2015 NWCDC

Results Through Integration

Reyes Holding dramatically overhauled its approach to absence management.
By: | November 12, 2015

Integrated disability management (IDM) has been on the radar for a long time, but some companies are still hesitant to make the leap.

For Dave Taylor, the director of IDM for Reyes Holdings in Rosemont, Ill., making the leap was crucial for the long-term success of his company. Taylor, joined by Renee Mattaliano, vice president, HUB International, outlined the company’s move to IDM on November 11 at the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

After multiple assessments, Reyes Holdings, a wholesale beer and food distributor with $22 billion in revenue and 18,000 employees, concluded the company needed to approach its productivity and absence management in a whole new way.

“If you can get out of bed, we can find something for you to do, and sometimes even if you can’t.” — Dave Taylor, director of IDM, Reyes Holdings

That meant a complete restructuring of practices and procedures related to all absences, work-related and non-work related alike.

It also meant reorganizing employee roles and responsibilities to reflect the new approach. Every person responsible for managing any absence now reports directly to Taylor, eliminating the information disconnects that plagued the company in the past.

The core of the new approach was an improved and aggressive approach to transitional duty, said Taylor.

“No iron lung? No lost time,” Taylor quipped. But the company’s commitment is quite serious.

“If you can get out of bed, we can find something for you to do, and sometimes even if you can’t,” he said.

Prior to making the change in 2014, Reyes had seen a 120 percent increase in claims costs over the course of a decade, despite the fact that claim volume had remained flat.

Now, the company projects a 25 percent decrease in workers’ comp and disability costs by 2017.

Michelle Kerr is Workers’ Compensation Editor and National Conference Chair for Risk & Insurance. She can be reached at [email protected].

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