Posted by Katrina Paglierani on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 @ 09:04 AM
Well, it is nice to post something positive in 2010 about potential return to work possibilities. National Job Finders does not use online job postings to find open positions for injured workers, but I watch this as an indicator of hiring overall. This bodes well for the potential openings we can locate for injured workers with restrictions as well. Afterall, only a very few open positions are actually advertised anywhere, over 80% are not.
If you would like to look into this information in more detail, please visit the link below to see information on a particular state or industry. I note that Michigan, the state where we do much of our workers compensation job finding is still struggling. Though the postings are up, they have not caught up with the loss they suffered in Nov. Despite these discouraging numbers, we have consistently been able to successfully find open, suitable, and acceptable positions for the injured worker cases in Michigan and elsewhere.
Also available at this link is a specific look at the posted jobs in relation to the number of unemployed in that industry. Here we see that there are more jobs posted than unemployed in the healthcare industry and computer & mathematical science. In all others, this is not the case.
The transportation and material moving industry shows the highest ratio of unemployed to open positions at 13 unemployed per posted position. This is one of the industries from which we see most of our job finding cases. Others are manufacturing and construction.
www.conference-board.org/economics/helpwantedOnline.cfm.
Posted by Katrina Paglierani on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 @ 07:02 AM
Why Use a Job Finding Service for your Workers compensation and auto wage-loss benefits cases?
Job Finding will allow you to quickly and efficiently reduce your workers' comp costs by reducing your indemnity expenses.
Job Finding is specifically designed to locate positions for the Permanent Partially Disabled case file.
Case managers are generally working on a caseload of 100-150 files at any time.
Because most of us only have 40 hours a week to work, it is natural , even appropriate for those case managers to devote their time to files where they can make some headway.
Job Finding is not necessarily appropriate for all workers' comp Permanent Partial Disability cases.
Job Finding is appropriate when the case has challenges whether they are geographical, physical or financial.
For example, cases submitted for job finding service are generally dealing with Carpal Tunnel, lower back soft tissue damage, or rotator cuff injuries.
Furthermore, Job finding services are very often used to find appropriate positions for construction, transportation, shipping and other physical, relatively high-paying positions.
Also, Job Finding services are most often used in states that have Wage Loss exposure after a case has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)
Going back to the case load of your average case manager.
If a case manager has 100-150 active files, they often have up to 30% of cases that are very difficult to advance to the next level or make any headway on. For this reason, these files can go on far longer than they need to.
Because the Job finding cases require an average of over 20 dedicated hours per successfully scheduled interview and it takes an average of 4.5 interviews per case to successfully close the case, it is certainly challenging for a case manager to include this in their daily or weekly routine.
Obviously, dedicating all their time to that 30% is an ineffective use of a case manager's time.
Job Finders are specialists. They have an established network of contacts and employers. Also, they are rigorous and will cold-call employers in appropriate geograhical and industry specific areas until they find the unlisted, hidden positions suitable to each case.
Job Finders take excessive notes and keep a record of everything from the initial pre-interview session with HR personnel, to the interview results and follow-up.
Job Finding is appropriate for those 30% of cases, in any state where the insurer has wage loss exposure after MMI . In other words, it is most appropriate for Permanent Partial Disability cases.
CONSIDER: A Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) case in Michigan costs an average of 72,000.00 PER CASE between months 13-36. These are cases that have ALREADY been active for 12 months. If case managers waited 12 months before sending a case to a Job Finder they would still save an average of 65,000.00 per case.
Certainly, it is better to put your PPD cases into the hands of a Job Finding service as soon after they have reached MMI as possible. The sooner the better.