Biggest people-risk challenges facing organisations

A recent survey of Australian workers compensation professionals has found that the ageing workforce and musculoskeletal issues represent the biggest challenges facing organisations.

The survey, carried out by workplace injury treatment firm Soft Tissue Centre in partnership with the Informa Workers’ Compensation Summit, involved 30 professionals from medium and large organisations in the public and private sectors.

By far the biggest challenges facing organisations with respect to people risk were an ageing workforce (34%) and musculoskeletal injuries (28%). Only 7% of respondents cited mental health issues as their biggest challenge.

Over half of businesses had seen a reduction in workers compensation premiums over the past three years, with injury prevention and improved claims management the most frequently cited reasons.

Soft Tissue Centre Managing Director Dr James Murray said, “Organisations are still not doing enough to deal with musculoskeletal issues and the challenges represented by an ageing workforce.

“It is great to see a general downward trend in workers compensation premiums, but I believe there is considerable scope for organisations to be bolder in their approaches and join many organisations making savings in excess of 40%.

“Effective pre-claim early intervention can make a huge difference to staff, especially with an ageing workforce. It also reduces lost time injuries (LTI), significantly reduces the need for workcover claims and ultimately improves the bottom line.”

LTI statistics are the primary measure used by organisations to track employee health and workers compensation.

GPs writing unnecessary certificates (37%), along with a lack of support from operations (11%) and providers being unable to fix injuries (11%), were the most common barriers to effective outcomes cited.

It appears that the majority of organisations do not proactively take control of the management of a workplace injury at the outset. Giving the worker the option for what to do following an injury was the primary process for dealing with workplace injuries (43%). The use of a local GP (21%) or onsite GP (14%) were the next most common practices used.

“By taking control of the process and not allowing people to flounder around in the system, organisations are finding that they are having better outcomes, with people staying on full duties or spending less time off work,” said Dr Murray.

“Looking at the range of health and wellbeing programs in place, and those planned for the coming year, it also seems many of them fall into the ‘sending a positive message’ category rather than programs that will truly impact the bottom line and improve employee health.”

43% of respondents said their average workforce was between 36 and 45, with 39% saying it was between 46 and 55. 54% expect this to remain stable and 36% predict an increase over the next five years. Only 11% thought the average age of their workforce would decrease.

“Pre-claim early intervention allows organisations to take control of their workers compensation burden and helps to address their biggest challenges of musculoskeletal issues and an ageing workforce,” said Dr Murray.