Over a year ago, I encouraged our readers to join LinkedIn, the leading social networking site for professionals, after we conducted a survey that showed a high percentage of respondents in insurance and risk management were not participating in any social media. In that blog entry, I discussed the general benefits of LinkedIn for professionals in business to business sales, as those of you in insurance and risk management often are.
Today I want to give you a more specific reason to join LinkedIn, and that’s the Work Comp Analysis Group, a great, free resource available only to LinkedIn members (join the Work Comp Analysis Group now if you already belong to LinkedIn). With over 6,800 members, this group is the largest online discussion community dealing exclusively with workers compensation issues. But it’s not just the number of members that make this group stand out: it’s the quality of the discussions. Topics with activity in the past month have included:
- Are you responsible for work comp loss prevention? If so – and you only had one loss prevention action available – what would that one action be? (currently 27 comments)
- Can someone give examples of “measurable” outcomes for work comp case management, and how to measure them? (currently 51 comments)
- Is it time to stop the spine fusion juggernaut? If so, how? (currently 10 comments)
- What are some ways to save on workers comp insurance? (currently 35 comments)
- Experience with telecommute comp claims? (currently 19 comments)
- Carve-outs in workers compensation: I am looking for information on construction industry carve-outs and collectively bargained workers comp from anyone with personal experience. Has it been successful? Pros/cons? (currently 5 comments)
- New opinion disallows attorney fees on MSA portion of WC buyout. How will this affect settlements? (a new discussion today, currently 1 comment)
As this sampling indicates, the scope of topics includes safety, medical and legal issues, and more, such as news items related to workers comp at both the state and national level. Subgroups for Canada, Australia, and the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo are also available.
Any group member can start a discussion by simply typing a question or by linking to an article of interest. While any other group member can reply, posts that are essentially an advertisement for a product or service are against the group’s no-spam policy, and it’s rare that I see this policy violated. (I confess: occasionally I think it’s quite legitimate for me to chime in on a conversation in which our products, ModMaster and WorkCompEdge, should be mentioned, but I do so quite carefully, as I so value my membership in the group.) Group members can control how often they receive email notifications of new and updated discussions; a once-daily summary is recommended and quick to scan for items that may interest you.
The group also has a companion site of resources at workcompanalysisgroup.com, but its exceptional offering is the intelligent exchange of information between workers comp professionals. Congratulations to Mark Walls of Safety National for starting and nurturing this great resource.
So if you haven’t yet, join LinkedIn today (a basic membership is free, I remind you). Then, when you’re signed in, join the Work Comp Analysis Group. Members must be approved, but if you’re a client of ours and you’d like an invitation that bypasses the approval process, just send me an email at [email protected]. The group is now soliciting ideas for the THE TOP 50 (or more) BEST WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COST CONTAINMENT TIPS. I know our readers have ideas they can share!
– Kory Wells, WorkCompEdge Blog Editor
© 2010 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, contact the blog editor.