I missed about two full weeks of work this month with the exception of a couple of days here and there. I would be at the risk of being fired if there wasn’t an open ADA accommodations request being reviewed.
Those of you who work how do you manage a 40 hour week? I need to work that much in order to keep paying money towards my debt.
Problem is my job is SO stressful. I answer phones for a large insurance company. I’m on the auto insurance side of things. They call me to make a report. There’s all sorts of different scenarios, never the same circumstances twice, I always have to be quick to think on my feet.
I’m supposed to work 7-5:30 tomorrow then I’m off for three days. Anyone with tips on how to get though the day?
Please no one telling me I have no business working and that I need to quit. I worked my butt off for two years to get into this company, I’d really like to stay with them if at all possible. And they don’t offer part time. The pay is great when I actually work my full time work week
Funnily enough I actually have double the normal allotted break time thanks to accommodations. I get 60 minutes total to use over my 10 hour shift. I typically take 5-10 minute long breaks every hour to two.
That’s good, but an important question is what do you do on your breaks? How do you decompress so that you’re at peak performance until you reach your next break? I think the video has some suggestions, so check the video out and other similar videos on YouTube.
Yes I take on average 15-30 claims per day. Some are really tough with fatalities and injuries. Luckily it’s most of the time the claim is just a fender bender or a car re-ending one another.
I’d sure hope no one would say that. If you want to be there then it’s totally worth the effort!
My best advice is to really REALLY prioritize self-care and de-stressing techniques. You mentioned you get a decent amount of breaks every hour or two, I’d recommend finding good breathing techniques or short mindfulness videos to utilize during your break and even the breathing techniques when you’re in a stressful call.
Squeezing a stress ball or handling a fidget spinner can do wonders. It doesn’t evaporate the stress, but in my experience it can take the edge off a bit and they help me focus on the task instead of my anxiety.
This is just my anecdotal advice for how I manage stressful jobs and situations. I’m not saying it works for everyone, but it worked for me.
If your system works like mine you have to be as sympathetic as possible while also careful not to create an estoppel by commenting on how a claim could go, right? Everybody wants to know if something is covered and a definitive answer from you on the spot, but that’s up to an adjuster to decide.
I’ve gotten good at those verbal gymnastics after a decade of doing it. You’ll pick it up, just takes practice.
Yes exactly @shutterbug! I have over 3 1/2 years experience at a call center as an escalations supervisor. Now I’m working insurance it’s a totally different ball game. Like you said I need to get into my niche with what to say and how. I know it will get easier with time I’m just anxious for things to get better.
My manager kinda sucks at encouragement and constructive criticism.
Have you tried running situations past an AI and having it come up with a canned answer for you that you can riff off of?
Q: I was in a pile-up on the QE2 highway and got rear ended, am I covered for that and am I at fault or is the other guy?
A from AI: I’m glad to hear you’re okay—pile-ups on the QE2 can be incredibly dangerous. Regarding your question, coverage for this incident is determined by the specific terms of your policy and the results of the adjuster’s investigation.
While rear-end collisions often involve a presumption of liability for the following driver, fault in a multi-vehicle pile-up is complex and is decided by the adjuster based on provincial Fault Determination Rules and the specific sequence of impacts. I cannot confirm the liability outcome or the application of coverage until the formal claims investigation is complete. I recommend we start the claims process immediately so an adjuster can review the police report and the damage to all vehicles involved. You can find the ‘Duties in Event of Loss’ section in your policy package which outlines the next steps. If you like, I can email you a copy of it.
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Plan ahead, build a binder, and flip open to an answer you can use when the brain fart hits. This is what I have been doing to work around my slowness with verbal communication (it’s not just you, @firemonkey).
Thanks @shutterbug! That’s a really helpful tip. I think I need to it obsess over every single detail and just trust that the 3 months of training helped prepare me at least somewhat. I’m just a person in my company who takes the initial loss report, I just document in which vehicle which people have accident accident didn’t happen and so forth. I told them they coverages and I don’t tell him specifically coverages for a particular accident when determining liability, we are allowed to make decisions such as vehicle 1 rear-ended vehicle 2 because be able to is at a stoplight and Vehicle 1 thought it was so green that is clear liability against vehicle 1.
The thing that aggravates most people is when I do an AI repairability prediction, and tell them that their car is a total loss or a totaled. Sometimes that ruffle people feathers because they don’t want to lose their car they might have negative value if they have a loan against it or might be a really expensive car sometimes those situations I have a hard time figuring out how to explain it to the customer.
Sounds like you have pretty straightforward fault determination tables?
Yeah, I have that here as well. Lots of people underwater on their loans because dealerships give them out like candy. I just insured a Ford F350 worth $170,000 this morning and I see from the paperwork there’s another $20,000 from a previous vehicle he traded in tacked on. This guy is in a world of hurt if he has a total loss.
There’s no polite way to tell someone they’re an idiot.
Ooh so @shutterbug are you an insurance agent? Or do you take accident/loss claims like me? So cool we have similar jobs! I’m not an agent selling insurance I just help when things go wrong
Somewhat. We are allowed to determine liability only when it’s 100% to 0%. If it’s complex like two cars merging into one lane or more than two vehicles involved that goes to another department after I fill Out all the details on it
Broker. Agent works directly for an insurance company. A broker works for a company that deals with multiple insurance companies. I work for a boutique firm that specializes in forestry, construction, and transport. I don’t sell insurance, I’m behind the people who sell checking for missed coverages and handling processing. The sales guys are … disorganized.
Oh that’s so cool @shutterbug and it’s awesome you’ve been at it for nine years now that’s really impressive. My last job I was at for 3 1/2 years. I’m hoping now this current job that I can continue to move up in the company and see them for many years.
