Key takeaways:
There’s a number on your workers compensation declaration page that shapes your premium every year. Most employers have seen their experience modification factor (e-mod), but they may not understand what it reflects – or that it’s within their power to change.
Jennifer Loy is an Underwriting Team Manager at MEM with more than 18 years of underwriting experience. She’s reviewed accounts across a wide range of industries and examined many e-mods. What she sees in those numbers isn’t just claims history; it’s a record of how a business operates.
Your e-mod is a record, not just a rating
Your e-mod compares your actual claims history to what’s expected for a business of your size and industry. A 1.0 means you’re performing at the industry average. Below it, you’re paying less than your peers. Above it, more.
📍 Read next: E-mod Explained: What It Costs You and How to Improve It >
On the underwriting side, Loy sees the pattern behind that number: The decisions employers make – or don’t make – that determine where it lands. An e-mod isn’t just the outcome of a bad year. It reflects what happened before, during, and after each claim.
“The business owner can promote a safety-conscious team to help in lowering that number and preventing losses for their team,” Loy said, “or mitigating the loss if one does occur.”
A single claim doesn’t make or break your e-mod. What moves it is the pattern: How frequently claims happen, how severe they become, and how engaged the employer was throughout the process. Severity is often more within your control than you might expect. The decisions made in the hours and days after an injury – whether it’s reported promptly, whether the employee returns to modified duty, whether you stay in contact with your carrier – shape how that claim ultimately closes.
📍 Read next: Frequency vs. Severity: The Impact of Claims Big and Small >
Sky-high e-mod? 4 mistakes to fix
After years of underwriting review, Loy has identified patterns in accounts with troublesome e-mods. There are four traits they often have in common.
1. Reporting late (“wait and see”)
If there’s one behavior that drives claim costs up more than any other, it’s delayed reporting.
“I don’t care if it’s a cut finger – it needs to get reported,” Loy said. “This gets the wheels turning. Your claims rep can help you get appointments set up; get those medical bills discounted. And the sooner the treatment gets started, the quicker your recovery’s going to be, which in turn lowers those claims costs.”
Reporting triggers the full system: Medical bill discounts, claims rep engagement, and nurse case management. An employer who waits to see if a minor injury resolves on its own often ends up with a claim that escalates more than it should.
📍 Read next: Timely Claims Reporting: Why the First 24 Hours After an Injury Matter >
2. No return to work program
Lost-time claims carry significantly more e-mod weight than medical-only claims. A return to work program is one of the most direct ways to keep claims in the medical-only category – but employers who don’t have one in place before an injury happens are left scrambling.
Modified duty doesn’t have to be complicated. It can include typing, filing, or handling light administrative tasks. The goal is to keep the injured worker connected to the workplace and the recovery process moving.
“A return to work program will be extremely important to control that claim cost,” Loy said. “Keeping it as a med-only claim can reduce that e-mod. But even if you extend past that medical-only status, the return to work program can still help you reduce the cost of that claim.”
📍 Read next: Return to Work Programs: How to Get Injured Workers Back on the Job >
3. Stepping back from the claims process
Handing off a claim to the carrier and checking out is a pattern Loy sees in accounts with higher-cost outcomes. The carrier is managing the claim without the employer’s active cooperation – and that gap creates risk.
“The carrier is not just out there to make your life miserable and make you jump through hoops,” Loy said. “They’re there to manage that claim and keep those costs down for that business owner’s bottom line.”
Litigation risk increases when the employer is disengaged. Staying in contact with your claims representative, cooperating with documentation requests, and understanding where the claim stands are the things that keep claims from becoming prolonged and expensive.
📍 Read next: Road to Recovery: 5 People Who Join You on Your Claims Journey >
4. Safety programs that only exist on paper
Policies in a binder; inconsistent enforcement. Loy sees this in accounts with recurring incidents – not necessarily high-severity claims, but frequent ones that accumulate over time and drag the e-mod up.
“It starts from the top down,” Loy said. “If your management team isn’t safety aware and practicing those safety protocols, why would anybody else see the need to do that?”
There’s also a familiarity problem. Employers who walk through their own facility every day stop seeing what’s in front of them. An outside set of eyes – a safety consultant walking the floor for the first time – spots the hazards that have become invisible through repetition. The rug someone’s been stepping around for years. The equipment guard that’s been propped open. The process that looked fine until it wasn’t.
📍 Read next: Foundations of a Workplace Safety Program >
What consistent, strong e-mod performance looks like
Accounts with strong e-mods have a few things in common, and none of them are accidental.
Safety is a discipline, not a response. Loy described it as a “lifestyle” – built into daily operations, not activated when something goes wrong. That means:
- Enforcing safety programs consistently, not just before an assessment or visit
- Modeling safety behavior from management down – if leadership doesn’t follow protocols, no one else will
- Running safety talks before starting a job as standard practice
- Having a disciplinary plan in place to reinforce expectations when they’re not met
These businesses also develop claims management plans before an incident happens, which include:
- Reporting claims quickly and staying engaged throughout the process
- Using telehealth and nurse triage instead of rushing every employee to the ER
- Enforcing post-incident drug and alcohol testing
- Creating a return to work program that includes light duty
Your e-mod is in your hands
Loy’s 18 years of reviewing accounts point to one consistent truth: The businesses with the strongest e-mods didn’t just have fewer injuries. They made better decisions when injuries did occur.
“The easiest way to make a positive difference in your e-mod is to not have the losses in the first place,” Loy said. “So promoting that and living that safety-minded lifestyle will go a long way.”
The businesses with the strongest e-mods know their number, ask questions about it at renewal, and treat it as a business metric worth tracking. Improving your e-mod doesn’t happen overnight. It takes slow, deliberate dedication to building a real safety program, planning your claims management strategy, and staying engaged throughout the process.
This work requires investing time and resources – but it has a return. Building these habits doesn’t just save you money on premium over time; it protects the people who make your business successful.
The proof is in the numbers. Read three case studies that prove what’s possible: How Real Businesses Improved Their E-mods.