Excerpt: In one year's time, the company shrank $5 million in annual short-term disability costs to $4.2 million for its 9,000 U.S. employees. The program has saved 25 percent in direct costs in the first year and is projected to cut costs by up to half in its first three years. 'In the first year, the average time off went from 48 days to 38,' Chambers says. 'We estimate that for our company, for every day we can reduce duration, it's $100,000 in savings.'