Working under stress with heavy workloads is likely to cause a negative impact on adjusters’ performance, productivity, and job satisfaction.
When claims rise, it’s important that you don’t get overwhelmed by your increased workload. Whether you are feeling burnt out, stressed due to ongoing work problems, or overwhelmed due to your stressed policyholders, there is a solution for you.
In this article, we will dive into 5 ways you can relieve your stress so you can wake up excited to help your policyholders with their claims and remember why you got into the insurance industry in the first place.
1. Improve Your Work-Life Balance
Work-induced stress doesn’t just affect your productivity, efficiency and performance; it also affects your individual mental and physical health. If working five days a week feels like you have no time left for you, it’s time to improve your work-life balance.
It’s important to recognize that no matter how your workday goes, successful or stressful, you are still you, and you still have control over your mood and emotions at the end of the day.
If you find yourself going home after a long day with only thoughts of work on your mind, try placing all work ideas, frustrations and feelings at your door, so you don’t constantly feel bombarded by work.
Here are additional ways you can improve your work-life balance:
- Set specific work hours. If you work until 6 pm, try to turn off your computer and walk away from it until the following day.
- Take breaks away from your desk. During your break, take a walk or sit elsewhere. This will allow you to return refreshed and ready to work.
- Schedule after-work activities. If you love movies, plan a movie night each week; maybe you love wings, plan a wing Wednesday, every Wednesday. These activities will help you work through the day and give you something to look forward to after work, where you can unplug and focus on you.
Having a healthy work-life balance will help you reduce stress and prevent work burnout over time.
2. Take Advantage of Innovative Technology
There are plenty of tools that can help reduce your workload and make you feel like you have time to breathe again. One trending tool that has helped adjusters and policyholders alike is advanced customer-support technologies. With virtual customer support, policyholders can submit claims online, speak to online support, and more.
On top of online customer support, there has been an increasing demand for technology that can speed up claims processing. There are a handful of advanced tools that connect policyholders, insurance companies, adjusters, and contractors in one space to capture real-time information. Make sure when you’re researching them, you look at all of the available options so you can find the best one that suits your needs. By using these new technologies, you can speed up claims processing and provide better service for policyholders, which will reduce your workload, inevitably reducing your stress.
3. Create SMART Goals
When you’re feeling work-induced stress, focus on setting smaller goals for yourself to help you feel like your work has purpose.
When you create your goals, ensure they are SMART:
- Specific: create a smaller clear goal that can help you achieve your larger goal.
- Measurable: make sure your goals are tangible so you can see or feel the progress you made after achieving them.
- Achievable: create a goal that you can successfully complete; you don’t want to reach too high and not be able to complete it within a reasonable period of time.
- Relevant: ensure your goals are relevant to the work you are trying to accomplish.
- Timely: make sure you set a goal with a duration. You need to have a set end date to complete your goal in order to feel motivated to complete it.
Think about how your smaller SMART goals affect your large goal. You can’t say “I’ll reduce stress at work” and have no smaller plans to help you achieve it. That’s like saying, “I will get into shape,” without having any goals to eat healthier or workout; it’s just not achievable.
4. Understand the Impact You’re Making
Being an adjuster is not always easy. Dealing with upset policyholders who make you feel like their world is in your hands can become extremely overwhelming. You must remember that throughout their frustration and emotional feelings, you are the one they rely on and the one that is helping them rebuild their life after it has crumbled apart.
For example, in 2021, Canadians faced $2.1 billion in losses due to natural disasters. Thousands of people were displaced, including 15,000 people from BC floods, 1,200 people from fires in Lytton, and more. During these times, adjusters were always there to help these struggling families. In 2022, we can expect more catastrophic weather and displaced policyholders; don’t forget how impactful your services are when tragedy happens.
Adjusters are the real heroes for many families and businesses that suffer a major loss, and remembering that can make you feel like the work you do has a purpose; because it does.
5. Ask For Support When You Need it
Working alone without collaboration or assistance can be extremely stressful and overwhelming.
With services such as ALE Management, you can spend 100% of your time focusing on your displaced policyholders’ claim, while companies such as Accomsure focus on getting them in temporary housing that meets all of their unique needs.
Accomsure can also help you with the following:
- Set the policyholders’ expectations in compliance with their policy.
- Manage any immediate living needs that policyholders have.
- Be a shoulder that your policyholders can lean on for any questions or concerns they may have.
Reducing Your Work-Induced Stress Will Help You Work Effectively
According to Statistics Canada, 47% of full-time workers who work more than 40 hours a week are stressed due to high demands in the workplace. If you’re feeling stressed, remember that you aren’t alone, and there are ways to overcome your increased workload.
Stress is one of the most uncomfortable feelings, especially when you feel like there is nothing you can do about it. If you’re a struggling adjuster, know that there is support available for you at any point in time. At Accomsure, we are here to shoulder some of your workload to help you limit your stress and find joy in your career once again.
Submit a claim today: https://www.accomsure.com/submit-claim/
