2023 Workers Comp Resolutions – Top Five Reboots

2023 Workers Comp Resolutions  – Year of the Reboot

The time is nigh for the 2023 Workers Comp resolutions.  Last month we covered the 2023 resolutions for large deductible programs.  You can find that article here.  The self-insured resolutions should hit the wire this week or next.

We all have resolutions every year.  This website started publishing resolution articles in 2010 and updated them every year.   As with most of us, 2023 is the year of the reboot.  It is is the Year of the Rabbit in some circles.

Employers With Voluntary Policies

To clear up any confusion, this article will cover voluntary policies only.  Voluntary policies are the normal workers policies where an employer purchases a regular insurance policy from an agent/broker that will cover injured employees.   Voluntary policies can have deductibles up to $100,000 in most states.

Top 10 2023 Workers Comp Resolutions = Asset Protection

Let us use the 2022 Workers Comp resolutions as a baseline and then go from there.  Those resolutions were one of the better articles published on this website for 2022.

The theme will be asset protection with the Wall Street Journal fund rate at 7.5%  – rising from 3.25% less than a year ago.

Protecting assets comes from the most basic accounting formula  Assets = Liabilities + Capital.   Reducing liabilities remains the best method for increasing or sustaining assets.  The Top 5 2023 Workers Comp resolutions for the reboot are:

1. Safety and more safety.   Talking about safety may seem like an old worn-out subject.  If one wants to understand what the states are beginning to do with unsafe employers in 2023 – New York just signed in Carlos’s Law (thanks WorkCompCentral) that will fine employers convicted of a misdemeanor involved with an employee’s injury or death $300K to $500K.  Wow! That reads misdemeanor not a corporate felony.
2. Pay your policy over time.  Most carriers have a no-cost program to debit your business account every month.  Cash flow is king. Why take a chunk out of your assets to pay a whole year’s policy?
3. Alternatives and more alternatives – so many alternatives exist such as Captives, PEOs – one of my favorites, and many other alternatives exist by performing Google searches.   If you do not look, you will never know what is out there.  Have your favorite millennial look them up for you. The less your company spends on WC coverage, the more capital and assets your company will have at the end of the fiscal year.
4. The Six Keys that I have learned over the last 35+ years still stand the test of time.   They are mainly centered on lowering claims costs except for the premium audit suggestion.  Follow the link to see if they could work for your company. I originally wrote them in 2007 in this website.  Feel free to order the free manual by using the Contact Us link.
5. Damned Analytics –even though I am not a fan of claim analytics – it is what it is – and is expanding into how your company is evaluated for workers comp or any other type of policy.  Most agents and their associated carriers look at 5+ years of data to just get rolling for a policy quote or renewal.   Information is power and power increases assets and capital eventually.  Have 5 years of WC data at your fingertips. 
   

The “I” word was not mentioned in this article.  We have heard enough about increasing prices.  These five 2023 Workers Comp resolutions and the prior 2022 resolutions should assist in protecting assets.