Are Companies Kicking the Can Down the Road on Worker Safety?
Kristen Cederlind
Today’s tight labor market is being exacerbated by Amazon’s domination of the supply chain. As a result, companies are taking unprecedented tactics to compete for staff, including offering hiring bonuses and taking shortcuts in the hiring process such as suspending background checks and post-offer employment testing (POET). As employers begin skipping critical components of the hiring process for business necessity, potential risk mitigation holes need to be considered related to worker injuries, increased litigation, higher healthcare costs, lower staff productivity, and more turnover. This rush to hire is producing a “kick the can down the road” response that will manifest in 2022 and beyond in a number of different ways.
This session will discuss how a corporate emphasis on total employee health can provide strategies to offset and manage risks at different points along the hire to retire continuum. The speaker how staff not up to the physical demands of the job or to minimize injuries will negatively impact productivity and how a proactive total wellness program offers multiple leverage points to improve safety and enhance recruitment and retention.