Out of Office, but Still Functioning

With summer in the rearview mirror and the colder months and holidays ahead, your team members may already be looking forward to their next vacation. The best way to proactively reduce disruption and mitigate risks is to start planning now for the challenges that come with reduced staff around the holidays.

Before your team requests time off:

• Create a calendar to plan for staff coverage. Doing so ahead of time allows for more options for handling sensitive claims and key dates, engagement of out-of-office adjusters and supervisors, and notification to clients.
• Define protocols such as out-of-office voicemail and email messaging advising recipients of the time periods when staff will be gone, whether the employee will or will not be available, and alternative contacts for receiving help. 
• Outline the expectations, roles, and responsibilities for out-of-office employees, backup teams, and the respective managers to ensure proper coordination and that employees are working together. 

As a leader, you must know your team is in sync and advancing critical elements, such as responding to time-sensitive matters, making contact to begin investigating new losses, and handling questions that arise on claims so service and claim controls continue during periods of reduced staff.

As your team begins to request time off:

• Communicate protocol expectations to the team so everyone understands them, answering questions as they come up.
• Employees should understand the importance of a backup plan and how to get everyone set up. This demonstrates a healthy balance in your claim operations and signals to employees that they are covered and can unplug during their out-of-office time. 
• Issue reminders to employees before experiencing seasonal periods of higher out-of-office staff volumes about their need to have a backup plan at the forefront of the operation, ensuring each employee is positioned to own their part.
• Notify internal business partners and external clients in advance so they are aware of the coverage plan for your team and where to go for help. Doing so lets them know the support you’re providing to your employees and gives them a chance to voice their business needs, which can be incorporated into your plan.
• Hold all managers (regular and backup) accountable for communicating and working together on alternative plans if a backup employee is out of the office during the coverage period to ensure effective teamwork and collaboration.

Managers own a critical part of backup–coaching onsite employees and out-of-office and backup employees with a plan that provides the best coverage. Addressing calendars now and planning around future out-of-office periods, reaching out in advance to claimants and attorneys for information, copying in the backup, and addressing reserve and settlement needs before the employees leave for their time off, will help things run smoothly. 

Once your team returns to the office:

• Hold a debrief meeting  among all teams involved to share project updates and flag unexpected activities that occurred while the employee was out. 
• Host check-in meetings for employees and their managers to catch up on strategies, timelines, and touchpoints as needed. Even the best employee can take longer than a week to recover from being away from the office. 

These steps keep the claims staff healthy and help with the morale and engagement of employees. 

While these principles seem basic, they are critical to a smooth transition; yet they are frequently overlooked. Without prior planning, there are often gaps in coverage that could result in time-sensitive claims being at risk or pressure on employees that may lead them to believe time off is a penalty instead of a reward for hard work.

A successful claims operation depends on the rigor of managers who consistently execute actions that support the health of operations and the proper engagement of employees. Time off for employees should be a time of relaxation, enjoyment, and recharging batteries; employees should not have to worry about their work or how their work–life balance will suffer.

When managers emphasize the importance of a strong backup plan, hold their employees accountable, and check in with employees after an out-of-office event , they are operating as role models for supporting work-life balance. Out-of-office periods are the most frequent and recurring event facing a claim operation. Whether or not a leader intentionally addresses this need signals to employees their support or lack of support forwork-life balance.  

Dawn Griffin is senior vice president–carrier practice at Gallagher Bassett. dawn_griffin@gbtpa.com