According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lost time from absenteeism cost employers over $225 billion every year. From overtime costs to lost productivity, let’s dive into how it’s affecting your business on the employer level and what you can do to minimize its impact.
What is a Lost Time Injury?
While there are a number of reasons an organization can be hit with absenteeism, the toll it takes from workplace injury costs employers the most. If your employee was injured on the job and is unable to return to work and perform regular job duties, it is considered a Lost Time Injury (LTI).
Lost time begins the day after the illness or injury takes place, until they are released to return to work by their doctor.
According to a “Shiftwork Practices” study by Circadian, “Lost time injury costs employers $3,600/year for hourly workers and up to $2,650 for each salaried employee.”
No matter how minor or major an employee’s injury may be, they all share a common denominator: without the right preventative measures in place, they can turn into a very costly claim for the employer!
The most common injuries of all? Motor vehicle accidents, slip, trips and falls, machine entanglement and repetitive motion injuries.
The Cost of Absenteeism
Lost time equals lost business!
Indirect lost time costs (which are not covered by workers comp) remains to be the most expensive line of insurance coverage for employers. Here are some of the indirect costs that can affect just one injury (let alone multiple injuries!):
- Overtime pay for employees picking up absent employees’ work;
- Hiring and training of a replacement;
- Lost productivity;
- High turnover related costs due to unplanned absenteeism;
- Time spent to those handling the injured employee’s claim;
- Overall administrative costs of managing absenteeism.
What Preventative Measures Can Employers Take to Minimize the Impact?
As an employer the high healthcare costs associated with lost time may seem out of your control. You can’t stop them from injuring themselves, but you can optimize injury outcome with a incident case management program.
At Axiom Medical, we offer a team of in-house registered nurses – available 24/7! – who are licensed in all 50 states to assess your injury within minutes after it occurs. In over 60 percent of the cases called in, our nurses can treat the injury at a first-aid level.
To learn more about how Axiom can help you, fill out the contact form or call us at +1 (877) 502-9466!
Heather lives and writes by the motto, “No coffee, no workee,” and is passionate about helping others live a happier and healthier life. When she’s not writing away, you can find her playing basketball with her two sons, planning her next getaway “somewhere tropical” or trying out a new recipe with chocolate as the main ingredient.
Find out more about our Injury Case Management services or our Occupational Health Programs.
