Integrity Testing Reduces Workers Comp Claims

An elder care firm in California credits integrity testing with significantly reducing workers compensation claims among its 4,500 employees.

Frank Russo, who is senior vice president of risk and legal affairs and privacy officer for Silverado, the elder care firm, opted to pursue integrity testing after reviewing what he characterized as “staggering” results of a university study.

In 2009, Cornell University reported that although integrity tests represent an additional expense in the hiring process, a study of a hotel chain found the savings that resulted in fewer workers’ compensation claims more than covered the cost of the tests.

The study said that the company experienced a 50 percent one-year return on investment from the testing.

At Silverado, where more than 15,000 potential employees have been tested since the program was implemented in 2014, nearly one in four applicants has been deemed “not qualified.”

Russo said the results can be a “tough pill to swallow” if candidates otherwise seem promising.

“I always tell people, if I’m hiring for somebody in my department, and they came referred to me, and they have the best resume, and I really like them, and they don’t pass the integrity test, I’m completely grateful for the integrity test, because obviously the integrity test caught something I didn’t,” he said.

Silverado had the University of Arizona run an independent survey that showed employees hired in the two years prior to implementing integrity testing filed workers compensation claims at a higher rate, and had more expensive claims, than those screened in the two years after the testing began.

Cornell University noted that testing has no adverse impact on protected groups and complies with U.S. employment laws.

Sources: Business Insurance, Cornell University