If you have any employees other than yourself, you are required by law to have workers compensation insurance coverage. While some of the rates are dictated by local agencies and government organizations, most business owners think that their costs are totally fixed to how many employees you have. However, it takes a little creativity to save some money. Here are some strategies that will keep your overall workers comp costs.
Revisit Your Business Classification
Your workers compensation costs depend on the type of business you have. If your business is classified in a risky category, you could be paying higher costs unnecessarily. For example, workers compensation insurance for a traveling sales company and an office based sales company will have varying rates based on the business classification. By contacting your agent, you could find a more specific classification that saves your business money.
Develop A Corporate Safety Program
Many workers compensation carriers offer discounts to companies who have an established safety program. Specifically for construction companies, these programs help mitigate the costs of claims, the carriers can pass those savings on to your business. Additionally, it will help keep your employees safer, preventing injuries and improving profitability. Moreover, these lower premium payments decrease your costs throughout the fiscal year.
Provide Advanced Training Through HR
The amount of training your employees receive can protect them from injury. Most often, the inexperienced workers are the ones who either get injured or cause injuries. Instead, a strong training program through your HR department can keep your new employees in check and lower the number employees who need help filing a long-term disability claim. Of course, less claims will lead to decreased administrative costs and premiums.
Apply For Group Pricing
As you grow your business, you might be eligible for group rates. If you have enough employees, you qualify for lower rates. Or, you can join an association with other companies like yours that bargain for lower workers compensation rates too. Either way, these group buying rates could lower your insurance premium costs dramatically. It is certainly worth the time to see if your business could qualify.
Keep In Touch With Injured Employees
In the case that someone does get injured, check in with them frequently. You will get a good idea of how they are recovering. Then, you can incentivize them to get back to work soon and start making money again. A good return-to-work program can bring back injured employees much sooner than usual. Additionally, this helps avoid any abuse of the workers comp policy. If you have less people away from work, then you will save money to your bottom line and on your insurance coverage in the long run.
Your workers compensation are fixed by carriers initially. It is up to you to ensure you have the right classifications, processes, documentation and pricing in place. If you take a proactive and preventive approach to your workers compensation policy, there are many strategies to save money and keep your overhead costs low.
