It’s coming up on 90 years since Delta
Air Lines made its first passenger flight.
Delta founder C.E. Woolman,
considered a visionary by many, keenly
understood how employee satisfaction
bears directly on company success.
“It is the initiative, the personal
attitudes and the motivations of
our people as they approach their
daily work upon which we rely
for acceptance, for growth and for
survival,” said Woolman.
No doubt he would be pleased that
Delta is a winner of the 2017 Theodore
Roosevelt Workers’ Compensation and
Disability Management Award — an
honor bestowed in large part due to
the company’s embrace of his founding
philosophy, that Delta employees
are the number one asset to the
organization.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta
operates a mainline fleet of more
than 800 aircraft, offering service to
335 destinations in 62 countries on
six continents, serving more than 180
million customers each year.
All of that rests on the shoulders
of 85,000-plus employees worldwide,
exposed to a broad spectrum of
workplace risks, from handling
heavy luggage to keeping steady in
turbulence. Caring for those workers is
no small endeavor.
A NEW DIRECTION
A 2013 shift toward an employee
advocacy model for disability and leave
management was a game-changer
for Delta. Positive feedback from
employees came immediately, making
it clear the team had chosen the right
course.
In 2015, the company moved to
an integrated absence management
program for all lines including
workers’ compensation.
Chris Collins, Delta’s vice president,
global HR services, championed
the move to a single-source vendor
to further improve the employee
experience. He wanted to reduce the
frustration and duplicated processes
that an employee experienced when
injured on the job and navigating
through the various programs at Delta.
The company ultimately selected
Sedgwick to administer its program.
“We were looking for a single
vendor source — a majority of the
disability programs are unbundled,”
explained Collins. “We couldn’t do
that; it wasn’t working for us because
of the way we pay the disability claims.
“We needed it all with one vendor
so that we didn’t have competing
systems and vendors that don’t
communicate well with each other.”
More than 110,000 claims were
transitioned into the new system,
along with a staggering five million
documents.
All things considered, said Collins,
“We reviewed and changed a lot
of the processes that tended to be
redundant and cumbersome for the
employee to manage after a work
injury,” said Susan Emerson, general
manager, claims management, disability,
leave and workers’ compensation
claims.
“Delta’s disability and leave benefits
run concurrent when a workers’ comp
injury occurs.”
The effort hit the mark. The
2017 employee satisfaction surveys
are providing good comments and
accolades from employees for the
improved process and ease of claim
handling.
The impact has been felt elsewhere
as well, making a clear case that doing
what’s best for employees is what’s best
for the company as well.
For instance, a reduction in Delta’s
total incurred losses on open takeover
claims exceeded expectations by $19
million. Delta also has experienced a
dramatic reduction in total paid losses
in notoriously difficult states including
California and New York.
DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
For Emerson, the employee
advocacy model is a matter of common
Advocacy Takes Off
Delta’s employee-focused initiatives are improving claims performance and enhancing the employee
experience. By Michelle Kerr
“You make the investment
to try and make the system
work easier for people and
try to make the process flow
a little more smoothly.”
— Susan Emerson, General Manager - Claims
Management / Disability / Leave / Workers’
Compensation Claims
SUMMARY
• Delta saw early evidence that an
employee advocacy model led to
positive outcomes.
• Eliminating claim friction
removes obstacles to injury
recovery.
• Employee satisfaction is high,
which carries through to the
customer-facing side.
sense. It reduces the friction that can
not just upset employees, but also
extend the duration of their claims and
compromise their recovery.
That’s why Delta chooses not to
waste time and resources looking for
reasons to deny minor claims.
“We just don’t major in the minor,”
she said, summing up the underlying
philosophy.
Resources are instead focused on
enhancing the employee experience.
It helps having workers’ comp claims
examiners serve as the primary point of
contact. That eliminates an enormous
source of headaches for employees.
Additionally, Delta has worked
with its TPA to integrate a number of
offerings into the claim process.
This includes direct deposit for
payments to the employee (for lost
wage replacement benefits, as well as
An employee advocacy approach is helping Delta Air Lines control costs and increase employee satisfaction. PHOTO COURTES Y OF DELTA
2017 TEDDY AWARD WINNER
