Working on the Night Shift

Communications technologies are more readily available to the independent adjuster, facilitating the 24-hour workday and a greater speed of service.

As customer demand increases, some companies have implemented call centres, staffed 24/7/365.

While service expectations continue to rise, could independent adjusters find themselves moving from the on-call emergency response they are in now, to a night shift position?

Traditionally, the adjuster’s base working hours have been more or less between 9 a. m. and 5 p. m., John Sharoun, CEO of Crawford & Company (Canada), told delegates at the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association (CICMA)/Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA) 41st annual joint conference in Toronto.

There are, to be sure, exceptions to every rule and independent adjusters are no exception. There were some insurers with emergency after hours capabilities and insurance adjusters were always there to respond to the after hours nights and weekend emergencies, Sharoun said in a follow-up interview.

“There is no doubt the level of response and the frequency of response over the years has changed significantly over the years as consumers demand and expectation has heightened and the insurers have raised the bar on customer service,” Sharoun said. “In every industry around us we are becoming a 24/7/365 society.”

Independent adjusters decades ago were equipped with Polaroid cameras, electric typewriters and draft paper.

And as far as communications technology goes, adjusters now have digital dictation, GPS systems, cell phones, digital photography and BlackBerries, etc.

But as technology has advanced, independent adjusters are increasingly no longer finding themselves in nine-to- five jobs, but in a 24/7/365 situation.

“We now have call centres operating 24/7/365 staffed by call centre agents and licensed adjusters, in some cases, that are capable of taking thousands of after hour calls many more of which are being paged out for face-to-face interaction with the customer than ever before,” Sharoun said.

Many of these call centres will begin to see expanded hours with adjusters on-hand to provide immediate emergency response. These adjusters will be readily available to make the policyholder feel at ease and handle as much of the claim as possible during that call.

“We’re pretty much enabled,” Sharoun said. “But we’re enabled in kind of a singular world, we’re enabled by modern technology.”

In the past, page-outs were few and far between, now adjusters can get four to eight page-outs a weekend, during all hours of the day and night.

Tomorrow’s adjusters will find themselves not only on a 24/7/365 schedule, but on a night shift as well, Sharoun said. The business is moving towards a point where, at any time of the day or night, a licensed adjuster will be available to handle the claim.

“I think that’s the reality,” Sharoun said.

There will be wireless technology and an interconnection between businesses, so that an independent adjuster can, in real time, operate in a connected environment with their service providers.

That’s not to say that adjusters were not always there to provide emergency response, it is just now becoming the norm — it is part of doing business in the new world.