The Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards, Essay Example

Insurance Claims Solutions based in the UK, USA and Australia currently employs me as a Homeowner Insurance Adjustor.  When a business or personal homeowner has a loss to their business or home they submit a claim against their insurance policy for the monetary loss of the items damages to their property.  Insurance Claim Adjustors are trained to deal with all aspects of such claims. An adjustor’s primary role is to investigate the loss, negotiate a payment with the homeowner and to make the payment. The adjustor must be sure to follow all applicable privacy laws afforded the client under federal and state laws. Adjustors may speak to people that are aware of the damage, consult with the police and hospitals as applicable to the damage, take photos, make a visual inspection of the damage to the property or any other related investigation technique to verify the damage and that it is covered under the policy. The adjustor is a representative for the insurance company and is not a third party independent representative.

The position as adjustor allows the adjustor the ability to self-manage because they do much of their work outside of the office hence they do not have direct supervision when doing so. They are responsible for planning their own course of action to investigate claims with minimal assistance from supervision.  A self-manager must possess attentiveness, assertiveness, executive etiquette and the ability to delegate and execute.  Keeping your self-esteem level at a high at all times will enable you better to deal with your job, bosses, subordinates and will set you apart for promotions and special projects.  A successful adjustor must possess intrinsic motivation to get his/her job done effectively because of the nature of the work. Workers that are intrinsically motivated do not look forward to extrinsic rewards for a sense of motivation; rather they view success as gained through the effort one puts into it. Further they believe that results are accomplished by mastering a topic and not simply by pure luck. The position of adjustor is one which promotes intrinsic motivation through the means of the way the job duties are structured. Because the agent has a sense of choice that accompanies the position and has to make decisions on whether the client should be compensated and for what amount, this makes the job position one fashioned with intense intrinsic value.

“Whether workers obtain intrinsic satisfaction will have the greatest single effect on their satisfaction with their jobs as a whole.” (Kalleberg, 135). Intrinsic motivation is one that commands a sense of discipline and control.  The agent is rewarded internally when he/she accomplishes a high-quality investigation and is able to reward a customer or on the flip side if an investigation proves to be fraud, the adjustor is able to uncover a fraudulent claim.

Insurance Claims Solutions offers profit sharing plan 401 K and stock option with vesting after five successive years of employment. Further medical, dental, retirement, car usage, mileage and weekly bonuses are an additional benefit to this position. These are all nice extrinsic motivating factors that make the initial package quite appealing to the adjustor when applying for the position.  The weekly bonus incentive is another important extrinsic motivating factor in jobs related to sales although is usually not all that effective to adjustor positions for they are normally intrinsically motivated.

An intrinsically motivated employee will perform at a higher rate for a longer period of time that an extrinsically motivated employee. A simple extrinsic benefit such as pay rate which is negotiated forefront is a determining motivating factor in this position, though.  These forms of benefits serve as extrinsic forms of motivation to employees. “Studies show that pay is the principal motivating factors to employees in the adjustor field.” (Luthans, 2009). In contrast, critical psychological states such as meaningfulness of the work, responsibility for the work outcome and knowledge of activity results are all important with intrinsically motivated job positions. Goal setting can enhance extrinsic motivation with a proper reward system in place. Only in two specific circumstances will goal setting not be extrinsically effective: When workers do not have the necessary skills to operate at a high level of performance and when the job requires the workers to give their full attention to it and there is no room for learning. This particular form of motivation has a higher chance of  success if the goal setting is specific and confidence is expressed in subordinates’  levels of achievement thorough a process of regular feedback.

Praise and recognition benefits are offered from subordinates and are essential to effective intrinsic success within the agent organization. “Taking the time to recognize and praise good performance is one of the 12 key discoveries from a multiyear research effort by The Gallup Organization.” (“Item 4: Recognition or Praise”). Further it has been found that it is extremely negative to simply ignore an employee. It would be less damaging to the employee to have negative praise. If a company shows clear recognition of profit, growth or productivity because of an employee and honours the employee because of these results then the recognition will have been successful. Bringing employees together creates a team environment and promotes comrade within the unit. An effective way to praise and honour employees might be through an annual dinner party with rewards.

Guiding Forces in the Workplace Environment

The effectiveness of a workplace can be accessed through local labour market trends and whether the workplace is meeting their targets. “All workplace contributions should be equally valued by all employees and management.”  (“Engaging Workplace Partners”).The staff should understand their role in delivering high quality customer service to the clients as well as support for the out-going sales force and the ability to resolve issues from within the business.

One of the most important generic goals of an insurance adjustor is to set small goals that will eventually lead to the setting of larger goals. The reason for this is to ensure that your goals will be attainable. There is nothing worse that overreaching and not reaching your goal hence having a sense of under accomplishment and low self-esteem. It is essential that a homeowner insurance agent keep a positive attitude at all times and this can be accomplished by setting small goals and accomplishing them.

An effective goal setting technique is to prepare a goal worksheet listing the desired goals, how the adjustor plans to accomplish them and the desired date to accomplish the goal. He/she might even add an extrinsic reward that he/she will give her/himself upon achieving the set goal.

A particular goal might be to learn effective tools to negotiate a fair settlement package to a client. Keeping in mind that the customer probably has researched a dollar value before coming into the office, it is essential to have research to back up your offer. You must know the policy limits and relevant settlements based on the policy. It is important to remember that the customer will always ask for more than they actually want hoping that the agent will make a fair settlement. In order to negotiate the customer must feel like they are adequately being compensated. This is a “win-win” strategy approach. Make small concessions over a period of time to show the customer that you are not particularly in a hurry to make a settlement. A final trump card can always be played that you have to get final approval from upper management before settling a deal.

Another goal may be to ensure that you conduct a proper and thorough investigation before considering your first proposed negotiation. How do you ensure that you have conducted a thorough enough investigation? First issue is to go to the site and inspect the damage and the cause of the damage. If you are not sure whether the cause of the damage is legitimate bring in a professional to access the situation and write a formal report. This is the key to determining if there is a valid claim or if the claim was made in bad faith. Second step is to estimate the amount of loss. This is accomplished thorough calling various places and finding out how much the material and labour costs are and how much it would cost to replace the destroyed item(s). Third part is to determine the amount of coverage a customer has minus any deductible. Last part is to call the customer in to negotiate the settlement if the loss is valid. If the loss is not valid, the claim will be denied as a bad faith claim.

The goals for the adjustor position are set according to what the adjustor wants to accomplish, the time he has to accomplish his objectives and what avenue he wants to follow in order to accomplish these goals. The goal system is effective if it is organized and tailored to the specific job and its objectives and there is intrinsic motivation in the adjustor as well as the extrinsic motivator of pay. Make sure your goals are put to paper. Goals put in writing have an 85% better chance at success than those simply though of in your head.

Effective communications is another goal that should be persevered. The ability to communicate with others is key to this position. Through the use of verbal and non-verbal communication, the adjustor will mandate the basic principles necessary to investigate a claim, negotiate a claim and render a decision on a claim. All of his/her work must be allocated in writing as well as orally and effective writing skills are essential to success in this position, as well. Research shows that the majority adjustor’s education level is a Bachelor’s degree (54%). Effective communication includes the ability to speak clearly, knowing when to speak and when to stay silent, becoming engaged in the conversation and staying with the conversation until you learn what is expected of you and learning how to control your body language. Research shows that your body language is responsible for nearly 70% of your total communication.

Further another goal of an adjustor may to keep abreast with the latest changes with relation to adjusting as applicable to state and federal privacy laws.  This can be accomplished through training courses and keeping up with the insurance laws specific to the state/county where the adjustor is employed.  All of the above mentioned goals are key to effective workmanship for this adjustor position. The success will come through focus and organization and setting small goals one at a time.  Through the success of one small goal brings another goal and then a larger one comes into play. That builds confidence and confidence spells success.

“Research shows that a clear marketing strategy and plan should be set with measurable goals with a precise calendar of activities in order for adjustors to meet these set goals.” (“Engaging Workplace Partners, 2009).  Work goals are further aligned through the efforts of staff, the economy and efforts of industrial associations. Success is measured against a clear set of goal and objectives with relation to reviews. Internal assessments should be allocated for capacity, alignment and staff experience. “The organization should use this data from internal assessments in order to adjust program strategies to meet company needs.” (“Engaging Workplace Partners, 2009).  This is what effectively allocates a quality run business through efforts of the agents and management team and is in turn delivered to the community.

References

Walker K. (2008) Intrinsic Motivation in the Workplace Equals Higher Job Satisfaction Retrieved September 20, 2009 from, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/816475/intrinsic_motivation_in_the_workplace.html?cat=3

Luthans F. (2009) Scientific Management in Practice Retrieved September 19, 2009 from, www.nwcor.com/…/OB%20chap011%20Job%20Design%20and%20Goal%20Setting.PP.

Item 4:  Recognition or Praise (1999) Item 4:  Recognition or Praise Retrieved September 20, 2009 from, http://gmj.gallup.com/content/490/item-4-recognition-or-praise.aspx

Engaging Workplace Partners (2009) Engaging Workplace Partners Retrieved September 20, 2009 from, www.healthcareworkforce.org/.EngagingWorkplacePartnersQualityCharacteristicsDescriptions.pdf