Our “Star Adjuster” series is going great and we continue to learn great things from talking to some of our adjusters. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for us, so be sure to keep submitting your nominations!

Here is the next installment of our “Adjuster Roundtable” where we feature posts from our group discussions with adjusters. These conversations give adjusters the chance to speak to us and to each other at a more in-depth level so we can further understand what goes on in the world of adjusters. Keep a look out for our continued posts of the roundtable discussion and one-on-one interviews so we can truly make this the Year of the Adjuster!

Our group comes to us from AMERISAFE, a specialty provider for small to mid-sized employers in hazardous industries in over 30 jurisdictions. They utilize Field Case Managers, who carry low claims workloads in order to spend more time with employers and their injured workers, facilitating prompt resolution of claims. Our four adjusters are in different jurisdictions and have different responsibilities, but we still see a similarity in the way they spend their time and what they think is important about their job.

We think this next question is an important one to ask because, as you all know from our series, adjusters are extremely busy! It can be hard for them to finish the things they hope to accomplish in a day without lots of other problems popping up in the meantime.

What’s something you would do if you had extra time in your workday?

Nancy: I’m not always successful at it, but as a supervisor I look at claims that are handled by the people that I supervise, to make sure they meet certain requirements. I try, and again I don’t always succeed in this, but I try to look at my people’s reports that they’ve completed. I’ll start on a Monday and try to look at what their reports for the week before said, their reports on claims they have handled that last week.

It’s my way of making sure that the claims are progressing, that nothing’s just sitting there that we need to evaluate for settlement, or “Why hasn’t this person seen a doctor?”

I wish I had more time so that I could do it a hundred percent every week.

Anna: If I do get some extra time, I try and look through my claims and maybe find some that are problematic and go out and meet with the insureds, just to make sure that they’re aware that we’re working on things. Some insureds are more involved in working on their claims than others. Sometimes it’s good to go meet with some of the insureds that maybe don’t take as much time to get involved with their claims so that they can understand how those claims might be impacting them, go out and talk to them about light duty. A lot of these things we do anyway, but if you do have a little bit of extra time that’s something that can be very helpful, especially when you’re doing things face-to-face versus over the phone. They may take it a little bit more seriously if you actually take the time to go out and sit with them and have a conversation versus contacting them by phone.

If I get a little extra time, maybe one week I might not have as many claimants to meet with or something, and that’s something I may do, just meet with the insured.

Tabitha: I always think that there’s always something more that can be done in this job. If I had extra time during the day I would probably do a multitude of things, maybe more communication. You could always brainstorm about claims and try to figure out a different aspect, especially some of the old dog claims and try to figure out different ways that may be able to bring that claim to a resolution. There are so many different things that I would love to do throughout the day if I had more time.

Karen: If I had more time in the day, I would like to focus on more training sessions with the adjusters, hitting hard on the points that we don’t always see on a day-to-day basis that might be the more problematic components of job, which includes Medicare set-asides.

I think that it would be great to have some time to set aside to focus in on some additional training on some of those things, because if you don’t see it every day and it’s a complex issue, it’s always problematic. I think that the more information and the more examples and going into things that they have, they feel more comfortable doing that part of their job when it does come up.

I would agree with Nancy, if I had more time in the day I would be in more files, giving more instruction and making sure everything is moving along as it should.

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These ladies sure have their hands full but they all work hard to make sure their claims have a positive outcome. As we’ve heard from so many other adjusters, there can never be too much time in their day! One thing we have noticed is that the human element of claims adjusting seems to be a very positive factor in closing claims and helping the injured worker. The problem is that most adjusters are too busy dealing with everything else that they don’t have the time to go out and meet with a worker or make that follow-up phone call. If adjusters are able to take the time to make a personal connection with the injured worker, that worker feels they have someone on their side which can be very helpful in the road to recovery.