We’ve all said this very thing about some recurrent theme in our lives. The one theme I continually hear from employers is how they cannot afford to test their new hires. The same reasons are heard over and over again, and I can repeat them from heart…
- “Our turnover is so high we can’t afford to test every new hire.”
- “We can’t find people now and if we add another step, we won’t have anyone to work.”
- “We have people working for us now who aren’t safe.”
- “Costs too much.”
- “It will take too long for us to hire and get someone on the job.”
I hear the words but have to ask the next questions:
- “Why is your turnover high? Are you creating new jobs or having problems finding someone who can actually do the job safely and be productive without struggling? Or, in the worst case scenario, are any current employees already injured and continuing to work in pain but with less productivity?”
- “Is what you are doing now saving you money or just costing more each year?”
- “Why are you not interested in saving 50 to 80% of your worker’s comp costs, protecting your employees and their jobs?”
Studies show 10% of the workforce cannot safely perform job functions and 80% of costs come from the same 10%. If you have a method to identify the at-risk employee at the time of hire and intervene in some way to reduce the probability of an injury, the numbers are in your favor.
When looking at the ROI from the employer’s perspective, we see the cost savings, not only in the number of claims but the severity of claims. The truth is that an employee who struggles from day 1 and is injured down the road will not only result in an injury claim, but now you are also dealing with a permanent disability. Simply put, if the worker couldn’t demonstrate the ability to safely do the job at the time of hire, you will never be able to offer medical care or rehab that will get this person better than they were prior to the injury and return them to work. Preventing loss time offers huge savings.
Simple math provides a look at the cost of having an injured worker sit at home:
Average time out of work is 22 weeks or 880 hours in NC if loss time > 7 days
Average direct cost of claim is $52,000.
Average indirect is $234,000 = $286,000 total cost $286,000 divided by 880 hours = $325 per hour.
This is essentially what you are paying per hour for even a $10/hour employee to sit at home.
So my last question is: “How can you afford not to test?”