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In providing workplace health solutions, an astute employer promotes the need to manage the health and wellbeing of employees, from the start of recruitment, as an important first step in the effective management of the employee life-cycle.

The costs associated with recruiting, the possible impact of work-related injuries and the resulting labour replacement costs provide a strong case to support the introduction of pre-employment assessments as a key component in managing the health and wellbeing of employees.

Research shows that implementing a pre-employment screening program provides important health and financial returns.

• Screened employees were discovered to have a 3% injury rate compared to those not screened at 33% (Harbin & Olsen, 2005). The implementation of Australia’s largest Pre-Employment organisation is said to have reduced some of its key customers average workers’ compensation claim costs by 33%. This shows that non-screened employees are 2.4 times more likely to sustain a muscular-skeletal injury than screened employees (Roshenblum & Shankar, 2006).
• Non-screened employees caused 4.3 times higher costs of claims than screened employees (Roshenblum & Shankar, 2006).
• Pre-employment screens also ensure a risk assessment is completed on the candidate; this can assist to mitigate against an organisations risk, in particular common law risk. The average Common law claim is now over $97,000 and is rising at a dramatic rate of 11%. (Q Comp, 2008)
• The average costs of return-to-work cases were found to dramatically decline when comparing injured workers who had passed screening vs those who had never been screened. The cost savings were found to be in excess of $18 per dollar spent on the pre-employment screen. (Littlejohn, 2007)
• Pre-employment functional screenings were found to be effective in lowering the severity of work-related back sprains and accompanying medical costs and lost time from the workplace (Nassau, 1999).
• Pre-employment screens enable a base line reading for health screen items such as hearing and eyesight, and lung function screens to be obtained on order to minimise any organisation’s exposure to permanent impairment liability.

A comprehensive pre-employment assessment can involve all or any combination of the following components:

Medical History, Alcohol Screening, Urine Drug Screening, Blood Pressure, Range of Motion, Upper Limb Testing, Posture, Back Care and Manual Handling, Cardiovascular Fitness, Lung Function, Audio Testing, Colour Vision, and Visual Acuity.

Candidates are screened via a thorough range of medical and physical tests specifically selected to accurately represent core work-related functional requirements. In all cases, a detailed report should be provided highlighting the work-related functional restrictions and/or recommendations relating to the candidate’s proposed employment.

For more information about the management of corporate health, please visit http://www.konekt.com.au