Of course, it's not all roses. Management needs to be aware of — and anticipate dealing with — the potential downsides of the business for their employees.

Travel - Losses rarely occur in a company's back yard. Clients who have built a long-term relationship with their adjusters may have a loss anywhere in the world, and expect their adjusters to be on-site quickly. Local support is certainly helpful, but adjusters are expected to manage the loss and recovery process until concluded – which can be weeks, months, or years later. Successful adjusters can sometimes become strangers to their own spouses and children.

Best management practices ensure that as a part of the recruiting process, adjusters are clear on the extent of travel required for the position. No glossing over here. Once hired, management needs to monitor employee travel, and work proactively to lessen its impact on the individual adjuster. Flight upgrades and a decent hotel ease some of the pain, and a family-friendly policy on extended assignments costs little but delivers big rewards. Companies can sometimes forget that they have informally hired a spouse as well as an adjuster.

Long Hours – Large, remote, or catastrophic losses may require a series of 18-hour days. Unfortunately, there is little management can do to reduce adjusters' client commitments.

Best management practices for extended-hour assignments mean that management must be aware of adjusters' workloads, and discuss with each individual adjuster what help he needs to get the job done. Some adjusters are reluctant to ask for help for themselves, thinking that only they can do it right or that they don't want anyone else "messing" with their clients. This speaks to the need for open and honest dialogue to resolve these issues.

Boom or Bust – Ours is a cyclical industry but with an underlying loss volume that is generally predictable. The problem is that catastrophic events such as an active hurricane or typhoon season, or an atypical earthquake or tsunami, can quickly cause available adjusting assignments to double, and firms and individual adjusters can find themselves overcommitted. Boom times coupled with over-commitment creates an issue of reputation for the industry, and often costs individual adjusters and their firms valuable clients.

Best management practices include monitoring both adjuster and firm commitments to individual clients, and to work with them to complete contingency planning for best- and worst-case scenarios.

Pressure to Produce - Some adjusters have great technical skills, others have excellent business development and management skills, and a lucky few have both. But at the end of the day, each adjuster is evaluated and paid based on their ultimate contributions. Management must recognize the skill set each adjuster brings to the table, and provide help for the thin spots. Adjusters with strong business development skills may find themselves overcommitted; those with exceptional technical skills may suffer with a great reputation but low revenue.

A best management practice is to monitor the business managers. Consider a plan to appropriately compensate the manager, while at the same time moving some of that business to the technicians. Seminars and other group environments are a good way to allow a technical adjuster to shine in a less-threatening situation than one-on-one calling. An honest marketing program can also deliver clients who appreciate a firm's commitment in addition to that of its individual adjusters.

Special Reports /

A Tale of Two Adjusters

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