Case study
Uniting Care Health's story
'We are committed to improving the rehabilitation and return to work outcomes for our dedicated employees', says Barb Atkinson, Uniting Care Health's Workplace Rehabilitation and RTW Coordinator. 'We approached WorkCover Queensland to partner with us to achieve this goal.'
In the past the only indication of an employer's performance in the area of workers' compensation was comparing the employer's premium rate with the industry rate. 'This did not highlight areas for improvement as our premium rate was below the industry rate.'
WorkCover has developed employer specific scorecards to help employers identify where they can improve. The scorecards focus on frequency of claims and payments of weekly compensation compared to industry performance. 'Our relationship manager was able to analyse our claims history to pin point the specific injuries that we were experiencing.'
Along with the employer consultancy program, Uniting Care Health has been partnering with WorkCover to continue making improvements in claims management. Suitable duties are identified early and support is provided to workers to return them to work as quickly as possible.
'Our workers have benefited as the impact of the work injury is minimised. This is also a great outcome for our business as there is less disruption when someone is injured.'
Stakeholder relationships
Customer satisfaction
We strive to achieve a balance between our injured workers and employers—in 2009, we continued to maintain that balance. Results from this year’s customer satisfaction survey show that both customer groups are highly satisfied with the level of service we provide.
An independent research company randomly selected over 500 employers and 500 injured workers across Queensland and interviewed them on their experience with WorkCover Queensland. Employers were very pleased with the readiness of our people to listen, assist, and attend to their enquiries, as well as the ease they could access and communicate with them. Our employers also told us we could improve on advice on premium related matters, such as the impact of claims costs, duration, and rehabilitation.
The injured workers surveyed rated us highly in terms of weekly payments and how easy we were to deal with throughout their claim. We need to focus more on keeping the injured worker informed at all times on the expectations and progress of their claim.
This year we achieved a difference of only 2.3% in satisfaction levels between employers and injured workers—injured worker satisfaction was 78.3% and employers rated us at 76%. Both results are very positive.
WorkCover Queensland continues to be considered a trusted, valued, and respected organisation by our customers. Thank you to everyone who participated in the research this year—your invaluable feedback is used to further improve our service. Each year we use the results of the survey to form strategies and business plans for our future.
Communication
Clear and simple communication
We have always taken the view that communication is an important tool in building strong relationships with customers—our research shows our customers think the same. We are committed to communicating in a clear, simple, and transparent manner.
In our annual research, 83% of employers told us that email is the preferred method of contact. Employers also like online lodgement and simplified forms, such as our wages declaration and premium notice. Phone is still the preferred method of contact for injured workers, however the preference to be contacted by email is on the rise.
Last year, in response to our customers’ needs, we set up a working party to review all our correspondence. While there is a push for electronic and phone communication, there still remains a need for letters, albeit reduced. This year, we were able to streamline and reduce the different types of letters from over 1000 to fewer than 250. We also reduced the volume of mail we send out by 38%. This means our people can spend more time talking with customers, strengthening these relationships, and attending to their needs faster.
Customer support
We know how valuable time is—when you call us during business hours, you will speak to a real person, not a recorded message. Our people are trained in all aspects of our business and on average we resolve 73% of calls at the first point of contact, 3% above our target.
This year our call centre answered over 468 000 calls with 85% of calls answered within 20 seconds on average. This is above our target and the industry standard of 80%. Despite the 4% increase in calls from last year, our abandonment rate was less than 1%—considerably below the industry standard of 6%.
Embracing new technology
Over the past 12 months we have worked hard to build and improve our systems to make business easier for our customers.
Using the online services via our website, customers can now upload documents in a secure environment. Quick access to this information means we can process payments and certificates faster, avoid additional postage and fax costs, and our customers see results faster.
After a successful pilot with a small number of providers, we have expanded our provider online service. The service allows providers to access their payment remittances online and check the status of invoices. A username and password are required to access this personal information.
We also piloted an Online DX service, for plaintiff and panel lawyers, which allows a safe and secure online exchange of information between lawyers and WorkCover Queensland. This service was made available to all lawyers in September 2009.
These online services are precursors to other enhancements for online services in the future, not only for providers, but also employers and injured workers.
We have taken steps to further enhance our communication with customers by improving our internal systems. A communication screen and decision screen have been developed to allow our claims people access to relevant information faster.
Flexible interaction
Our customers have told us they want to know more about the progress of their claim, as well as flexible ways to interact with us. In response, we have introduced new ways of keeping customers informed after a claim is lodged:
- injured workers can receive a SMS with their claim number for future communication and to give to providers as a reference
- we email employers details of simple claims and seek further input if required.
For ongoing and more complex claims, we personally keep customers updated about their claim’s progress.
Regional Queensland covered
As part of our ongoing commitment to regional Queensland, we have moved our Toowoomba and Cairns offices to increase accessibility for customers. Both offices moved from their previous multi-storey locations into ground floor offices, making it easier for our customer to see and access. In addition, the new offices have been purpose built to consider energy use, reduce our carbon footprint, and maintain a professional work environment for our people.
Stakeholder relationships
We actively seek information from our stakeholders on their expectations and listen to feedback on our performance. This helps improve our service in line with what our customers really want.
In October 2008, we held a series of forums with industry and unions. Feedback was mostly positive—our stakeholders are very happy with what we do, however they told us we could provide more communication in the form of newsletters and information on our website. As a result, we have introduced a newsletter for stakeholder groups.
Some of our general managers also visited key industry and union associations in February 2009, to gather feedback about specific strategies. This is in addition to the ongoing relationships our nominated customer service centre managers have with these groups.
WorkCover Queensland is also committed to working with industry associations to ensure we are doing the best for our customers. We now meet quarterly with representatives from the Queensland Asbestos Related Disease Society and Queensland Government to discuss legislative issues and cases, as well as the society’s interaction with WorkCover on mesothelioma cases.
Harmonisation
Over the past 12 months, WorkCover Queensland has continued to work with other states and territories on workers’ compensation harmonisation initiatives. A seamless process across Australia benefits all stakeholders—we want to make it easier for employers who operate in multiple states and their injured workers. Some initiatives include harmonised guidance material and a general claim form for large employers. WorkCover Queensland took the lead on this project and shared our initiatives.
We will continue to work with other states and territories to share initiatives and strategies.