Joining Forces

When it comes to clearing the air, nothing is better than talking it through. And talking is exactly what members from the Canadian Independent Adjusters Association (CIAA) and the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association (CICMA) in the Atlantic are doing.

Even though the associations were holding joint conferences every year, open dialogue between the two organizations was still not something that had been broached — until Jane Richardson, then president of the CIAA’s Nova Scotia region, invited Frank Robertson, the president of the CICMA’s Nova Scotia chapter, to attend a CIAA meeting.

During the meeting, the independent adjusters had many questions for him, Robertson says, about why insurers do certain things. He says he found it difficult to answer because while he is aware of the ways his insurance company conducts things, he was not able to speak for other companies. A good example of this arose when the adjusters mentioned being called in to work on an after-hours claim and then having the claim taken back by the insurance company come Monday morning. Robertson noted he was unable to speak to this, because the insurance company he works for does not follow this practice. That ultimately led to opening up the channels of discussion and having more claims managers in attendance to garner a wider spectrum of possibilities.

Opening discussion

“My whole idea of having it was just that we could actually sit down and talk to each other openly and freely about what’s bugging us and what we are happy with in the relationship and how we can build on that relationship,” Richardson says.

At the next joint conference in 2008, select CIAA members and CICMA members got together to discuss issues affecting both members. They were able to discuss the issue of some insurance companies hiring adjusters to handle claims on the weekends and then taking the claim back the following Monday. “We did have success with two of the largest insurers agreeing not do that any more, which was great,” Richardson says. Furthermore, the adjusters were able to let insurance companies know how difficult it is to bring in new trainees and staff when the constant flow is lacking. “We spoke about claims volume and how it’s very difficult for us . . . that we don’t have a steady stream of claims that we can staff,” Richardson says. “Christmas is very busy, summer is very busy and if there’s a weather occurrence then it is very busy, but other than that it is very up and down.”

A number of insurance companies agreed to start doling out claims at the beginning of December so that the independent adjusters were not receiving all the claims at once when the insurance company staff started to go on vacation, Robertson says. “It’s everything,” he says. “If you can get a little bit here and a little bit there and give a little, it all helps.” On the flip side, the independent adjusters were also able to learn that insurance companies want to be notified if an adjuster is too busy to handle a claim and that they were ultimately looking for quality work. The managers were not prepared to discuss fees, however, as those are not controlled in the Atlantic region, Richardson says.

Carol Messervey, director of both the CIAA national executive and the Nova Scotia region, says that instead of being protective about the territory and being upset about a potential lack of support of independent adjusters, those in the Maritimes have found a way to work with the new reality by opening up dialogue between the two associations. “We know these people, so it’s not big deal for us to sit down and break some bread or have a beer at the end of the day,” she says. “It’s a small area, we run into each other a lot. It’s just that people know each other well and they generally get along well.”

Continuing claims

Over the past year or so, the two associations have held three meetings after Robertson first attended the CIAA’s semi-annual meeting in 2008. At the most recent meeting in the June, as issues were being talked through, the topic of training, and the possibility of claims managers and independent adjusters working to train new recruits together, came up. From there it was a smooth transition to the topic of the shrinking claims industry. The group is now working to create a program through the community college in Nova Scotia where the committee would be able to go and speak to students in business courses and perhaps set up a booth during the lunch hour to promote insurance.

“Now they are trying to find a place to slot this, so that they can provide more than just a surface scratch of knowledge with respect to the insurance industry and how it works and the opportunities,” says Fred Plant, president of Plant Hope Adjusters. “Not specifically to tell people here’s the work that you can do in the insurance business, but to say here’s the insurance industry and here’s how it works, here’s what a broker is, here’s what an underwriter is, here’s what an adjuster is.”

The aim of the initiative is not to create a new education program such as the ones at Fanshawe or Mohawk Colleges, but maybe it should be that and maybe it can go to that, Plant says, adding that the original plan was to create a program that will educate people who are in college as to the existence of insurance and how it works. “We’re focusing on the claims side of the business so that people, maybe after one year of a two-year diploma, can say one of the courses I had to take was the business of insurance and from that I learned about loss adjusting and I really want to do that or I want to look into that further,” Plant says. Then, in year two, they can take more courses that will provide further insight into that aspect. Another bonus would be if the Insurance Institute would provide credit for these completed courses, so that students have one or two Institute courses under their belt, Plant says.

The committee has, through the Insurance Institute, gone to speak to high school students about insurance and is currently looking at putting a program together to jointly train high school students, bringing them into companies and walking them through the system, Richardson says. Both the CIAA and CICMA were invited by the Insurance Institute to bring in Grade 11 co-op students who are interested in insurance. The students would come in and do 100 hours of business-related work in the insurance industry to see if that type of career would be interest, Robertson says. At this time, educators are presenting this option to students to see if there is any interest, he adds.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Robertson says of the discussion between the claims managers and the independent adjusters. “Everyone feels quite free if an issue comes up to make that phone call and bring it forward. It takes away that ‘us and them’ type of attitude. We are all in this together.”