Last month, I helped Holmes Murphy host a client webinar around the impact of employee engagement and culture on workers’ compensation. An existing property casualty client, along with our Joyages and ethOs teams, shared their thoughts, experiences, and best practices they feel help employers in dealing with these topics.
While we discussed some objective resources employers could use, such as employee surveys and active listening and participation from upper management, one thing that stood out to me from our client co-host was the need to always remember the “little things” when dealing with employees.
In a work environment, the “little things” can include such items as more employee recognition, additional benefits, day-to-day rewards and surprises, as well as more interpersonal connection and empathy for an employee’s personal life.
An organization is the accumulation of all the individual employees and their life experiences, or social determinants, they bring to their work environment each day.
Texas Mutual, the state of Texas’ largest workers’ compensation carrier, found that employers who consistently used an empathetic approach experienced the following:
- 26 percent less employee turnover
- 15 percent greater employee productivity
- 58 percent decrease in the average duration of lost workdays for a workplace injury
- 31 percent decrease in medical claim costs for work related injuries
Maybe more so than ever, empathy for employees is crucial in developing a healthy culture and, therefore, strong employee engagement.
While not the only reason, our client co-host felt these efforts were a crucial element in the nearly 60 percent drop in premium and nearly 40-point drop in their workers’ compensation experience modification rate over the last five years.
From what I read in our own internal What’s Up Holmes weekly employee communications or hear from others, it sounds like many of us are doing just this with family, friends, or even strangers in our own communities. Remember, it doesn’t have to be some extravagant gift, huge donation, or even tons of your own time. It’s the “little things” that add up and count!
Want to learn more about employee and organizational engagement? Learn more here or reach out to us today!
