How two hours can slash workers’ comp costs

Workers’ comp costs can take a bite out of even the most safety-conscious companies’ bottom lines.

Yes, have people wear their goggles and keep power cords off the floor. But you also might want to take a look at your job coding. Some companies have workers’ compensation audits conducted for them. You can probably go it alone to keep all the savings for your company.

A one-hour sit-down with HR can be enough. During that time:

1. Get a list of every employee and job title.
2. For each employee, ask “Does this person have the correct workers’ comp classification?”
3. For anyone not in the right “bucket,” come up with the proper code.

There’s probably plenty of room for improvement. There are more than 600 workers’ compensation classification codes, though most companies only use a handful of them. Many classify their entire workforce by a single code!

One specific area to watch: your administrative staff. Many organizations lump all administrative folks into the “office clerk” bucket. But people who file all day are different from an A/P or A/R clerk who spend most of the day banging away at a keyboard. (Major carpal tunnel risk.)

You may be surprised at how dramatically your rates drop.

One warning: A seriously large drop in your rates can raise a red flag with the workers’ comp board. But if you’re confident in your classifications, you’ll have nothing to worry about.