If you are an employer in the state of Washington and have an employee claiming workers compensation pay and benefits as the result of an on-the-job injury, you may be eligible for a wide range of financial incentives for bringing the employee back to work in a light duty or transitional job.     

Recognizing that employees tend to recover from injuries more quickly when they remain at work, the “Stay At Work” program provides incentives for employers to create light duty or transitional jobs for injured workers to avoid the higher long term costs of worker compensation claims.     

The incentives you should be aware of are:

WAGES. You can be reimbursed up to 50% of the employee’s base wages for up to 66 days of work, or $10,000, whichever comes first.

TRAINING. You can be reimbursed for up to $1000 if training is necessary for the employee to do the light duty work.

TOOLS/EQUIPMENT. If new tools and equipment are necessary, employers are allowed reimbursements up to $2500.

CLOTHING. The Stay At Work program allows employees to be reimbursed up to $400 for any new clothing required to perform the light duty job. 

As in all government programs, there are details and specifics that have to be considered to determine your eligibility for specific benefits.  For additional information on the Stay At Work program visit www.stayatwork.lni.wa.gov.

The top performers for any business can be viewed as rock stars, who have loyal fans in the form of customers, strong entourages in the form of support staff, and lucky managers in the form of their employers. Once you have identified these superlative employees, taking the steps to make their working environment as comfortable as you can goes a long way towards keeping them working for you.

Set up goals and rewards
Establish a structure for goal-based rewards for your top-performing employees, but don’t confine yourself to just financial rewards. Taking the extra effort to recognize them for their outstanding efforts can come by way of a preferred parking spot, upgraded travel options, flex-time or other, less tangible, perks.

Pay them more than what they’re worth
The cost for paying your top employees more than what they could earn on the open market is marginal compared to the value you get for their efforts. And if you don’t believe that, imagine them taking their experience, knowledge and contacts to your competitor.

Free up their time to do what they do best
Your top performer might have a phenomenal gift to persuade others, but he has trouble keeping up with expense reports. Or, perhaps she consistently finds and lands lucrative new clients, but couldn’t write up a proposal if her life depended on it. Within the skill sets of your top people, there are weaknesses that might not be holding them back, but they certainly could be slowing them down. Work with your employee and make it clear that by reducing or eliminating the time they have to spend on their “weak” tasks, they are freed up to maximize the time doing what they do best.

Offer opportunities that challenge
Think of the top performers that you have on your payroll. Whether they got there by natural talent or sheer force of will, most appreciate the value of hard work. Devise ways for them to expand their skills and to be challenged in ways that showcase their unique talents.

Find ways to duplicate their success
Look to these top-performers as a model on which you can mold other, promising employees. The purpose is two-fold. First, the top-performer is kept to stay at the top of her game, not resting on laurels and skating by on previous success. As a final bonus for the employer, when you do eventually lose that employee to retirement or a move to a competitor, you have others eagerly waiting in the wings.

PACE Staffing Network has a 35-year history of connecting employers with top performers. Contact us today to see who we can find for you!