"The Times They Are A-Changin"
There was a time when being an insurance adjuster meant something and a person could actually make a difference in a person's life simply by being a professional adjuster with confidence, knowledge and genuine concern for the insured. The idea then was to adjust the insured first and then adjust the claim. It worked quite well and still does for those who continue to use the approach.
Some acceptions aside, there are no "bad adjusters", but rather a symptom of the current failing adjusting mentality of the industry. Industry Executives who have been through the various cycles of insurance claims over the last 30 years or so know what this article is about and most would agree. The new avant-garde appear to be moving away from the customer service attitude that was the catalyst in changing the way the insured customer views the insurance adjuster.
During the 20's, 30's and into the 60's, adjusters were viewed by most of the general public as a sort of "Insurance Militia". Most of the adjusters of that era were trained to look for coverage issues and appeared to do so with the purpose of denying or limiting claims coverage and payments. The time period of the 70's, 80's, 90's and half of the decade encompassing 2000 to 2005 ushered in a more customer service oriented claims handling approach resulting in a much more positive view or perception of the insurance adjuster by the insured and general public.
Since 2005, the industry trend to a more streamlined and numbers oriented adjusting approach appears to have eliminated the need for the claims artistry of the past and fundamentally changed the adjusters ability to properly investigate the claim. Adjusting is an art requiring instinct and judgment. These abilities are held by the seasoned adjuster or by those fortunate enough to have been trained properly.
The current streamlined view, while it may appear to initially benefit the insurance company in terms of underwriting profit, is turning the claims customer into a number instead of a customer. It is likely that continued use of this trend will result in a return to the negative view of the adjuster, claims handling in general and the insurance industry as a whole as was the case in an earlier era.
Most adjusters are professional and should be trusted to adjust the loss properly. A properly trained professional adjuster, if allowed to do his or her job properly, would keep the industry from repeating their mistakes of the past that have haunted the industry for years. Perception of a business or industry is something that takes a lifetime or two (2) in order to permanently affect change whether for the good or bad.
Adjusters must be free to adjust the insured then indemnify or make the insured whole again by properly assessing the damages suffered by the insured with the goal of returning the insured to a pre loss condition. The money saved simply by adjusting the claim properly, staying connected and taking ownership of the claim, cannot be quantified or measured.
The insured used to be given the benefit of the doubt, respected and treated fairly in the "old days". The newer viewpoint or philosophy where numbers are the dominant factor may ultimately damage the industries reputation if left unchecked. Unless we are careful and mindful of public perception, the very same "reputation" that the retiring adjusting generation fought to change and save in what this author describes as "the golden age of adjusting", will be lost.
Everyone in the industry needs to take a moment to pause because we, as an industry, are at critical juncture. There is a way to save the industry from itself. The answer is in training. Using the very adjuster base of knowledge that changed the prevailing public attitude of adjusting years ago can once again be tapped but this time to move knowledge from one generation to another.
The veteran adjuster of 25 to 30 years possesses a vast and useable knowledge base. That information and knowledge needs to be bridged from the "old world view of adjusting" into the current generation of adjusters so the current adjusting generation will have that knowledge as part of their arsenal. When you combine the "old world way of adjusting" along with the current computer literate and creative ability of the current claims adjusting generation it becomes a winning situation for all involved.
As many seasoned professional adjusters/managers know, there was a knowledge gap created by a lack of training starting in the early 90's. This gap or trend went unchecked until early in this decade when companies began to understand the problem. Many company executives mandated change and began to train their adjusting staff in the basic art of adjusting a claim.
The problem appears to be that Industry leaders chose to ignore the important ideas and adjusting techniques of the past opting instead to concentrate most of the training emphasis on the use of modern computer based claims management systems. The art of adjusting a claim appeared to have been left behind.
The 15 to 20 year gap in training combined with the way training is now being conducted by many companies worldwide is what is hurting the industry today. The industry will continue to have claims related issues and bring harm to itself until we properly educate and provide our current generation of adjusters with the proper tools of the trade and attitude necessary to return to the age of customer service.
We need to educate, train and teach our younger adjusting force to be what the daily insurance adjuster once was and could be again. The best person to train the new adjusting force is the veteran adjuster nearing his or her retirement years. That generation was taught how to adjust a loss in the real world.
Unless the entire industry acts fast, the knowledge and art of adjusting a claim as it was once taught and practiced will be lost forever and we may never get back to where we need to be. Some parts of the claim adjusting process such as taking a statement or completing a proper investigation, have almost become a lost art as it is. As for this author, I would not want to see a once vibrant, fun and helpful industry move closer to the abyss as is the current direction in which the industry is headed.
There is still time to change but the clock is ticking. We need the real world adjusters of the past. In order to do this we need to train like the old days and combine that knowledge with the current adjusting generation computer skills and other new ideas about adjusting. By putting the two together, the new generation of adjusters will be better than the generation before them. Isn't that the way it is supposed to work anyway?
Our next generation of adjusters is out there. Some are working in the industry and others are contemplating it as a career. The answer to our industries future lies in our young people. Those very same young people have the skills and desire to be what the industry used to be about.
Isn't it about time we trained them to be the best they can be just as the veteran adjuster was trained to be the best he or she could be. Putting the training issues raised in this article aside, those of you who are skeptical need to ask yourself one question: who would you rather rely on to adjust your claim?
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