Month: December 2018

By Mark Rosenleaf, Safety Management Consultant

Last quarter’s Safety Corner discussed the services our Safety Management Consultants (SMC’s) offer our policyholders and cited the teamwork that provides our mutual customers with the best product and service. But what if they don’t want to use those services? You’ve probably got the skills and tools to help them see the light, but here are a couple more. Studies show that the return on investment for investments in safety is somewhere in the range of 200% to 600%! The problem comes when your policyholder asks you to show them how they’re going to make or save $20,000 if they spend $10,000 today.  It’s complicated, and not exact, but you can do it. Here’s how: Start with direct vs. indirect costs. Direct costs are the bills that they’ll see.  Hospitals, doctors, work comp premiums, etc.  Indirect costs are the ones they may not be aware of, and those can be twice the direct costs.  These include time spent investigating; loss of production; loss of employee productivity; employee training; repairs; lower morale; absenteeism; reputation within the community, etc. Take the cost of the medical bills for all the claims in a given period. Double that amount to get the indirect costs, then add those numbers together.  It might be a lot of money. Now consider that every injury, incident, near miss and unsafe act is an opportunity to put something in place to prevent the next one. Your customers are likely already doing some things to enhance safety, even if they don’t think about it. Ask them to track their Leading Indicators – positive things they’re doing that impact safety. These include training; reporting near misses; safety meetings & committees; housekeeping; maintenance and more.  They should track, promote and celebrate these victories.  These are the things that keep employees safe.  Injuries are not necessary, and they shouldn’t be a cost of doing business.  Zero is possible. Tell them to think of safety not as an expense, but as a profit center that must be managed just like any other aspect of their business.

Montana State Fund recently hosted the 12th Annual CSR / CSS Conference at the Great Northern Hotel and Conference Center in Helena. This event offered the Policy and Billing Replacement Initiative (PBRI) Team an excellent opportunity to introduce the development effort of the new system to customer service representatives (CSR’s) from MSF’s partner agencies across the state. This was their first exposure to an early look and feel of MSF’s state-of-the-art policy management system which is due to “go-live” in the last quarter of 2019. MSF’s customers have been, and continue to be, consulted on their needs for what the new system should do and how it should perform. At this event, CSR’s were invited to share their views on MSF’s service delivery, using the current system. CSR’s responded with their highest level of dissatisfaction being the responsiveness and cost effectiveness of the current system. Both of these criteria hinder their ability to be “brilliant in the moment” with their own customers. CSR’s expressed their highest level of satisfaction as being their relationship with MSF staff. The way MSF staff provides support, is courteous, communicates in a caring manner, and their competence were all areas that received high ratings. The PBRI Team demonstrated some of the most recently developed functionality and features of the new system. Improved efficiencies, convenient and quick access to information, and making work easier for MSF’s customers are some of the key requirements driving the system’s design. A short video provided a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look into how the project is working. MSF’s CEO and President, Lanny Hubbard delivered an important message (view the video) Lynn Mogstad, Business Unit Director and conference organizer, said: “Appointed agencies from across the State send their CSR’s to attend this event. CSR’s are the face and voice of their agencies.  This is the one time of the year where our external CSR’s and internal customer service specialists (CSS’s), who are the face and voice of MSF, have an opportunity to network, learn, and discuss matters of mutual importance.”

As many of you are aware, Montana State Fund launched a rebrand last Spring. With that came a refreshed mission, vision, values, and redesigned logo. Our new logo is now blue and highlights the word Montana in our name. In addition, we cut the diamond that formerly surrounded the SF, which gives it a freer flowing feel. If you have any materials that use our old logo, or you post our logo on your website, please update it with our new logo. Click to access our logo library  If you need help in updating any materials or replacing the logo, please contact MSF Communications Manager Mary Boyle. We are excited about this brand refresh and look forward to continuing our partnership with you to make Montana a safer, healthier, and more prosperous to place live.

In September, the Montana State Fund (MSF) Board of Directors declared a $40M dividend to be paid to qualifying policyholders. Payment of the dividend is now complete. A dividend is never guaranteed from year to year.  If circumstances warrant, the board can choose to not declare a dividend or declare a smaller dividend. However, this marks the second consecutive year the Board has declared a $40M dividend and brings the total amount returned to policyholders since 1999 to $256M. This year’s dividend is equivalent to an average return of 28.4% of premium for those receiving a dividend. The average payment is $1,728. In addition to providing dividends as a return of premium to our customers, MSF has reduced premium rates or held the rates steady every year since 2007.  Since July of 2007, premium rates have been reduced 42% and are currently at the lowest level since the creation of the Montana State Fund in 1991. Our agent partners are certainly a major component in the recent successes of MSF. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments on our dividend program.

Changes in Payroll Reporting EMPLOYEE HOUSING – As part of the items that constitute earnings, there has been a slight modification effective 4/1/18.  Included in earnings is the actual value of any substitutes for monetary payments, including but not limited to, meals and lodging, value of rent or housing, store certificates, merchandise and credits.  Effective 4/1/2018 the reportable value for housing is established for each county in “Montana in the publication entitled Montana Workers Compensation Housing, Rent or Lodging Monthly Rates” available at the Department of Labor’s website at http://erd.dli.mt.gov   Agricultural employers may discount the published housing by 50% for the county in which the dwelling is located. For further information contact the Montana Department of Labor. NEW ENDORSEMENT – WC 00 04 14 A 90-DAY REPORTING REQUIREMENT-NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP ENDORSEMENT On November 9, 2018, NCCI issued an endorsement requiring employers to report changes in ownership to their insurer in writing within 90 days of the date of the change. The endorsement states in pertinent part: You must report any change in ownership to us in writing within 90 days of the date of the change.  Change in ownership includes sales, purchases, other transfers, mergers, consolidations, dissolutions, formations of a new entity, and other changes provided for in the applicable experience rating plan. Experience rating is mandatory for all eligible insureds. The experience rating modification factor, if any, applicable to this policy, may change if there is a change in your ownership or in that of one or more of the entities eligible to be combined with you for experience rating purposes.  Failure to report any change in ownership, regardless of whether the change is reported within 90 days of such change, may result in revision of the experience rating modification factor used to determine your premium.  This reporting requirement applies regardless of whether an experience rating modification is currently applicable to this policy. The endorsement has been approved by Montana State Auditor’s Office and will be included in the January Renewal Packets generating this week for Select Policies.

We wish a fond farewell to a member of our Marketing Team, Heather Domme, as she moves on to other exciting opportunities. Heather has made significant contributions to the success of MSF’s marketing program.  We will miss her contributions, talents, and winning personality.  We wish her well in her new position and are confident that she will succeed where ever she goes.  Good Luck, Heather! All marketing requests should now be forwarded to Nick Hopkins, Director of Marketing and Business Development.  He can be reached at 406-495-5435 or nhopkins@safemt.gov