Lost Time Injuries vs. Churn Rates and Post-Offer Testing
Posted on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
I did a training a couple weeks ago for an organization that has 62 jobs in their production area. They are a non-union shop with an extensive set of work rules (seniority, bumping process, bidding process, etc). The company hires in groups for the production area - that is, they conditionally hire into a pool for job openings in any one of the 62 classifications - but, because they hire into a pool, they want qualified people for all of the classifications. A major point of discussion with the company was how to establish a post-offer program based on a blanket job classification.
This situation is not rare, but is "interesting."
The company has an extensive safety and ergonomic evaluation program, but no experience in the past ten years of writing ADAAA compliant job descriptions. My first recommendation to them was to analyze their history to spot opportunities to reduce lost time injuries via post-offer testing.
Photo Credit: JobSafetyScoreBoards.com
After an hour or so of discussion, we discovered that they don't have a significant lost time problem, but do have a significant "churn" problem (a.k.a employee turnover).
Further, we uncovered the known, but neglected, issue of churn in two particular positions: people hired into these positions tended to not stay long. And, because of the work rules, as people left these positions they created a ripple effect throughout the plant.
The other issue in these two positions is that they have an inherently high amount of perceived danger while also carrying the highest level of physical exertion in the plant.
Perceived danger + hard work: no wonder people move about of these positions quickly!
What do you see as the major issues at your client companies (or your own company)? Lost time injuries or high employee turnover rates? What advice have you given them to avoid situations like this?
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