Good Humans Doing Good Things in Our Industry: Lainey Haynes

Speaking with Lainey Haynes, Workers’ Compensation Representative at Saia Inc.

Hearing the Perspective from an Employer in a Workers’ Compensation Claim

"Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing." - Rollo May

As the search continues for good humans doing good things in our industry, the employer side came to mind. What are the employers doing to make a difference in our industry with their injured employees? What I hear most from injured employees is they never or rarely hear from their employee after an injury takes place.

There’s often a disconnect after a workplace injury, leaving an injured employee lost and scared – worried about their job and wondering if anyone cares. Then we wonder why over 10 percent of claims end up in litigation. Not only that, but we are also dealing with a human being who is hurt.

Put this on repeat – we all have a job in this industry because a human being was injured at work.

Lainey Haynes was kind enough to speak with me about what she’s doing to make a difference and be a good human in our industry from the employer’s side. Lainey is a workers’ compensation representative for Saia, an (LTL) trucking company that provides freight transportation and logistics services and has over 15,000 employees. Given the number of employees they have, imagine the number of claims and types of claims they see.

Regardless of the size of an organization, communication and caring about the injured employee is imperative on the employer side. Lainey shares with us the things she’s doing to make a difference, how she cares about the injured employee and communicates. Additionally, she lends us her knowledge about getting the employers and all parties involved and how to collaborate. Lainey also stresses the importance of educating and mentoring to recruit new people into our industry that is beginning to see an age gap of knowledge as more people retire.

Lainey reminds us that we can be a good human in our roles in workers’ comp on any side – and still follow the rules of work comp.

"The time is always right to do what is right." – Martin Luther King, Jr.

What a difference communication can make

Lainey’s role as a workers’ comp representative means that she follows alongside the claim, supports and advocates for the injured employee. This means she’s involved from the onset of the claim to close and communicates directly with the employee – reaching out to them with a phone call within the first 24-48 hours to ensure they know they have a human being at the company who cares and who will be there. Lainey immediately sets up a plan of action with the injured employee – to help them navigate and learn what’s needed for the claim. “This is the most important time to show up for your employees,” Lainey says. It’s a time to build trust and rapport, so if or when you need to have hard conversations, the relationship is established and it’s a lot easier to have hard conversations.

There are so many layers of individuals and companies on a claim. Adjusters are overwhelmed and there are so many moving parts to a claim.

Lainey says, “It’s important for the employer to be involved in the claims.” It’s not that often we hear injured workers that communicate this often with their employer. It truly makes an impact.

What a difference communication makes when the injured employee knows that their employer cares about them. It’s important for the injured employee to feel seen, valued and heard. To know that someone will be there if they have questions about work, pay, doctors’ appointments, carrier/TPA contacts – when there’s a resource and someone to support them from the employer, it makes an impact on how the claim transpires for the injured employee. Lainey is always aware of all the moving pieces of the claim and keeps frequent communication the with the injured employee so they know they are being taken care of and treated kindly.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success,"

-  Henry Ford

Collaboration is Key

The majority of large organizations have a third-party administrator (TPA) that manages the claims for their programs. Lainey stresses the importance of good collaboration with the adjusters/TPA and also work with them on special instructions on how to handle and communicate on the claims with their injured employees.

Lainey stays in contact with the adjusters, and serves as an extra set of eyes, on each claim and will even provide them with updates when applicable. She believes it’s imperative to have communication and collaboration with their TPA. Adjusters have so much on their desks. If you do have an advocate within the employer this can help ease the mind of an injured employee with having another resource to assist them.

Working as a partner with the TPA can also help with the delay of care and move the process along. With an internal resource they can help move the claim along. Work together with the TPA and their adjusting team – as everyone is in this together.

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."

— Michael Jordan

Taking Action, Even if it’s a small step

Taking action doesn’t mean a leap. It can be a small step. We have to start somewhere when we are tryign to make a difference and a change in the industry or the world.

Lainey has a passion for bridging the gap between all stakeholders involved in a claim. She believes that employers should be in the driver’s seat of the claim and she has a vision of helping employers have a good relationship with all parties involved. She set out to create a space to bring all stakeholders together with her online blog, Workers’ Comp Collaborative. Lainey is just getting started with her initiative to have the employers take the lead on claims. This will be a safe place to get everyone in one place for education and innovation on the claims.

We can all work together on a claim to improve the process and make it a better experience. One step at a time. Don’t be afraid to take action in our industry.

“We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.” — Whoopi Goldberg

Bridging the gap in Knowledge – bringing new talent to our industry

Like many of us in the industry, we see a talent gap in the industry as people retire. Lainey stresses the importance of educating people about the workers’ compensation and insurance industry. We don’t see as many career tracks to get into this space and there are so many directions and avenues to go in our industry.

Lainey is passionate about this and believes it’s up to us to come together to mentor new people in our industry and work together to have an outreach plan to bring new people in.

We are in an amazing industry filled with good humans doing good things. We can make a difference and we can start by creating programs to attract new talent to our industry. In this time in our world, individuals seek fulfilment, roles with passion and purpose. What better way to show your compassion and work with empathy than to come into our world. It’s important that we make this a focus as we can bring new talent in and keep making this industry a better place!

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