When asked, "What do you like least about your job?" many claim managers reply, "Personnel issues!" Often, claim managers like developing business, servicing clients, and leading a claim team. This is what makes them tick.
However, these same claim managers get no charge from tracking adjuster vacation requests, monitoring adjuster attendance, or managing sick days. They dread conducting employee appraisal sessions or mediating between two feuding members of their claim staff. As claim staffs grow, though — whether in an insurer organization or in a TPA — so too does responsibility for human resources. Claim managers need to treat their staff well and provide for their well being. Other than stockpile Advil, what more can claim managers do?
One thing is clear — failure to address personnel issues will spike turnover and staff attrition. This disrupts workflow within a busy claim office. It degrades client service, as customers — rightly or wrongly — perceive a "revolving door" with a new adjuster handling their claim every time they call. It can torpedo morale, as the "surviving" adjusters often must stretch to cover the caseload of the dearly departed. Investment in human resource issues can improve workflow, enhance claim productivity, boost customer service, and elevate staff morale.
Clearly, investing in staff can pay dividends. But the things that higher-ups think provide motivation to employees often misses the mark.
A poll in the Jan. 8, 07 issue of Business Week (not focused on insurance claim people, admittedly) asked employees to nominate the best New Year's resolutions that their bosses should embrace. The results:
- Address workplace conflicts faster – 18%
- Don't micromanage – 14%
- Recognize well done work – 12%
- Plan morale-building office events – 0%
Note: Most of these require very little money. Many (most) involve no financial outlay. None are budget-busters. The only one that actually costs money — morale-building office events — was given zero weight in terms of improving the workforce. The top three are "dollar-neutral," costing only time and attention. A focus on human resources offers claim departments and TPAs a chance to create competitive advantages, though. Investing time and resources up front can produce significant dividends for the claim operation further down the road.
One recurring challenge is that too many claim managers approach personnel by taking shortcuts, hoping to get past whatever issue they face, so they can get back to handling and managing claims. This can lead to hiring substandard claim people or those who are simply a poor fit for the claim operation. Claim managers often feel pressed to fill vacant slots, preventing an active caseload from being "orphaned."
Employee relations specialist Don Phin has developed personnel tools that he feels can lead to better hires (see www.hrthatworks.com). Using this tool takes time and effort, but it may save claim managers from having to address the same employee issues over and over, while at the same time increasing the stability of the claim staff.
Here are some ideas on improving the management of the claim staff:
Develop job descriptions for the claim staff. This can avoid many problems. Without standards or explanations of responsibilities, management may find it hard to hold adjusters fully accountable for their work. Sound procedures and well-designed job descriptions can reduce adjuster E&O exposures, boost morale, and enhance productivity. But be careful not to become so slavishly devoted to written job descriptions that you lose sight of the big picture or the need for flexibility. Each job description should close with the phrase, " . . . and other duties as assigned."
Improve relationships among the claim staff. Not having procedures or job descriptions also can create leadership vacuums within the claim staff. Personnel problems multiply when adjusters fight for turf. Comments such as, "This client is mine!" or "Hey, I'm the specialist on fire-loss investigations!" can signal turf wars within the claim staff.
One impediment is that no claim boss wants to function as a de facto Kindergarten Cop. While bickering among the claim staff might seem petty and something managers or supervisors want them to resolve among themselves, it is not a trivial pursuit to those involved. Sparring over turf and establishing pecking orders may be a natural human instinct. If leadership is lacking from the claim manager, more skirmishes among claim staffers will arise. Since the claim manager likely will be drawn into these tussles, is it not better to establish leadership through the creation of a personnel policy and possibly prevent clashes from ever occurring?
Upgrade the dynamics within the claim office or department. People who "connect" in their place of employment are usually better employees. Adjusters who feel that the higher ups actually care — about them, their opinions, ideas, and career goals — perform better and contribute more to the enterprise, whether that enterprise is an insurance company, a TPA, or a self-insured claim department that handles or oversees its own claims. I knew one boss who was brilliant but who thought hallway chit-chats about family or what her employees did over the weekend were a waste of time. "Not job-related! Not productive! We're here to work, not to socialize!"
By contrast, another boss periodically asked about kids, their school choices and soccer games, mentioning the children by name. For which one do you think adjusters worked harder? One boss was higher up on the Mensa and I.Q. scale, but the other had a higher "E.Q." — Emotional Intelligence Quotient. Which one do you think would be more motivating?
Claims people who feel disenfranchised may strike out on their own, going through the motions but making little positive impact in handling claims or servicing customers. If your staff realizes that you care about them — not just as employees but as people — and that you recognize that they have lives outsides of work, they are more likely to go the extra mile. "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
A personnel plan creates boundaries, goals, and directions for the claim staff. It invites employee input and creates a sense of team. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
Establishing a good human resources plan is simply good business. Commitment to this should produce a better claim department or unit, one that claim managers can more fully enjoy. If adjusters can exploit the claim manager or the system, other claim staff members may rebel, retaliate, or become disgruntled. Your human resources plan should decisively intervene in early bad behavior, since it holds the claim manager and the claim staff accountable for undesirable behavior. Of course, it is one thing to have a human resources plan, another thing to actually utilize it. Guard against it becoming window dressing or "credenza decoration."
We have all heard the corporate mantra, "Our people are our most valuable assets." Perhaps it has evoked more guffaws than credence. Claim managers have not yet devised computers or software to go out and settle a homeowners' loss or take a statement from an injured claimant. Without people — i.e. the adjusting staff — the claim manager is as impotent as a eunuch with a lapsed Viagra prescription.
Make yourself a potent claim manager by creating a good personnel plan for your claim staff!
Kevin Quinley, CPCU, is an insurance executive and business writer. He is an expert, speaker, and trainer on claim productivity and the author of Claims Management. You can reach him at kquinley@cox.net or at his web site, www.kevinquinley.com.
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