Most states require employers to pay for insurance that compensates workers and covers medical expenses in the event of on-the-job injuries. Unfortunately, workers’ compensation fraud — estimated at more than $7 billion annually — costs employers, insurers and even consumers much more than they should be paying.

Workers’ comp scams force higher premiums, which reduce business profits and can result in lost jobs and higher prices when costs are passed on to consumers. To keep fraud costs to a minimum, employers should recognize the warning signs and develop strategies for combatting the problem.

Warning Signs of Fraud

The following situations can indicate potential workers’ compensation fraud:

• An injury reportedly occurs just before or after a change in employment, such as a layoff.
• An injury is reported early on Monday morning, potentially indicating that it occurred over the weekend.
• The reporting employee has a history of making suspicious claims.
• There are no witnesses to an accident or injury.
• The employee’s report conflicts with other injury reports or with the individual’s medical history.
• The employee refuses medical tests to confirm an injury or illness.
• The reportedly injured employee is difficult to reach at home or doesn’t respond to messages.

Rooting out the Problem

For many employers, two information sources are key to uncovering workers’ compensation fraud: social media and surveillance. Social media — especially Facebook — can provide a wealth of information about a claimant, including photos identifying the employee for surveillance purposes. Investigators have used social media as documentation of activities in which an allegedly injured person is involved. Facebook profiles also have been used as a source for confirming disability status, location of witnesses, extent of injuries and other information.

Surveillance is more costly than searching social media accounts, but it also can provide valuable information for rooting out fraud. State departments of insurance use both social media screenings and surveillance in their investigations.

Another valuable approach to minimizing the damage from workers’ compensation fraud is stopping it at the source. Workers should be required to report accidents and get treatment immediately, and all employees should know the process for anonymously reporting suspected fraud. And by carefully screening criminal background searches and histories of suspicious injury claims prior to making hires, employers can protect themselves.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide professional or legal advice regarding actions to take in any situation.

Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5911-workers-comp-fraud-signs.html

Consumers are increasingly seeking more transparency from companies about their products, services, operations and employment practices. The evolution of the social Web has triggered and perpetuated a growing demand from consumers for greater transparency. The growth of social media has empowered them to directly engage, question and critique brands on a global scale. Customers are leveraging social platforms to provide feedback about products and services through conversation-based engagement on company pages.

Likewise, consumers have used blog commenting to spark similar dialogue with C-level executives. And now, employers are being forced to evaluate how they should handle a growing line of social-enabled technologies that encourage, and even incentivize, employees to candidly share information about their employer’s operations and employment practices.

You might ask yourself, what are the platforms that I need to be aware of?

Glassdoor, Indeed, CareerBliss, TheJobCrowd and Vault are a few of the more widely known employee review websites that allow endusers to voluntarily post anonymous reviews about their current and past employers. A few of these sites offer endusers some level of membership access in exchange for contributing an anonymous review.

However other sites out like Company Connector, provide job seekers with an even deeper level of access to company insiders. These job seekers can directly exchange messages anonymously with employer insiders about company culture and other valuable information. Based upon the amount and quality of the information that they anonymously share, employees can earn karma points that they can then redeem to access insider information about other companies

And, InsideLook even monetarily incentivizes people to write reviews about companies where they have worked. InsideLook pays contributors $5.00 for each review (a maximum of three) that they anonymously post. In addition, contributors are allowed to set the sales price for each their reviews, which are then sold on InsideLook to anyone who wants to read them. Contributors get 75 percent of the revenue on each sale of their reviews.

Should I even be concerned with the influence of these employee review websites?

Yes! Job seekers are progressively using employee review websites as a resource for learning about prospective employers. Last year, Software Advice Inc., Gartner Inc.’s software consulting company, found that 48 percent of job seekers use GlassDoor during their job search. Job seekers highly value the objective reviews that are submitted about employers by both company insiders and former employees. Users are able to glean unique information about an organization’s job opportunities, typical salary structures and workplace environment.

More and more, users have also come to rely on annual industry rankings that some of these sites now publish. One of the more popular reports is GlassDoor’s “Top Universities to Work For” list, which is based directly on employee feedback.

Hence, your employees’ level of participation and candor on these sites can impact how your organization is ranked on such industry lists.

Does my participation on employee review websites leave my organization at risk of having its brand damaged?

The job search process is intrinsically social. Job seekers have come to expect that employers will now participate in a two-way dialogue with them through digital social networking tools. Up until recently, most brands were still fearful of, and slow to adopt, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. A 2013 Codegent’s Twilert reported that “81 percent of businesses think that social media can harm a company’s reputation if not used properly.”

Gradually, businesses began to realize that the benefits of using social media platforms to market their brands far outweigh the risks. The most effective social brands consistently plan and execute initiatives to participate in conversation-based engagement with customers and prospects on these platforms.

In a similar fashion, the proliferation of employee review websites, and their popularity among job seekers, is forcing employers to take inventory of what is being written about them. Moreover, employers are feeling compelled to contribute content and participate in the dialogue on these websites. Forward-thinking enterprises are now bound to overcome their fear of these websites, and get more involved in these conversations. Sites like GlassDoor offer organizations the opportunity to directly message job seekers who are researching them through its employer account product.

How can my organization stand to benefit from employee review websites?

These websites furnish organizations with valuable insights from insiders that reveal their impressions of their employers’ work environment. These can sometimes come in the form of negative reviews. However, you should not necessarily be scared of bad reviews. In 2013 Revoo reported that when endusers see no bad review reviews under a company profile, 95 percent of them suspect that the profile has either been censored or populated with fake reviews.

Bad reviews can serve as an opportunity for your organization to publicly demonstrate how it processes constructive criticism. In fact, organizations can positively change a job candidate’s perception of their brand by responding to negative reviews. In its “Don’t Fear the Review” eBook, GlassDoor reported that 69 percent of job candidates said “their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.”

The same eBook also shared research that found 94 percent of job candidates “are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages their employer brand (e.g., responds to reviews, updates their profile, shares updates on the culture and work environment).”

In addition, negative feedback can serve as a catalyst for your organization to proactively address its problem areas and make necessary improvements.

In summary, if you enthusiastically adopt social-enabled technologies that cultivate a culture of transparency and openness, you will build more credibility in the eyes of job seekers. Moreover, you will likely inspire your current employees to serve as brand ambassadors for your organization.

When a job seeker goes on the search in 2015, he or she must be prepared and find innovative ways to stand out among the crowd. Here are four ways for job seekers to be more successful in the new year.

Develop Internet Job Search Strategy

Rather than depending on in-person networking for job opportunities, a job seeker in 2015 needs to go where the masses are gathered. This, in the case of the 21st century, is on the Internet. For those looking for employment, social media sites including LinkedIn, professional blogs and Twitter offer a way to connect with others in a potential job market.

Stand Out From Other Job Seekers

To find a job, individuals need to think outside of the box, or the elevator in the case of the traditional elevator speech. As noted by US News Money, the elevator speech needs to be tailored to the industry and the job that is desired. Experts also recommend nixing traditional elements of an elevator speech, such as “years of experience” or “education at XYZ university,” so that the applicant can stand out. Instead, job applicants should discuss areas of value they have to offer businesses, in addition to adding content related to positives they can bring to a job.

Be Truthful On Your Application

Job seekers must tell the truth on their applications for jobs. Most organizations today perform background verification checks. If a background verification check reveals that a job applicant was not truthful on the application, then the job seeker will not get the job.

Be Selective

Job seekers should not jump the gun when choosing a job. After all, a job can make or break an individual’s career. Job applicants need to weigh the outcomes of any potential job. Travel requirements, time commitments, continued training needs, health insurance coverage, and opportunities for advancement are make-or-break points to evaluate when selecting an employment opportunity. Job counselors recommend that job seekers carefully consider the pros and cons of a job before making the final decision to accept.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide professional or legal advice regarding actions to take in any situation.

With already more than 40 million millennials in the workplace and millions more added each year, human resources professionals around the country are adapting to the unique style of this large group of young workers. By 2025, millennials will hold three-quarters of the world’s jobs, Time reports.

Understanding the unique characteristics of the millennial demographic can help effectively integrate new millennial workers with existing generation X and baby boomer team members.

Who are millennials?

Millennials were born between approximately 1980 and 2000. LiveScience notes that the group is sometimes described as narcissistic, lazy and disinclined to stick with jobs. After growing up in an era in which every kid received a trophy and in which discipline was sometimes lacking, some millennials have unrealistic expectations of jobs and work life.

A 2013 Time article states that research has shown millennials to be coddled and even delusional. Forty percent of millennials in the workplace believe they should get a work promotion every other year even if their performance indicates otherwise.

But the Time article goes on to note the school of thought that millennials are simply adapting in a world that’s changing quickly. Confident, optimistic and pragmatic, they’re just trying to get by.

What’s important to millennials?

Management and organizational development consultant Susan Heathfield notes that on the job, millennials seek frequent feedback, sometimes even on a daily basis. They want to work for bosses who act as caring mentors and who keep them in the loop.

Many millennials in the workplace seek a fun, stimulating workplace where they can make friends with colleagues and enjoy appreciation for their creative contributions. More than 80 percent of millennials want to work flexible hours, according to Time, and many want to work remotely.

Tips for managing millennials in the workplace

Heathfield advises that to effectively integrate three generations of workers — millennials, generation X and baby boomers — managers should capitalize on millennials’ propensity to work well as part of teams. In addition, providing a structured environment with regular hours, definite deadlines and clear goals will help millennial workers understand what is expected.

Managers should plan to invest significant time in coaching and providing guidance to millennial workers. To make best use of their enthusiastic attitudes, they should be encouraged with frequent feedback and positive reinforcement. The employee happiness of millennials will have a progressive impact on organizations.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide professional or legal advice regarding actions to take in any situation.