The Snowball Effect of Employee Satisfaction

If the words “employee satisfaction” incites eye rolls from your management staff, then share this post with them next time you discuss your workers’ compensation program. 

A 2011 prospective study of work-related low back injuries indicates that what employers do after a work injury can have a significant impact on the injured worker’s recovery level.

Loss reduction efforts that improve employee satisfaction may also improve the injured worker’s outcome.  This study found that injured workers who were both satisfied with their employer’s response to the injury and their doctor’s treatment experienced better scores on leg and back pain scales, tests of function, and quality of life scales.  It’s important to point out that it wasn’t because the doctor wrote them out of work or gave them a warm and fuzzy feeling – the study indicates that satisfaction regarding the effectiveness of treatment is what contributed to the reduction in symptoms and functional limitations. 

The effect of the employer’s treatment of the claim was just as important as the medical provider’s treatment of the injured worker at 6 months post-injury.  Even more interesting is that at 1 year post-injury, the importance of employer’s treatment of the injured worker continued to grow.

In practical terms, this makes sense.  Think about an injured worker who has been disabled from working for a period of 3 months as the result of a significant injury.  If an employer responds negatively, or fails to stay in contact with the injured worker, the relationship begins to deteriorate.  How would you feel if you were out of work for a significant duration and no one seemed to care?  An understanding employer who is willing to work with an injured worker will gain the reputation of an employer who cares about the well-being of their employees.  This reputation travels faster than the speed of light.  I’m sure you could name three places right now that you swear you’d never work – and not just because of the type of work, but because of how they reportedly treat their employees.  Fact or fiction, it doesn’t matter if potential, future job applicants hear this.

Using deductive reasoning, one could conclude that what is good for the injured worker’s recovery is also good for reduction of claim costs (and good for the company).  The authors report a 30 percent reduction in claim costs attributable to higher satisfaction with claim treatment and likely due to a reduction in lost time claims.

Reference:  Butler, R. J., & Johnson, W. G. (2011).  Loss reduction through worker satisfaction:  The Case of workers' compensation. Risk Management and Insurance Review, 14(1), 1-26.  doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6296.2010.01188.x

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