The workforce is changing, dramatically: 73% of employees want flexible remote work options—to work on their own terms. Many industries are feeling the ripple effect of the evolving workforce, including insurance. Similar to how the new hybrid workforce expects to be able to work on their own terms, they also have new expectations when it comes to how insurance claims managers and insurers manage their claims. Here are five ways the evolving workforce is changing insurance claims management.
1. Users Want Omnichannel Interactions with Their Insurance Claims Manager
In years past, you only had a couple of options to connect with your employer: over the phone or in person. Now, you can use text, email, live chat, videoconference, VoIP calls, audio messages, voice calls through an app, and more. The increase in interaction options has resulted in more than just flexibility—there’s been a cultural shift: Millennials and Gen Zers expect a mobile-enabled, omnichannel communication experience.
To accommodate this shift, insurance claims managers will need to ensure they provide adequate interaction options during the claims process. While respecting time boundaries, it may be best to give policyholders:
- An app such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or an internal, customized solution they can use to communicate during the claims process
- Access to multiple features within the app, such as voice chat, texting, and file-sharing
- Automated responses to emails or calls when you can’t answer immediately. This reassures them that you both received and value their communication.
2. Transparent Claims Processing is the New Expectation
The claims management process, from the perspective of policyholders, has always been fraught with ambiguity. Employing real-time processes can help ease customer concern throughout the claims management lifecycle. Younger people in the evolving workforce expect instant gratification as frequently as possible, especially during a process as important as an insurance claim. This necessitates real-time status updates and during all phases of claims process. To ensure that all parties can be updated, technology solutions should maintain information including:
- Single-point-of-contact for inquiries about the status of a claim
- Centralized and accessible index of associated documentation and paperwork
- Real-time status updates and estimated settlement timeline
- Streamlined adjustment and approval processes for exceptions
- Notification upon settlement
3. Transient Customers Need Claims Solutions That Move with Them
Many Gen Zers and Millennials are professionally nomadic, moving jobs whenever the need arises and launching startups. As they go from one work situation to another, they may expect similar experiences when it comes to the insurance claims process, so it may be important to provide them with consistent infrastructure.
To get and retain clients, especially in the context of the evolving workforce, it will be crucial to provide them with a user-friendly claims process, along with the technological tools to support it. This way, regardless of their work situation, they can always depend on a familiar, stress-free insurance experience.
4. The New Workforce Expects Instant Funds
Whether it’s gig employees that get paid via PayPal moments after a job is complete, or hybrid workers, who expect multiple payment options, the days of sending checks through the mail are fading into the twilight. These expectations also spread into the claims process: They want their payout—and now.
To meet customers where they are, insurers can provide:
- An automated fund transfer system that happens as soon as a claim gets approved
- The option to choose how they receive their funds, such as through a direct deposit or an electronic payment system, when feasible
- Updates as to the status of transfers—even if they’re separated by a few moments. For example, you can provide one alert for transfer initiation and one for transfer completion
5. Customers with Complex Work Situations Expect Simplicity in the Claims Process
Modern employers understand the complexities those in the evolving workforce have to tangle with as they go from one job or task to another, and insurance claims managers should follow suit. This means providing detailed explanations of every aspect of the claims process, in at least two formats. For example, you can use a combination of two or more of the following:
- Video explanations using simple, short animated presentations
- Written explanations made available both via email and on your website
- Verbal explanations over the phone or online voice chat
Further, the evolving workforce expects clarity, so instead of merely providing standard info upfront, it’s best to follow up, checking to ensure they understand every aspect of the claims process.
To learn more about how to match your claims management process with the needs of the evolving workforce, book a demo of Ventiv’s claims management software.
