Pre-hire Physical Abilities Testing is a GREAT tool for reducing injuries and costs – often as much as 50-75% within the first 1-2 years of testing. However, it isn’t right for every organization. If you’re considering doing Pre-Hire Physical Abilities Testing (PAT), but aren’t sure whether it will benefit your organization, consider these five questions to help you decide:
Our clients tell us that one of the most valuable things we do is to help them track the outcomes of their pre-hire testing programs. After all, how do you know if your testing is reducing injuries and work comp costs if you don’t periodically evaluate the before and after picture?
Before starting pre-hire/post-offer Physical Abilities Testing (PAT), several ErgoScience clients expressed concern about starting the program in the middle of their “busy” season. Or starting testing in a tight labor market. Others were concerned about the “slow down” it might create in their hiring process. We frequently hear concerns from organizations that need to hire quickly.
But when they looked at their total annual workers’ compensation expense and broke it down into a daily number, these companies quickly realized that to delay starting pre-hire PAT – for any reason - just didn’t make sense. Some were spending $5,000, $7,500, $10,000 per day or more!
Do you know your daily number? Have you done the calculations to know your annual cost for strains and sprains and slips trips and falls? (Yes, include slips, trips and falls if you test with ErgoScience. We include balance testing in our PAT which dramatically lowers the number of slips, trips and falls and their associated costs for our customer.)
Calculate a daily work comp expense number. If you don’t know the costs but know the number of lost-time injuries, just take that number and multiply it by $40k (the average cost of a lost time strain or fall) to determine the direct cost. And then multiply that number times 1.2 to get the indirect costs. Then add those 2 numbers together. Yes, the average total cost of a lost time injury is over $80K!
Then break your annual number down into monthly, weekly and daily costs. Chances are that when you do, you’ll be unpleasantly surprised with a number you’d rather not see. And a number you don’t have to see - if you start pre-hire PAT. ErgoScience case studies show that our clients reduce work comp costs among new hires by 50-70% within the first year of testing.
ErgoScience makes starting the testing painless.
Your Hiring Process Won’t Experience Delays
Your Fail Rate Won’t Stymie Your Operations
Nuclear verdicts are a hot topic in the trucking and transportation industry, and for good reason. In 2010 there were less than 10 cases against trucking companies with a verdict over $1 million; in 2011 there were nearly 60, and there hasn’t been less than 30 in a year since then. And it’s not just the number of cases that’s increasing, but the amount of the verdict. The average verdict in 2010 was $2.3 million; in 2018 it was $22.3 million 1.
A single finding against a trucking company can be catastrophic, at times even forcing their closure. With that in mind, is there anything a company can do to reduce the risk that one of their drivers will be involved in one of these cases? The answer is: Absolutely!
In its annual survey of hiring managers, the 2016 HireRight Employment Screening Benchmark Report shows the single biggest issue facing HR professionals today is finding qualified job candidates. Across industries and around the country, the labor market has tightened dramatically. In fact, HireRight reports that 77 percent of the nearly 3,500 survey respondents indicate they will be growing headcount this year. If you are in the market for new talent – and let’s face it, who is not – chances are you have experienced the same thing. With so many jobs available to be filled, the quality of those still looking is probably declining, too.
