(An edited version of this article appeared in the March 1996 issue of Claims Magazine)

EFFICIENT CLAIMS ADJUSTING

By Ronald J Zaremba, CPCU, AIC, ARM

Doesn't it feel good at the end of the week when you have accomplished all that you wanted to get done and all that you were supposed to do ? There is an old saying that goes " The only person to get everything done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe". If that is true for you, you should make the commitment right now to take control of your most valuable asset; time.

Poor time management creates stress, with the potential early rewards of a nice funeral service and eternal rest. Stress arises from frustration, trying to do too much, by procrastination, doing the wrong things at the wrong time and doing the right things at the wrong time. Stress arises from disorganization. If you are disorganized, your life can be easily turned upside down. You operate in chaos. If you are handling your claims on a crisis basis, if you have people yelling and screaming at you for the results of the work you promised to them some time ago, if you have so much work you don't know where to start, then it time to get organized.

Organization of your work requires commitment. Nothing worthwhile will take place until you are willing to make a commitment to take control. If you want to go on a diet to lose weight, exercise to get in shape, to quit smoking, to earn more money, to have more time with your family and friends, you have to make a commitment. Serendipity is wonderful but it is no way to run your life.

Inherent in making a commitment are long and short term goals. Without goals, you have no direction. Why run as hard as you can in the wrong direction ? You have to know where you are going before you know what you have to do or can do to get there. There is no shortage of resources available to assist you in setting goals and if you are having trouble here, go to the library or a good bookstore for reference material. My point is that regardless of your goals, you will not succeed in achieving your goals without your personal commitment.

The first step is to make goals and make a commitment to reach your goals. You have two resources, time and money. Although it may be hard to believe, money you can get in an inexhaustible supply. Time, on the other hand, is a limited resource. Time is your most valuable asset. You need to do those things that maximize your use of time toward realizing your goals.

The most important use of your time is to invest some time in yourself. Make both long and short term goals to increase and improve your job skills. You will be surprised how much more efficiently you can do your work when you know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Investing in continuing education for yourself not only improves your efficiency but prepares you for more and greater opportunities.

The next step is to analyze what you are doing now. Where are your spending your time ? What are you doing ? Do you keep track of your time ? To analyze where you can improve, keep track of your time for two weeks. Get a small notebook and note every activity. Put down the time you start each activity and a description of what you are doing. When you are interrupted or change activity, put down a new start time and the description of

the new activity. I know, this sounds tedious and to get started takes commitment. But it is very important because after two weeks of keeping track of every minute and every activity you will be able to determine two things: 1 How much time and with what efficiency you spent in working toward your goals and, 2, during what periods of time are you the most and least productive and why. Do not skip this step. You need to know exactly what you are doing toward your goals and when and why you are most productive.

Once you have made the commitment, established goals and analyzed your time, you are ready to consider what you are required to do. What work is requested or required of you to do the best job possible ? You need to sit down and plan your work carefully.

Organize to report. All your claims work can be organized based on the reporting needed to meet the file requirements of your employer. As soon as you get a new claims assignment, identify and list what is expected from you on this assignment. If it is a limited assignment, it may be only two or three things. If you are expected to do all the work on a claim, the list can become more involved. The checklist for each of your claim assignments serves two purposes. First it divides the larger job into smaller tasks that do not have to be done all at one time. The tasks can be scheduled at your convenience, depending upon the importance of the task. Secondly the list of tasks in each claim serves as a reminder of what remains to be done when you are scheduling your work day. It is at this stage that your education, training and experience pays off. You know what to do, how to do it, and about how long it will take you to do it. The more complex the claim, the more important it is to make a checklist. Excellent resources for checklists include Pat Magarick's "Casualty Investigation Checklist" and Reed and Thomas's "Adjusting Property Losses". If you not know what you are supposed to do, ask. "Winging it" is truly a waste of time.

Now that you have identified the work that needs to be done in each of your assignments, you can start scheduling your work. Scheduling is taking control of your time, by considering two elements, time limits and priorities.

Time limits come in four different directions; the time limits set in the unfair claim practices regulations, the time limits set in the applicable coverage, the time limits set by your employer for contact, reporting, and payment, and the time limits you set for yourself or allow to be imposed upon you. All these time limits must be kept in mind when you are scheduling your work. The point is to schedule your work so that not all the work comes due at the same time. To avoid this very stressful situation, it is important to know what the time limits are on the work you have before you.

Priorities fall into four categories of importance. The first and most important priority is to return phone calls. By promptly returning all your phone calls, you will save more time and work than you can by any other activity. Have you ever played tennis ? I had a tennis instructor tell me that the easiest way to win at tennis is to keep the ball in the other court. Phone

calls are like tennis volleys. Always return phone calls, otherwise you will lose the point and possibly the game as well. While the ball is in the other court, don't just stand there and watch. Move to the position for your best defense and get prepared to return the volley.

The second priority is prompt contact on new claims. As you have perceived, patience is not a virtue shared by many of our policyholders and claimants. Prompt contact helps to establish control which saves time and work. Prompt contact can reduce the loss, especially if steps are initiated to preserve the property. Late contact is counter productive.

The third priority is the preservation of perishable evidence. Whether it is a disappearing witness, skid marks, a defect in the floor, or weather related, keep in mind that if can disappear, it probably will, and a lot faster that you would think it should. Since such evidence can be the key to success in defending or handling the claim, preservation of perishable evidence is a top priority.

The last category of priorities is your prior commitments and appointments. If you say you are going to be somewhere or meet someone or inspect something, be there and be there early if at all possible. By being there early, you won't lose any points for punctuality, you may get a chance to "scope" the situation, you may get there before they have rehearsed or staged the event, you may get finished early, and you will have more time to get everything done without being late for the next appointment. Arriving late is counter productive.

Next month, twenty tips that can make your adjusting work more effective.