Match safety training with safety equipment

[roseline371274]

Train your employees in workplace safety.
Whether your company comprises mostly desk workers or manual laborers, workplace safety training always decreases the chance of employee injuries, which in turn decreases the chance of lawsuits and negative impacts to your workforce. As your number of workplace injuries and illnesses decreases, your EMR appears as less of a red flag to insurers, resulting in lower premiums.


If your team works around hazardous materials, make sure your employees have new zealand phone numbers gloves, hazmat suits and other equipment that prevents hazardous exposure. A well-protected team is less likely to need to file workers' comp claims.

3. Find hazards and address them now.
Don't wait for a potential hazard to become an actual one – that's how you wind up with excessive workers' comp claims that drive up your premiums. Instead, pinpoint your current workplace hazards and resolve them now, before they lead to harm. This could be as time-consuming as upgrading essential equipment that's in decline, or as simple as moving extension cords out of the way to reduce the potential for tripping.

Tip: Whether it is for insurance or general safety reasons, conducting regular workplace safety audits is a valuable exercise for any business.

4. Pay premiums annually instead of monthly.
Maybe you've seen a company, whether an insurer or a software provider, offer pricing with phrasing like "$10 a month if billed monthly or $8 a month if billed annually." The question then becomes whether committing to 12 months of service is too much of a gamble. Since you do need workers' comp, though, you're better off paying for the full year and getting the discount. The cost savings may be worth any dissatisfaction you might feel with your insurer.

Best workers' compensation insurance practices
You should make all your employees well aware of what is covered under workers' comp, what they are entitled to in the event of a work-related illness or injury, and how the business can support them.

Lovejoy recommends creating a program specifically for employees returning to work after an illness or injury.

"Companies should have a formal 'return to light duty' program," he said. "If employees are not fit to return to their normal job duties, they can still return to work and perform modified duties and, as such, reduce the overall claim amount."

Kiely Kuligowski contributed to the writing and reporting in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
Image Credit: ZoranOrcik/Shutterstock
 

Did you know? Restricted stock is typically reserved for executives and directors, whereas stock options are mostly reserved for employees.

Employee stock purchase plans
Employee stock purchase plans enable employees who receive shares after a vesting period not to report them on their tax returns. This structure gives these plans a unique tax advantage. As their name suggests, they're available to employees only, so you can't offer them to contractors, consultants or any corporate board members or shareholders whom you don't employ. You'll also see employee stock purchase plans referred to as non-qualified stock options or incentive stock options.

Performance shares
This type of equity compensation is awarded only if executives and directors reach certain performance goals. This arrangement incentivizes executives and directors to focus on work that increases shareholder value. Even if the company fails to meet these marks, individuals with outstanding performance may still be given these shares.

Within these types are subcategories that give companies more or less control over how the equity is paid out.