By Terri Rhodes, MBA, CPDM, CCMP

CEO
DMEC

The Disability Management Employer Coalition is celebrating 25 years of providing focused education, resources, and networking, to absence and disability management professionals across the country. Our goal is to provide resources around integrated absence management (IAM) which empower employers, and vendors who support them, to increase workforce productivity and reduce costs.

DMEC began its efforts around the integration of insurance silos, increased return to work (RTW), and integrated disability management. Over the last 25 years, this has expanded to IAM, which covers disability, leave, FMLA, ADA, and workers’ compensation compliance, and employee well-being, health, and productivity programs. This comprehensive approach has moved organizations from managing just disability to managing absence in a consistent and compliant manner.

We have indeed come a long way:

• Numerous studies have highlighted the cost-savings of integration, which is now universally recognized as a best practice for employers.
• The advanced programs of leading corporations showcase how integration can produce positive outcomes that result in a win for both the employee and the employer.
• Data integration was atypical 25 years ago; however, DMEC recognized it as a cornerstone of a good IDM program. Today, linking programs and data is standard operating procedure, giving organizations clear information about where they need to make improvements or changes.

With this much success, why is integration still only partially implemented or still on the wish list for so many employers? It is important to know the challenges to integration and be prepared to meet them.

Corporate Competition

Even if you project excellent savings for an integration initiative, you must win capital and the support of corporate leadership to launch it. To secure your share of corporate resources, describe your projected savings in units that connect with your leaders’ values, such as “these savings equal two weeks of production from our largest plant.”

Complexity

Successful integration initiatives usually align a sequence of programs to support employees. This means managing a mountain of processes and data, which requires securing buy-in and cooperation from multiple programs and suppliers, and changing corporate culture. All of these activities must be accomplished in a limited time, before they are undermined by changes in the business cycle or other disruptions.

Organizational Silos

This has long been the impediment to successful integration, while success comes from working together, not separately. Obviously, one department managing all programs is difficult to attain, but there are many ways to integrate that allow departments to work autonomously yet together. Many vendors now offer solutions to assist in the integration of return-to-work systems, data, and management reports.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” I have been using this quote for many years and find that it is still valid today. Figure out your first step and begin your integration journey. We have indeed come a long way over the last 25 years; let’s see what can be accomplished in the next 25 years.