The Future of Absence and Disability Management

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard Insurance Company (“The Standard”) announced today the release of a white paper, titled The Future of Absence and Disability Management, that addresses three major employee absence and productivity challenges faced by employers. Employers will learn how to address and solve these issues by integrating three key practices that change the way they manage absence and disability in the workplace.

The three employer challenges the white paper addresses are:

• Managing different types of employee absence and disability.
• Establishing a return to work (RTW) program following short- and long-term disability.
• Dealing with the lack of resources available to improve employee health and productivity.

“Though employers have used individual methods to address each of these challenges, uniting three key practices into one cohesive approach is the answer,” said Michael Klachefsky, National Practice Leader, Workplace Possibilities^SM for The Standard and author of the white paper. “The Workplace Possibilities program proactively brings these practices together to significantly reduce the duration, cost and impact of employee absence and disability.”

The three practices that function together in the health and productivity management model include:

1) Transitional RTW — This system makes temporary job accommodations so that employees can get back to work while still recovering from an injury or illness.

2) Nurse case management — Employers have found success in having a nurse with RTW and adjudication experience manage absence and disability.1

3) On-site providers — Employers are starting to see the value of having medical/pharmacological services available to their employees at the workplace.

Through The Standard’s holistic system, Workplace Possibilities helps reduce the average duration of, and hard-dollar costs associated with, short-term disability. In 2010, Workplace Possibilities saved employers participating in the program close to $1.7 million (The Standard internal data, 2011).

To download The Future of Absence and Disability Management white paper or to learn more about The Standard’s Workplace Possibilities program, visit http://workplacepossibilities.com/whitepaper.

About the Workplace Possibilities program

The Workplace Possibilities^SM program is a unique, proactive approach to helping employers prevent and manage employee absence and disability. An on-site consultant helps to connect employees with their health management programs and identifies opportunities to keep at-risk employees on the job or return to work faster. The program delivers rapid and measurable reductions in absence- and disability-related costs while also improving the efficiency of the HR team and increasing employee satisfaction. For tips and tools HR professionals can use to help re-imagine the way they manage absence and disability, visit www.workplacepossibilities.com.

About The Standard

The Standard is a leading provider of financial products and services, including group and individual disability insurance, group life, AD&D, dental and vision insurance, retirement plans products and services, individual annuities and investment advice. For more information about The Standard, visit www.standard.com.

The Standard, based in Portland, Ore., is the marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries: Standard Insurance Company, Inc., The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Inc., Standard Retirement Services, Inc., StanCorp Mortgage Investors, Inc., StanCorp Investment Advisers, Inc., StanCorp Real Estate, Inc. and StanCorp Equities, Inc.

¹ The Impact of Employer Health and Productivity Management Practices, Integrated Benefits Institute (July 2010).