat and being tired. I don’t think that I could have done it though if it wasn’t for my personal trainer. He was always there actually holding me accountable for being present at the gym, to provide a journal of the food I was eating, and was there to push me to be better.

Think of the Health and Wellness Room as your injured employees’ personal trainer of sorts. We are personally involved in the recovery of each individual that comes in. We want to see results, to see the recovery process take place and conclude. We are going to  make sure that he/she is getting up and moving within the restrictions of their specific injury. That the motivation stays high to get back into the workplace and prevent being in a “daytime TV slump” because he/she can’t do what they could before. It encompasses all aspects of the recovery process. I know that there were days I didn’t want to go to the gym because I was tired, or I wasn’t seeing results every day and it was depressing at times. We here at the Health and Wellness Rooms can address that slump too.

We mix up the day here – we have stretch time, designated walk times, and educational experiences for your injury. We will teach your employees how to prevent further injury, instead of just telling them what to do and send them home. Finally the Health and Wellness Rooms will set the pace. We keep your employees in a routine, which is half the battle of setting the recovery in motion.

Your Proof:Positive personal trainer is waiting.

Obesity and Healing: Educate your Employees

Obesity is an obstacle that many Americans face, and combining that with the recovery from an injury severely impacts the healing process. Results from a new study in Columbus, Ohio suggest that extremely obese people are more likely than normal-weight people to injure themselves. With this statistic looming, it is vital that we don’t let our injured go on without having the opportunity to change their lifestyle. While prevention is important, education after the fact is essential. Proof:Positive can help employers with new ideas to keep their employees healthy and fit, which can statistically decrease the number of work injuries.

Obesity combined with a simple knee injury, or even a complex surgery, is going to prolong the healing process severely. Obesity falls into an interference with wellness that is not always accounted for by claims adjusters. Although with anti-discriminatory laws you cannot force a diet or weight loss program to those who are overweight or mandate a smoker to quit, studies show that employees and employers favor a program that would educate, and even provide facilities to promote weight management and programs for weight loss. Participants of this survey were asked to disclose to what degree they favor specific health care and work policy blue prints for treating and preventing adult obesity. Seventy-three percent favored a move by health care companies to require obesity treatment and prevention. The same proportion favored beneficiary discounts by employers or health care companies to motivate individuals to maintain or move toward a healthy weight.

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Help Your Injured Employees Heal Themselves

Many people injured at work place all of the responsibility of getting well on the doctor. But, what most injured workers do not appreciate is that you have the ability to heal yourself! The doctor is an important part of the process but he only guides you down the right path. It is up to you to walk that path towards recovery and a fast return to work.

“Understanding my injury helped me to recover, and the opportunity that I had here in the Health and Wellness Room to do my therapy and stay active during my rehabilitation is what got me back to work faster than when I hurt my back two years ago.” This is what one of our client’s injured workers told me when he brought in his return to work release papers. He said the information we provided about his injury really gave him an understanding of his injury. He told me that we were motivating him to go back to work. “I was able to walk, exercise, use heat and ice, but best of all I didn’t end up on the couch trying to heal. I feel like I got more attention in the Health and Wellness Room then I did from my doctor or therapist.”

When injured workers rely on the doctor to do all the healing they are prolonging their injury and return to work. They still have to do their therapy and remain active to keep their body from becoming weakened by injury. Help your employees learn about their injuries. This is how you heal with the assistance of a doctor. Knowledge of injuries and ways to prevent them in the future benefit everyone.

Health and Wellness Rooms provide a motivated atmosphere to return to work. Educational materials, therapy beds, ice and heat, medical professional on staff, and a common goal for returning injured workers back to their jobs. Getting off the couch each day keeps employees in work mode, which helps transition back to full duty. Keeping the mind set on returning to work helps the body heal. Exercise gets the blood circulating which helps promote healing. Giving your employees a motivated atmosphere to heal, keep a positive mental attitude and help with recovery.

Instruments of Recuperation

“Just reading the material made me realize I could lose weight without having to exercise that much,” one of my injured employees said to me the other day. Simple eating changes accompanied by drinking plenty of water every day can improve health, weight, and skin problems – no matter what your activity level. Being idle because of an injury does not mean that you need to have an idle mind. When attending Health and Wellness Rooms injured employees don’t sit and watch television or get lost in the system – they get moving. Whether it is a walk, stretching or wellness education, nobody is left behind with a tailor made schedule to fit all work modifications. We want your employees to be BETTER, faster!

What could be better than finding out that even though you have an injury you can maintain and/or even improve your habits

The simplicity of having your employees on a modified work status program, coming into the Health and Wellness Room to learn about the injury that they suffer from, and discovering alternative ways to maintain weight and health while incapacitated, is reason enough to be excited that this option is out there for any sized company. I’ve been told by some employees in our Los Angeles Health and Wellness Room that they look forward to coming in after the weekend because they are getting better from stretching, walking, and maintaining a routine. Not only that, but the forestallment of future injuries is money saved as well. Because we are an advocate for the employer, we are your ally in employee recovery.

Back Safety – On or Off the Job!

It is estimated that 8 out of 10 Americans will have a back problem at some time in their lives. And no wonder – we have a knack for neglecting our backs! You might be a weekend athlete who might strain an underused muscle, someone with bad posture, and someone who lifts incorrectly or who is overweight, under stress, or out of shape and are setting the stage for a back injury.

Then there is the average American worker who sometimes is required to do manual labor at their jobsite. It is a good practice for employers to help educate these employees on proper lifting and safety awareness. Most people are active outside of work. An injury off the job or on the job is still an injury, and impacts productivity. So it is important to try and educate your employees on not only work back safety but back safety all the time. As an employer, showing concern for your employees on or off the job can only benefit you. Help yourselves avoid workers compensation claims, retraining, overtime paid to cover shifts missed due to injury, and help boost employee morale.

Safety should be taught to avoid accidents not in response to one. Proof:Positive can help your company evaluate your safety programs and help design a program to fit your company needs. Your employees can not only learn about injury rehabilitation but also learn on how to care for themselves outside of work as well.

Opportunity Knocks After Workplace Injuries

The opportunity for you to obtain some knowledge after a workplace injury depends on you. Why sit waiting while injuried to heal without learning about your injury? Information can be provided by your Doctor and Therapist that might be clinical and hard to understand. Finding a place where you can be educated about your injury during recovery can be difficult, but can pay dividends if you take advantage. Take the opportunity when it knocks to learn about your injury and how to recover, and even prevent future injuries…all while staying off disability.

The Proof:Positive Health and Wellness Room present the opportunities to obtain information about your injury. A Health and Wellness Room provides a place to study your injury and learn more than what your Doctor might say about your injury. You can also learn how to prevent further injury, save yourself from future pain and suffering, get back to being productive, and stay that way. Another benefit of a Health and Wellness Room is that you can remain on your regular payroll and not have to go out on disablitiy.

Of course you would have to eligible for the Health and Wellness Room, and eligibility is determined by your Doctor and what work restrictions s/he writes for you. Most restrictions can be accomodated in a Health and Wellness Room, however, and recovery from work injuries is increased dramatically when an injured employee attends a Health and Wellness Room.

So, carpe diem, and help speed your recovery and your return to work. Take the opportunity to learn and heal at the same time. Increase your knowledge and awareness about work place injuries, and stay on payroll. Opportunities don’t always come along with horns blowing and flags flying – you have to answer the knock of opportunity after your injury. Ask your employer about the Health and Wellness Room option. Above all, you are the one who will benefit from time spent in the Health and Wellness Room.