Author: Alyssa Rass

Talking about safety: Techniques for effective safety training and communication

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

A strong safety culture starts with a high level of safety awareness among your employees. Getting there requires consistent, effective communication between leadership and front-line workers.

When leaders communicate to employees about safety, start by explaining why it’s important to your organization — that leadership cares about its employees, and your culture is one where coworkers care about each other.

“The employees don’t care what you know until they know that you care about them personally,” said SFM Loss Prevention Specialist Steve Lichtenberg. “Lead with passion and build a rapport with the employees.”

Tips for high-impact safety training

Newer employees are at the highest risk for injuries, so it’s important to start providing safety training right away with new employee orientation. After that, plan on regular check-ins and recurring training throughout that first year and continuing throughout employment.

For ongoing safety training, it can be helpful to create a training topic checklist to follow throughout the year. To get a complete picture of the hazard exposures employees have, the training schedule should include compliance, high hazards, loss trends and near miss and incident-only reporting.

If possible, try to offer training frequently in smaller segments, as employees tend to lose focus over long sessions.

Variety is key with recurring training to keep staff engaged and help boost understanding, and that the educational method used to train can have an impact on the effectiveness of each training session, according to SFM Senior Loss Prevention Representative Sara Cooper.

Safety training methods from most to least effective

Our safety professionals ranked common safety training methods from most to least effective in terms of employee understanding and retention. It’s important to note that everyone learns differently, and so it’s best to use a variety of the listed methods.

  1. On the job training: Employees first hear, then see, then do
  2. Train the trainer: Being trained to teach someone else
  3. Job shadowing: Learning from a fellow employee
  4. Toolbox talks: Leading short safety talks regularly
  5. Computer-based training: While efficient, employee can’t ask questions
  6. Lecture: Good for relaying a small amount of information to a large group

Techniques for safety conversations

Formal safety training is important, but it’s also important to try to work conversations about safety in throughout the workday. It may take some practice at first, so it pays to be intentional.

SFM Loss Prevention Specialist Mike Fetting recommends a few types of safety conversations to have on a regular basis:

  • The walk around conversation – In this conversation an employee and supervisor might talk about the employee’s goals and plans for safety. The supervisor could also ask the employee what safety measures the organization does well and what needs improving.
  • The safety feedback conversation – These can be quick compliments to an employee on a job well done with a follow up question about how the employee made it happen.
  • The why I care about safety conversation – This tends to be very personal. Some examples include an employee’s past work experience, a family member’s safety experience, or simply that the individual cares about their coworkers.
  • Modified Gemba Walk – Drawing on a Lean management philosophy technique, this conversation starts by visiting an employee at their workstation and trying to learn a task. That can be done by watching them do the work, asking questions about how the task is done, and if a potential hazard is identified, asking the individual why they do the task that way. The idea here is that a safety manager or supervisor can better understand the job and process if they interact with the employee and try to see things from their perspective.

During your conversations, be sure to take the opportunity to learn from your employee.

“When it comes to safety conversations with employees, listening more and talking less can sometimes be the best approach,” Fetting said.

Encourage employee feedback

Communication is a two-way street and getting feedback from employees at all levels of the company is an important part of an effective safety program. Encouraging safety feedback starts with trust. Employees need to be able to trust leadership to act on feedback they provide, and they need to trust their coworkers to speak up when they observe safety concerns.

Safety leaders can encourage employee feedback by:

  • Promoting hazard reporting
  • Implementing near miss reporting
  • Adding a suggestion box for indirect feedback
  • Making it safe to speak up (no negative repercussions for reporting hazards or unsafe behaviors)

Once an employee provides feedback, follow up in several ways:

  • Thank the employee for their feedback and acknowledge their concern
  • Work to understand the situation better by going back to the employee and getting more information
  • Investigate quickly
  • Provide timely assessments or answers for every report or suggestion, regardless of whether you were able to make changes
  • Share any safety changes made with the company by email or newsletter and celebrate the successful use of the reporting process
  • Reward the employee for their effort

Safety training and communication play a fundamental role in a successful loss prevention program. To get safety resources and learn more about building a loss prevention program visit the safety page on sfmic.com or reach out to your SFM loss prevention representative.

You can also learn more by viewing the full Loss Prevention 101 webinar at sfmic.com/webinars.

Get to know an SFM employee: Sarah Hunter

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

Sarah Hunter
Sarah Hunter

Sarah Hunter was recently promoted to SFM’s Vice President, Claims, and previously worked as Staff Counsel with SFM’s in-house law firm. We asked Sarah about her new role and her background.

How would you describe your role at SFM?

My job is about looking at the claim process more broadly and making sure that our claim representatives have the resources to handle claims in the most effective way for good outcomes — not only for the injured worker, but for the policyholder as well.

You’ve been in the workers’ compensation industry for a while now. What do you like about the industry?

I think it’s the wide variety of things that you come across in workers’ compensation. You see claims from every industry in the workforce and there’s always something different. You get such a variety of challenges with workers’ compensation. It’s also rewarding because usually we’re coming across people during some of the hardest times — after they’ve been hurt at work — and there’s that ability to help them through that.

What words of wisdom do you have for employers on managing workers’ compensation claims?

From what I’ve seen, one of the biggest factors in a good outcome is the employer’s investment in that injured worker. That includes things like showing concern if they’ve been hurt. A lot of claims go to litigation when employees feel like their employer suddenly doesn’t want anything to do with them because they’ve been hurt. You’d be surprised at how far keeping in touch with an injured worker will go. This is especially true when they’re completely restricted from work because they can feel like they’re being brushed aside and forgotten. So really investing in those injured workers and letting them know they’re still valued and they’re still cared about.

What aspects of the way SFM handles claims sets us apart?

Really, it’s just doing the right thing — not just the right thing for the injured worker, but also the right thing for the policyholder and the right thing for SFM. More often than not those three things overlap, so it’s keeping all of those interests in mind and that being a part of the equation.

What do you like about your job?

What I’ve really liked so far is that a big part of my job is to make sure there’s a support structure in place for the claim representatives. That feels really good because they’ve got really hard jobs that are very important. A big part of what I’ve been doing is making sure we are supporting them and making their jobs as efficient as possible. That’s very rewarding.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I love the outdoors. My family and I are avid campers, and we like to go hiking, biking and paddle boarding during warmer months. In winter we go cross-country skiing, and we learned how to downhill ski this winter.

 

View more news about SFM

Bray receives Minnesota Lawyer In-House Counsel Award

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

Kathy Bray receives Minnesota Lawyer In-House Counsel AwardSFM Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Kathy Bray is among this year’s recipients of the Minnesota Lawyer In-House Counsel Awards . A celebration breakfast and award ceremony were held on April 21, 2022, at Leopold’s Mississippi Gardens in Brooklyn Park, MN.

Minnesota Lawyer named 20 honorees this year, all of whom are Minnesota-based lawyers who work in-house in both the public and private sectors.

Award categories include:

  • Public Company
  • Private Company with annual revenues up to $500 million
  • Private Company with annual revenues over $500 million
  • Nonprofit or Government Organization
  • Healthcare Organization
  • Rising Star
  • Lifetime Achievement

Minnesota Lawyer describes the award as celebrating in-house counsel for their ability to “navigate complicated contract negotiations, defend their companies in high stakes litigation and defend some of an organization’s most important assets.”

 

View more news about SFM

Compensability of adverse COVID-19 vaccine reactions

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

By Cheryl Howland Bowsfield, Senior Defense Counsel with Lynn, Scharfenberg and Hollick

While the federal mandate that large employers must vaccinate employees against COVID-19 was struck down by the United States Supreme Court, employers can still encourage or require employees to vaccinate against COVID-19. This raises the question of compensability for adverse reactions from the COVID-19 vaccine, and related medical treatment and time lost from work. A key factor for workers’ compensation compensability is whether the vaccination was required by the employer.

As with the flu vaccine, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have both confirmed that employers can mandate that their workers receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment. Those employers that choose to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine will need to accommodate waivers or exemptions for employees objecting on health or religious reasons. Other employers may decide to encourage the vaccine, but not mandate it, by offering on-site vaccinations, payment or reimbursement of vaccine costs, monetary incentives, or as a part of an employer’s wellness program to encourage employees to be vaccinated.

A second key factor for compensability is whether the side effects that occurred from undergoing a COVID-19 vaccination rise to the level of an injury or illness, temporary or permanent. To date, the reported COVID-19 vaccine side effects mirror those that have been seen with the flu vaccine. The most common side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine include swelling or pain at the injection site, tiredness, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever. These are usually mild in nature and resolve on their own in a few days. Severe allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccination requiring treatment have been reported as rare according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

What does all this mean in the context of workers’ compensation? Is an adverse vaccine reaction compensable? The answer is that it depends.

To determine whether an adverse reaction is compensable will require an investigation into the facts of each claim, receipt of medical records and consideration of the following:

  • Was the vaccine mandated by the employer?
  • Was undergoing the vaccine a condition of employment?
  • Was there something specific to the employment and/or job duties that put the employee at an increased risk for exposure to COVID-19?
  • Does undergoing the vaccine in some way further the business of the employer?
  • Is the employee working with COVID-19 positive patients?
  • Is the employee required to work with the public?
  • Was the vaccine administered at work while the employee was working and being paid?
  • Did the employee, for personal reasons outside of their employment, undergo the vaccine?

In states such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas, consideration of the specific circumstances of the vaccination that caused the adverse reaction, as suggested by the questions above, will help to guide the determination of compensability.

For Minnesota claims, there is an additional statutory provision that may need to be considered. MN Stat. 176.011, Subd. 16 specifically states “an injury or disease resulting from a vaccine in response to a declaration by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to ‘address an actual or potential health risk’ related to the employee’s employment is an injury or disease arising out of and in the course of employment.” Thus, in Minnesota where the COVID-19 vaccine reaction rises to the level of an injury or disease, and was related to the employee’s employment, the medical treatment and any lost time from work most likely would be compensable.

If an employer mandates vaccination, or strongly encourages the employee to obtain the vaccine for work-related reasons, the scales will more likely tip in favor of compensability.

The COVID-19 vaccine-related reaction claims may contain varying facts and medical situations. Please contact your attorney before making any employment or workers’ compensation liability determinations.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

MN Supreme Court rules on medical cannabis in work comp

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

By Peter F. Lindquist, Esq. Defense Counsel with Lynn Scharfenberg and Hollick

The Minnesota Supreme court issued two companion decisions on October 13, 2021 – Musta v. Mendota Heights Dental Center, and Bierbach v. Digger’s Polaris – addressing a burning question on the minds of many in the Minnesota workers’ compensation world: Can an employer and insurer be required to pay for an injured worker to treat their work-related condition with the use of medical cannabis, even if the use of medical cannabis is prohibited by federal law?

In these cases, the Minnesota Supreme Court answered “No.” Due to issues of “federal preemption,” Minnesota employers and workers’ compensation insurers cannot be compelled to violate the federal Controlled Substances Act by providing for an employee’s use of medical cannabis, even if use of medical cannabis a is legal under the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Research Act.

By way of background, the employees in both Bierbach and Musta had been certified to treat their work-related injuries with medical cannabis by their treating doctors. That treatment was unsuccessfully disputed by the employer and insurer in the Bierbach case, but reasonableness and causal relationship was stipulated to in the Musta case. The primary issue in both cases was the federal preemption defense. The compensation judges in both cases found that the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Research Act was not preempted by the federal Controlled Substances Act.

On appeal, the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals determined that they did not have jurisdiction to decide issues relating to the applicability of federal laws and could not decide the federal preemption issues. They therefore upheld the award of medical cannabis in both cases.

The Minnesota Supreme Court noted that the compensation judges’ order made it impossible for the employers and insurers to comply with both state and federal laws. The Court reasoned that ordering the insurers to reimburse for medical cannabis was tantamount to requiring them to aid and abet the commission of a federal crime. Because the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution states that when “there is any conflict between federal and state law, federal law shall prevail,” the Court ruled that the compensation judge’s order is preempted by the federal law and reversed the appeals court and compensation judge’s award of reimbursement for medical cannabis.

These decisions create a new bright-line rule regarding the compensability of medical cannabis in workers’ compensation claims. Following to these decisions, insurers now have an almost absolute basis to deny a request to reimburse expenses for medical cannabis, as they cannot be required to violate federal law. This applies even if the treatment with medical cannabis is found reasonable and necessary from a medical provider.

The employees in both cases have the right to appeal these decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court, and as of the writing of this article it appears that they are likely to do so. It will be some time before there is any indication as to whether the Supreme Court decides to hear the appeal. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decisions, the only remaining means for the federal preemption defense to be changed or limited would be for U.S. Congress to pass, and the President to sign, legislation modifying the Controlled Substances Act.

Given how divided the federal government and nation have been on the issue of marijuana legalization, I do not think we should expect for there to be any change in this manner for the foreseeable future.

Click here to read the Supreme Court’s decision in Musta v. Mendota Heights Dental Center

Click here to read the Supreme Court’s decision in Bierbach v. Digger’s Polaris.

 

Managing claims Q&A: Answers to some of our most common claims questions

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

We asked our claims representatives what questions they typically hear from employers who are managing employees with workers’ compensation claims. Here are a few common questions, and the answers:

How do we manage performance issues when an employee has an active workers’ compensation claim?

When an injured employee isn’t performing the duties of their job up to your standards, the first thing you need to ask yourself is whether the substandard performance is related to the work injury.

If it is related, you may need to review the tasks assigned and confirm they fall within the employee’s medical restrictions. Your claims representative and rehab professional (if one is working with the employee) can assist with this process.

If it is unrelated to the injury, the next thing you need to ask yourself is how other employees are treated when similar performance issues arise. All employees should be treated the same, including the injured employee.

After you’ve decided what you’re going to do, act promptly because your silence implies approval and condones the performance. If the performance concerns are not addressed right away, but you later bring up the issue as a reason for discipline or termination, the employee could claim the issue is simply a “pretext” and that the real reason for the discipline is the work injury. Employees cannot be disciplined for suffering a work injury.

Lastly, be sure that you thoroughly document any performance concerns and disciplinary action. If you do feel you need to terminate an employee who has suffered a work injury, we’d recommend discussing it with your claims representative and your employment law attorney. They can walk you through the potential workers’ compensation implications of terminating, and whether there may be a basis for an employment law claim.

How do we handle the employee’s health insurance premiums while they are off work due to a work injury?

This differs by state. For example, in Minnesota, the law prohibits terminating group insurance for an employee who is absent due to becoming totally disabled.

Talk with your employment law attorney to make sure you’re aware of any relevant laws and rules. Workers’ compensation wage loss benefits do not include health insurance premium withholding.

How do we maintain a good relationship with an employee who is off work due to a work injury?

The most important thing you can do after an injury is to stay in regular contact with the injured employee. Call or text the employee right away, and keep in touch.

First and foremost, let the employee know you care about them and want to see them recover. Send a card or small “get well” gift if appropriate.

Another thing you can do is to make sure the employee knows that you will provide any needed accommodations so that they can return to work as soon as they’ve healed enough to come back. Injured employees who are off work often worry that they won’t have a job to return to, and this will help alleviate those concerns.

If you ever have a question about managing a claim, don’t hesitate to reach out to your SFM claims representative for help.

 

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Employee well-being is evolving beyond “do no harm”

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

Workplace safety and health is evolving beyond “do no harm”

A growing body of evidence shows that supporting employee health and well-being pays off for employers.

“A healthier workforce means less absenteeism, better productivity, better quality and higher overall morale,” said Loss Prevention Specialist Dana Mickelson. “A healthy workforce is also a safer workforce.”

Occupational health and safety is broadening to include all aspects of employee well-being, benefiting employees and employers alike.

Moving past ‘do no harm’

In the past, conceptions of workplace safety and health were based on the idea that work should “do no harm.” But we’re now seeing this broaden to a philosophy that work should support health, said Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nancy Leppink.

“We used to silo the hazards and risks, and then assume that all other work was neutral,” she said. “We now recognize that all work can have a positive or negative impact on people’s lives.”

Some describe this shift as a focus on worker well-being, which can include emotional, mental, physical, financial and relational health. “People are happy, healthy, prosperous, fulfilled, purposeful, contented, comfortable — those are all terms that describe well-being,” Leppink said.

She cited a number of reasons for this evolution, including changing demographics. Millennials expect work that supports their well-being, she said, and on the other end of the age spectrum employees are working longer and therefore wanting to take better care of their health.

The changing nature of work, and especially the role of technology, is also a factor — from sitting all day, to never unplugging from work to dealing with constant distractions, she said. “In any given day you’re receiving texts, you’re receiving email messages. You’re being asked to pay attention and are distracted by multiple devices,” Leppink said. “Consequently, that results in greater levels of stress.”

The value in focusing on worker well-being

As companies embrace workplace well-being initiatives, more research is showing the benefits to employers.

A 2016 American Psychological Association survey linked senior management support for employee well-being to much higher rates of employee motivation, satisfaction and retention.

At companies where senior managers supported well-being, 91% of employees said they felt motivated to do their best versus 38% at other companies, according to the American Psychological Association survey. Similarly, only 25% of employees at companies valuing well-being said they intended to leave their job in the next year versus 51% at other companies.

Higher employee well-being correlates with higher employee productivity, customer loyalty and business unit productivity, according to a 2019 analysis by economists Christian Krekel, George Ward and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve. Their meta-analysis was based on 339 independent Gallup studies encompassing 1.8 million employees.

What employers are doing

Employers of all sizes are finding ways to support employee health in their workplaces.

It can be something as simple as being sure there are healthy food options in the break room vending machines, or offering ergonomic assessments of employees’ workstations and making any needed corrections.

Others provide sit-stand workstations or access to a gym onsite.

For others, it means offering an employee assistance program (EAP) or comprehensive wellness program, or even doing building renovations to make the workplace more supportive of employee well-being.

No matter where you are on the spectrum, there are always opportunities to do more to support the well-being of your workforce.

How to do it

So, how do you practically consider all aspects of your employees’ well-being when designing your work environment?

You can start by asking questions like:

  • How do my employees’ work schedules affect their physical and mental health?
  • Does our workplace support employees in healthy eating?
  • Is our workplace arranged in a way that encourages employees to get up and move throughout their workday?

 

On an individual scale, it’s about helping your supervisors understand that they need to see the whole person in each of their employees, not just the worker, Mickelson said. That includes awareness of both the physical and the mental.

For example, if supervisors recognize when employees who are in safety-sensitive jobs are distracted or fatigued, they can consider moving them to less dangerous roles for the day.

“It’s really about being tuned in to your employees,” Mickelson said.

In many cases, simply asking your employees what you could do to better support their well-being is a great place to start.

Know that whichever steps you choose to take as an organ­ization, letting employees know that you care about them will pay dividends for your organization and your workforce.

Forward-looking safety

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

Improving safety performance means looking beyond past injuries

If you’re like many employers, you spend considerable time and money making sure your organization adheres to OSHA requirements. It may be tempting to view this as the finish line for preventing injuries, but in reality, maintaining a truly safe workplace means going well beyond compliance.

Establishing programs to comply with OSHA standards is definitely important, but stopping there leaves workers unprotected from the myriad dangers that haven’t been incorporated into state and national safety requirements.

“We recommend employers look beyond just the hazards that have been documented in the past,” said SFM Loss Prevention Technical Leader Lee Wendel. “If you rely on historical injury trends to predict future risks, you’re catching up instead of looking forward. A genuine commitment to safety means having the capacity to identify issues before they result in injuries.”

Since the federal government established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1970, the rate of serious injuries and illnesses in American workplaces has declined sharply. The frequency of such incidents has dropped from 10.9 per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.9 per 100 in 2016, according to OSHA. Employers’ compliance with OSHA’s safety rules has played a valuable role in this improvement, but this is only part of the equation.

Performing risk analysis

“Moving beyond compliance and into ‘risk analysis’ is something the safety profession has been working on for many years,” Wendel said. “The first step is giving careful consideration to any risks that could be jeopardizing the safety and health of your employees.”

Traditionally, employers and regulators have concentrated on the risks that are rated high in both probability and impact. An example of this would be working on a sloped roof without fall protection. In this scenario, there is a good chance that over time, workers will lose their balance and fall off the roof. Without fall protection, the impact of falling of a roof is high because it will almost always result in severe injury or death.

This particular hazard would be covered by OSHA regulations and injury prevention procedures, but the same can’t be said for every risk that falls into the high-high category (e.g., tripping hazards that could result in a serious slip and fall injury). Identifying risks in this category that have not been addressed at your company is definitely the place to start, but it shouldn’t end there.

Moving safety performance to the next level means looking for less obvious risks that could result in high-impact injuries. These are difficult to predict when one depends on “lagging” indicators such as injury reports, OSHA Logs or loss runs. Identifying these risks requires a shift to looking for a “leading” indicator – a condition, behavior or situation that you can envision leading to a significant injury.

Examples of using leading indicators to prevent injury:

  • Eliminating unsafe driving behavior before it results in a crash
  • Responding to a forecast of snow by pre-treating walkways with brine or other chemicals
  • Observing employees using ladders and educating those using them incorrectly
  • Auditing the cleanliness in work areas and ensuring clean, dry floors
  • Recording which employees use their PPE (personal protective equipment) and having a drawing for a prize on a regular basis
  • Training employees on safe lifting techniques, even if they’re not lifting heavy objects frequently
  • Asking employees about hazardous conditions – and then working together to solve the problem before an incident occurs

It starts with leadership

The most effective safety strategies engage the employees – they are closest to the details of their jobs and are most likely to know where the risks are. Effective leaders interact with their employees regularly and treat them as partners in developing processes and communication that support safety throughout the operation.

By cultivating an open dialogue about spotting risks, leaders have the opportunity to eliminate situations in which the principles of efficiency and safety appear to be at odds. For example, an employee working on a tight deadline may believe that there isn’t time to follow all the safety procedures. The safest workplaces are the ones in which nobody perceives an advantage in working unsafely.

“We encourage leaders to build an expectation of safety into the process of running the business,” said Wendel. “Leaders need to express the requirement that workers get the job done without getting anybody hurt while doing it – even if that means coming up with a different way of doing it.

Are employee injuries at parties and wellness events eligible for workers’ comp benefits?

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

Special events such as parties, team-building activities or sporting events can help build relationships and make the workplace more fun.

But what happens if someone is injured at the holiday party or while participating in a team-building outing? Would they receive workers’ compensation benefits?

There’s no clear-cut answer, and case law differs somewhat by state.

Typically, an injury sustained in an activity that is truly voluntary is not compensable. But if the employee is encouraged or required to participate, or the company benefits from the participation in some way, it could be.

If the activity takes place on your premises, during work hours, or both, these factors could make an injury at the event more likely to be compensable.

Legal guidance by state

In some states, established case law provides some guidance on whether injuries at special work events are compensable.

Minnesota

The Minnesota Supreme Court addressed this issue in 2016, ruling that the activity must be voluntary for the employer not to be liable. The activity is not considered voluntary if this hasn’t been clearly communicated to the employee, and if there are any negative consequences for not participating. For example, if the employee had to take vacation time or would be viewed negatively from a job performance standpoint for not participating, these would be considered negative consequences and the activity wouldn’t be considered voluntary.

Iowa

In Iowa, the court looks at whether the employer received a “substantial direct benefit” from the employee’s participation to determine whether an injury was work-related. A large factor in compensability is determining whether the employee was required or expected to participate. Even if an event was technically voluntary, if it was held during working hours on the employer’s premises and participation was encouraged, it could be compensable.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, injuries at special events are compensable when one of the following is met:

  • The activity is on the employer’s premise
  • The employer expressly or implicitly requires participation
  • The employer receives substantial and direct benefit from the activity beyond improvement in employee health and morale

South Dakota and Nebraska

South Dakota and Nebraska don’t have any specific laws or guidelines in place, but considerations about whether an activity was truly voluntary would likely come into play in these states as well.

No matter which state you’re in, it’s worth spending some time thinking through any special events that you’re planning. Ask yourself about the safety risks, and whether your employees will feel it’s voluntary. This can help you make better decisions about the types of special events you offer, and how you communicate about them. ■

Prepared by the attorneys at Lynn, Scharfenberg and Hollick.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Constant distraction can harm employees’ well-being

Posted on by Alyssa Rass

“Fear of missing out” applies in the workplace, too.

In a recent survey conducted by Travel Leaders Group, more than 62% of respondents said they check email or voicemail while on vacation.

This may seem like a harmless, or even beneficial, result of technology allowing flexibility in where employees work, but there’s a dark side.

Employees can experience stress and burnout when they don’t take enough time to fully disconnect from work.

A study published by the Academy of Management showed that when employees feel they are expected to monitor email during off hours, it can result in anxiety and strained family relationships. It’s not just time spent dealing with email that causes strain, but simply the “anticipatory stress” of knowing that at any time they might need to stop what they’re doing to respond to an immediate request.

A growing recognition of the impact of expecting employees to be available at all hours has led to laws in France and Italy stating that employee contracts must explicitly address any expectations of after-hours communication.

Safety, productivity also at risk

Just as incessant communication can negatively impact an employee’s home life, it can affect their work life too.

When employees are constantly distracted by incoming emails, texts and social media messages, it can make them less productive and safe.

From a productivity standpoint, research has shown that most people can’t really multitask. If they think they’re doing two things at once, they’re really switching back and forth between them and in the process they’re likely losing time — potentially a lot of time.

Research suggests that it can take up to 20 or 30 minutes to get back to work on your original task after an interruption, according to researchers Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen.

From a safety standpoint, we continue to see workplace injuries resulting from being distracted.

For example, an employee walking out of work while reading his phone is hit in the parking ramp by another employee who’s driving while looking at her phone. Or an employee trips and falls while walking down the stairs because he’s looking at his phone. And of course, distracted driving is a growing danger to everyone on the roads, including those who drive for work.

What employers can do

More employers are recognizing the value of encouraging their employees to unplug while off work, and stay focused during working hours.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

  • Encourage employees to use their vacation time
    More than half of American employees don’t use all their vacation time, according to Project Time Off, and those who do are often still connected to the office. You can send a clear message that employees should not feel guilty for using their vacation time nor for disconnecting from communication unless there’s an emergency. The German car company Daimler goes so far as to auto-delete emails sent to employees who are on vacation. The sender is notified that the email was deleted and given the option to email a colleague or resend the email after the employee returns to the office, according to Harvard Business Review.
  • Discourage emailing after hours
    It’s up to leaders to set expectations about whether employees can truly unplug when they’re off work. You can foster an environment where it’s clear your employees are allowed to wait to address any issues that come up until they are back at work.
  • Educate employees about the value of focused work
    In our distraction-heavy world, your employees might not realize how much of a toll constant dings and buzzes are taking on their productivity and well-being. They may also be unaware that there’s another way to work. Provide them with practical techniques to minimize distractions. Something as simple as turning their cell phones to silent can make a big difference.

While sometimes it can be a good thing that we’re all so accessible, this ease of contact also has its downsides. As a leader, it’s important to think critically about all aspects of constant communication to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm to your employees.

css.php