How Atlantic Entrepreneur Dallas Mercer Helps Employers Tackle Skyrocketing WorkSafe Premiums
It’s no secret that workers’ compensation related costs are skyrocketing, which is creating unprecedented challenges for businesses in New Brunswick. And while most employers look at their workers’ compensation and disability management costs as fixed and unchanging, one Atlantic Canadian entrepreneur is helping employers fight back – and they’re embarking on a tour of New Brunswick to help empower and educate our employers.
DMC serves as an employer advocate on workers’ compensation and sick leave issues, helping to ensure effective cost management and claim duration reductions. By providing strategies for public and private sector employers to lower their costs and helping them understand how workers’ compensation systems actually work – including appeals, cost relief, classifications, and issue resolution – DMC helps minimize lost time, increase productivity, and keep workers safe.
Their team of Disability Managers includes industry experts, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Kinesiologists. DMC serves as virtual disability managers for their clients, not simply monitoring but managing their workers’ compensation claims and sick leave.
Like many great entrepreneurial stories, DMC started in a basement office with a dream and a vision.
After working with the Worker’s Compensation Board for many years, Dallas Mercer joined the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council and it became apparent to her how little employers knew about their rights and how they could affect what they were paying in workers’ compensation premiums.
A seed was planted, which would later grow and flourish into DMC.
I realized that nobody was looking out for employers,” said Dallas. “Businesses are taught to just accept the premiums and the costs, and they often don’t have the tools or the knowledge to do anything different.”
Nearly 20 years later, Dallas leads a team of 25 full-time professionals who advocate for public and private sector employers and help them improve their bottom lines, while dramatically reducing stress relating to sick leave and disability management costs. While their head office is located in St. John’s, DMC has since expanded their presence with offices in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to better offer workers’ compensation and sick leave management services to their clients all across Canada.
It’s safe to say that Dallas Mercer is one of the most results-focused business leaders in Atlantic Canada. Her limitless energy is rivaled only by her tenacity, and the DMC team shares her infectious passion and work tirelessly for their clients, fighting their battles, and celebrating their wins. Apart from being a multi-year Atlantic Business Magazine Top 50 CEO, Dallas was the first-ever woman from Newfoundland and Labrador to be selected for the Wallace McCain Institute Entrepreneurial Leadership Program – and has since been appointed to the Wallace McCain Advisory Board.
DMC serves clients across a broad range of industries, including but not limited to construction, grocery, fishing and fish processing, manufacturing, hospitality, oil & gas, mining, health care, and transportation – and this extensive experience allows their clients to benefit from best practices across industries. They’ve found that 91% of DMC clients pay below their industry rate for workers compensation claims, while 94% benefit from decreased claims cost.
“One of the benefits of DMC is that they really have an in-depth knowledge of the process, and of the rules, and of the regulations,” said Blair Hyslop, President & Co-Owner of Mrs. Dunster’s Inc. “Their persistence is well-founded in a deep knowledge of the system. Oftentimes, they even have a greater deal of knowledge than the agencies we’re dealing with that are administrating the program, and so they’re often able to challenge them on what their own regulations are. That’s where their persistence really pays off; they’re not persistent for the sake of it, they’re persistent with a purpose.”
One of the main areas of focus for DMC is to help reduce the time that employees are out on sick-leave and due to work-related injuries.
“Employees are every company’s greatest asset and when they are sick or injured the impact is far-reaching,” said Dallas. “Employers need someone to represent them, to help navigate the growing cost of injuries and sick leave, and keep their employees at work.”
For those who would like to learn more about how they can affect the costs associated with workers’ compensation, Dallas and her team are hosting a series of employer-focused workshops in New Brunswick in April and May, in partnership with local chambers of commerce and economic development agencies.
Event details and registration information:
April 9th, Delta Beausejour Hotel, Moncton: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-employers-need-to-know-about-their-worksafe-costs-dmc-tickets-58878512215
April 24th, Hilton Saint John: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-employers-need-to-know-about-their-worksafe-costs-dmc-tickets-59227959421
April 30th, Crown Plaza, Fredericton: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-employers-need-to-know-about-their-worksafe-costs-dmc-tickets-59227758821
May 2nd, Rodd Miramichi River, Miramichi: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-employers-need-to-know-about-their-worksafe-costs-dmc-tickets-59228063733
This story was sponsored by DMC.