Workers' Compensation Claims: A Common Employer's Nightmare

Workers’ compensation claims and how to keep them under control have always been a concern for employers. Incidents ending in claims occur in virtually all industries and can be costly and time consuming. There is no federal workers’ compensation law that addresses workplace injuries. It is a state issue, and each state enacts and enforces its own legal framework. Today, every workers’ compensation claim raises the potential for a variety of workplace laws to come into play.

From Painful Beginnings

A new corporate headquarters was recently completed near our place. It’s sleek, well-designed and sends the right message. When talking to one of their leads, I asked why they chose Gensler for the design. The answer: “They make things painful in the beginning, drilling hard on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ before they ever get around to what the place will look like. They were focused on making the building a long-term home on many levels.”

My first cousin, Bryant Rice, started his career with Gensler, and along the way designed with Google and Apple, too. I asked him to share a few thoughts on this type of intentional design. A summary follows.

Most people don’t consciously realize what a building or setting communicates. It’s subliminal. You just know when a space has been carefully conceived with intention. The hard thing with architecture is you really don’t know you have gotten it right until it is finished and being used. That’s when you see what is being modified by the inhabitants, how the phone is being answered, what lunch time conversations are like. Space can be altered after it is built, but there is no substitute for careful planning, for both function and spirit.

I agree. You must get into the minds of the people who will call a building home. Office buildings are more than four walls, a roof and a floor. Buildings are visual manifestations of our values and culture. Timing and budgets are usually difficult, but taking the time to weigh benefits and disadvantages of design is always a good investment.

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Tech & Tires: What You Need to Know Now

What you need to know about top trends in on-the-road tire manufacturing and tire design

Why Firms Should Automate Time & Material Tracking

While construction has been one of the slower industries to adapt, the digital tech genie is now out of the bottle. According to the World Economic Forum, the construction industry will be almost entirely digitized within 10 years, with an overall potential savings of $1.2 trillion globally due to increased efficiency and productivity. Those kinds of numbers can’t be ignored. So the question becomes, where can firms best maximize new digital solutions?