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.
- Depending on the number of jobs you want to test, ErgoScience can get you set up for testing in 2-4 weeks.
- We can do both the job analysis and the testing remotely via a telehealth approach to minimize the exposure of your associates and job applicants, if you prefer.
- Your associates’ involvement in the set up of testing, is minimal. ErgoScience does all the heavy lifting, (pun intended).
- Our Account Representatives take the burden of scheduling the test off of your talent acquisition team. All you do is request the test, and we take it from there.
Your Hiring Process Won’t Experience Delays
- Our average turn-around from time the test is requested to having the report at your fingertips is 3 days, if the applicant is sent to a clinic.
- If you’re doing remote testing, you can have the test conducted the same day as your job offer if you want. It doesn’t get any faster than that.
Your Fail Rate Won’t Stymie Your Operations
- Our average fail rate ranges from 5-9%, depending on the difficulty of your jobs and the make up of your hiring pool. So, for every 100 people you hire, you’ll have to interview and make an offer to 5-9 more.
- Compare that to hiring those 5-9 people, having them get injured within weeks or months of joining your company, doing all the administrative functions that surround documenting and following up with an injured worker. And on top of all that, having to hire their replacements anyway.
- It just seems like a merry go round that you’d want to get off.
The bottom line? Chances are you’re spending more money every single day for work comp injuries than you need to be. How much new goods or services does your company have to sell to get that income back? For most, it’s millions of dollars of new sales.
You really can’t afford to delay.
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?
