Changing perceptions: A four-pronged approach to worker risk

Risk managers in Fairfax Country, Va., set out to improve workers’ comp outcomes and increase employee satisfaction. Their work resulted in a 2023 Excellence in Worker’s Comp Risk Management Award.  (Credit: Fairfax County Government Center photo is by Antony-22/Wikipedia Commons)

When Randy F. Jouben came on board in December 2017 as chief of risk management for Virginia’s Fairfax County, he quickly observed that the county’s employees had a less-than-positive view of the worker’s compensation program.

“In town halls and other forums, employees and managers voiced their disappointment and concern that the county’s program was motivated by cost containment, not by a genuine interest in supporting injured workers,” Jouben says. “There were a lot of antiquated assumptions, and people just weren’t happy.”