Every September, the editors at Claims pore over a ream ofsurvey responses in an attempt to better understand the workingconditions and salaries of the claim professionals for whom wewrite, and this year marks our 17th attempt at capturing thezeitgeist.

We shuffle through spreadsheets of statistics, and we read everywritten comment (surprise, surprise…claim professionals aren'tafraid to voice their opinions), coding them with three differentcolors: green for positive, pink for negative, and yellow foreverything in between. And for those who are wondering, this year'shighlighted comments could pass as wallpaper in Barbie's dreamhouse.

With all of this knowledge in hand, we begin calculating,analyzing, and theorizing. It's a painstaking process that requiresan extraordinary effort not only from the editors, but also themagazine's IT, marketing, and circulation departments, who enableus to conduct the survey and receive responses electronically whiletargeting it to a specific audience via e-mail. New to the surveythis year was a link on our web site, too, which made participatingin the survey easier than ever — and more anonymous.