Theo Awards 2025: In Conversation with FedEx

At National Comp 2025 in Nashville, Risk & Insurance sat down with team members from 2025 Theo Award winner FedEx, to discuss how they merged seven separate workers’ compensation systems into one enterprise framework while improving outcomes for injured workers. Risk & Insurance’s Abi Potter Clough sat down with Nancy Chiesa, senior manager of workers’ comp claims, Jim English, managing director of risk management, together with Nina Smith, president of customer and market operations at Enlyte.

In this conversation, the team shares how they built trust across formerly separate operating companies through “FICA time”—monthly coffee breaks where work talk is forbidden—and expanded their nurse triage line enterprise-wide, achieving a remarkable 79% utilization rate and slashing indemnity claims from 57% to 33%.

The result: injured workers get immediate access to medical professionals who provide the right care at the right time, reducing unnecessary ER visits while demonstrating to employees FedEx’s commitment to care.