With respect to Workers’ Comp there are two areas that technology can assist in controlling costs for your business.

Technology or more specifically your HRIS solution can help to avoid workers’ comp premium overpayments while also managing and tracking those employees out on leave due to work related injuries.

Workers Compensation Premiums:

Workers’ comp premium rates for any business start with a base count of employees. From there a business must make a correct classification of employees for those hours worked in that class along with the proper amount of hours. It is this misclassification and reporting of the proper hours that result in workers’ comp premium overpayments. See SHRM report.

Assigning the proper classification and keeping them current is vital to managing your businesses workers’ comp insurance costs. Your HRIS adds reliability and greater accuracy to your payroll audits that are the source for establishing your workers’ comp premiums. The Sage HRMS will be an enormous help in sorting, storing, and reporting data insurance companies want to see in setting your workers’ comp premiums.

Managing Workers Compensation Data:

According to the Social Security Administration, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, in 2013 over 129.6 million US employees were covered under some Workers Compensation policy. Total covered payroll – that is, wages paid to covered employees – topped $6.5 trillion. Based on the national average cost of $1.37 per $100 in wages, workers compensation insurance in the US in 2013 cost employers almost $90 million. Given the expense, and the potential for fraud, careful analysis of workers compensation costs and usage is an important financial responsibility that often falls on Human Resources.

How Sage HRMS Can Help

The first question HR may be asked is who is actually out on Workers Compensation Leave? Leaves of Absence can be tracked in Sage HRMS easily on the Leave of Absence detail.

Employees on Leave can be reported out using standard reports or custom reports and queries.

On the payroll side, HRMS can track insurance costs and pass them along to the General Ledger each pay period.  This makes reconciliation with the insurance bill easier.

Workers Compensation Rates can be applied on the timecard, if employees work in two or more jobs during the pay period with different rates.  Reports of workers compensation insurance costs show covered wages and applicable rates.

For more information on how you can use Sage HRMS to monitor your Workers Compensation costs, please contact us at  Netatwork.com/Employer Solutions or at 800-719-3307.