Team Building When You or Your Co-Workers Suck

There is nothing like an excellent outdoor team-building experience to bolster morale and improve performance. Unless, of course, your team abandons one member of your crew on a mountain and leaves them to die. That could potentially negate the very positive effects intended by the exercise. Last August, co-workers left a Colorado man alone atop Mount…

Ugg Am Now a Neanderthal

Much has changed since the innocent days of my youth. At the risk of sounding like my grandparents, I am old enough to remember when phones were connected through wires to the wall, and it took about three minutes to dial a number. God help you if you got one of the digits wrong and…

Kids’ Chance is Looking for a Few Good Sponsors

There are only a limited number of ways that a company can show its support for the workers’ compensation industry at a national level. Supporting Kids’ Chance is certainly one of them. Kids’ Chance, as almost everyone in the industry is aware, is an organization that provides scholarships and educational opportunities for children of workers…

WCRI: The Cost of Loneliness in the Workplace

In the “Day Two Keynote” presentation at the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, Dr. Constance (Connie) Noonan Hadley, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, addressed the critical issue of loneliness in the workplace. Her talk highlighted the significant impact of loneliness on both workplace health and productivity,…

WCRI and Mind Over Matter: Unveiling the Impact of Psychological Barriers on Workers’ Comp Recovery

In the realm of workers’ compensation, the impact of psychosocial factors on claim outcomes has been a topic of considerable interest and debate. At the WCRI Conference in Boston, MA, a presentation titled “Psychological Risk Factors and Functional Recovery” shed light on this issue. The presenters, Vennela Thumula, a Policy Analyst with WCRI, and Dr.…

WCRI and the Future of Healthcare

In a keynote presentation at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University, discussed the current state of healthcare in the United States and his predictions for the future. Cutler highlighted the uncertainty in the healthcare environment, citing factors such as…