Case Study

Background You are the Program Manager of the companys Integrated Disability Management Program (IDMP). You have been asked to evaluate the program but have never done anything like this before and are unsure how to start. However, you have recently taken a Disability Management Course and plan to follow the Program Evaluation guidelines provided by the instructor.

Facts about the Company:

A growing company in a very competitive market

The industry sector is oil and gas

Diverse workforce of 1000 employees located within the province

There are diverse work activities and work locations

Equal mix of office and field personnel

Regular, part-time and seasonal workers

Workforce is made up of managerial, technical, professional, labour and support personnel

Mix of unionized and non-unionized staff: good stable union-company relations

The male-female ratio is 65:35

There are some safety-sensitive positions that require definite occupational requirements for employment and ongoing work

Employees range in age from 20 to 56 years, with the average age being 35 years for office staff and 48 years for field staff

Educational levels vary from completion of high school to Doctorate-prepared levels of education

The average salary is $48,000 per year

The company is self-insured for the STD period, then uses LTD insurance for the LTD coverage

Employee benefits include Short Term Disability (starting day 1 of illness/injury and lasting for 6 months (125 days)); LTD (2 years own occupation and then any occupation for which the person is qualified in the state/province of residence)

Other benefits include dental and extended healthcare

The company has an EAP and a Disability Management Service Provider that provides disability case management

Internally, there is you and the Safety Section to manage all the disability claims

The company has a Disability Management communication strategy and plan aimed at promoting employee understanding of the importance of prompt WCB reporting. The message given is: Only through timely reporting can injured employees be properly assisted.

The company has set up WCB claim reporting procedures and trained supervisors on how to submit WCB claims.

Supervisors have been educated on the management of employees on STD and the return-towork practices within the IDMP.

Current Situation

Last year, the IDMP outcomes were 56% modified work participation; a reduction of 5% in the average number of employee medical absence days; cost-avoidance (savings) of $179K due to modified work hours; and a significant WCB claim cost reduction (16% reduction in WCB claim costs). These results were considered to be strong. This year however, things have changed. The company has undergone restructuring and you fear that the past IDMP performance measures are on the increase. For example, you have noted that there has been an increase in the number of late WCB claim submissions and WCB claim costs. Also, more employees seem to be going off work on STD due to flu conditions, some of which have resulted in lengthy absences extending into LTD absences. You are very concerned and want to find out what is going on. At this point, you only have a hunch that a problem might exist. It is now seven-months into this year, and you want to conduct an evaluation of the current IDMP performance measures over the first and second quarters of this year with those of the previous year.

Assignment Questions

Your challenge is to design a Program Evaluation Plan.

Please do so by responding to the following eight questions:

1. What is the evaluation question? Please ensure that your state this as a question. Be careful with the wording; it will direct your whole Program Evaluation Plan of Action.

2. What type of answers would you have to obtain to answer this question? Each answer must relate directly to your evaluation question and how it is worded.

3. What data would you need to collect, and how would you get that data? Please be as specific as you can. The data collected must relate directly to getting the answers needed for the evaluation question of interest.

4. Who would be the stakeholders in your Program Evaluation plan and how will they contribute to your plan? Again, be specific. Link each stakeholder and their contribution to the method of data collection selected.

5. How would you analyze the data? Explain your plan for analyzing the data.

6. How would you interpret the findings? Given the plan you developed in question #2, you should now be able to apply it here in question #6. In essence, how will you make sense of the findings.

7. Develop the timelines for your Program Evaluation Project as well as a budget. Please use a timeline and a budget table.

8. How would you communicate the results? (5 marks) Be specific as to how you would prepare and disseminate the evaluation results.

Assignment Format: Your assignment should be developed as a report suitable for management review and possibly, for obtaining Management approval for expenditure of future company resources, if warranted.