Workers’ compensation insurance is essential for any business. It ensures financial protection for anyone who gets injured at work or becomes ill as a direct result of their job—providing monetary coverage for medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, and any lost wages during the recovery process. Workers’ comp plays a pivotal role in alleviating the financial burden of a work-related injury, so that the injured employee’s focus can be solely on their healing process.
Beyond the monetary protection of workers’ compensation insurance, employee assistance programs (EAPs) also have a huge impact on how supported your employees feel. EAPs can be used not only to help employees navigate feelings of stress and overwhelm, but they can also be used to support employees through their recovery process after an injury.
Integrating workers’ comp payroll with EAPs is a great way to ensure your employees feel taken care of at work as well as save your business money in the long run. Let’s dive into the benefits of combining workers’ comp payroll with EAPs and how PEOs facilitate EAP integration.
Benefits of Combining Workers’ Comp Payroll with EAPs
While workers’ compensation benefits and EAPs are entirely different entities, they do go hand-in-hand. When they’re integrated together, they can have an incredibly positive impact on the well-being of your employees and their healing process.
First and foremost, EAPs help improve overall wellness within the company, which can have a significant impact on the number of workers’ compensation claims filed in the first place. In general, stress management is essential for concentration and staying focused at work. Ultimately, better mental health means fewer workplace accidents.
When an employee is injured at work, EAPs offer a holistic approach to their recovery process. Getting injured at work can be a traumatic experience, and in many cases it can have a negative effect on your employee’s mental health. EAPs provide counseling services to help injured workers move through feelings of stress and anxiety, so that they’re able to fully heal.
Pairing this with workers’ compensation can help improve employee morale and retention rates. Mental and emotional well-being is crucial—particularly during the rehabilitation process after an injury. Supporting your employees with their mental health after a work-related accident can mean helping them feel more prepared to come back to work after they’ve recovered physically.
How PEOs Facilitate EAP Integration
PEOs are professional employer organizations that specialize in the administrative tasks of a business—primarily payroll, workers’ compensation, risk mitigation, and benefits management. This allows business owners and managers to focus on strategy, growth, and strengthening their relationships with their employees rather than the time-consuming administrative side of running a company.
Many PEOs also offer EAPs to assist employees before, during, and after work-related injuries or illnesses. Because PEOs already handle workers’ compensation, it makes sense that they would integrate the two together. PEOs will ensure that if an employee gets injured at work, not only is their paperwork completed and claim filed correctly, but that they’ll also receive the support they need during their recovery period.
Partnering with a PEO to integrate workers’ compensation and employee assistance programs creates a seamless experience for your workers, which ultimately impacts how supported they do or don’t feel as they heal. A positive experience during recovery can be the deciding factor on whether or not your employee comes back to work after rehabilitation.
Enhancing Employee Support with Integrated Solutions
Properly integrating workers’ compensation with employee assistance programs is a fantastic way to enhance employee support. Not only does it help ensure your employees feel valued and taken care of, but it also helps save your company money in the long run. High employee morale leads to increased productivity and retention rates—so the more supported your employees feel after a work-related injury, the better.
PEOs can help streamline this process, allowing business owners and managers more time to connect with their employees. For business owners or HR managers who are ready to enhance employee support with integrated workers’ compensation and EAPs, reach out to the experienced team at OCMI workers’ comp today!
