Recent job numbers found that insurance claims adjusting positions in the U.S. fell by 1,400 in August. While the numbers don’t account for the percentage of layoffs vs. attrition, whichever way you look at it, slides like this cost insurers more money than they save: Rushed claims turn into recurring issues or provide opportunities for leakage if there’s not a steady hand on the wheel.
Claims leaders have told me for years that they are perpetually understaffed and that their technology needs to improve to improve processes and prevent burnout. It’s one of the reasons I recently surveyed Celent’s Executive Panel on the employee experience at their companies. While claims didn’t particularly stick out in terms of critical evaluations of the user experience – it was right in line with the higher tier.
There are lots of reasons why hopping into a system replacement isn’t the first order of business when it comes to managing staff. But something has to change before claims cycle times get unbearably long and customers, banks, and regulators come knocking at the door wondering why crucial assets are taking so long to get back to a usable state.
How can insurers stop the bleeding? It starts with elevating core insurance employment as a career of choice. Many times over the years I have heard self-deprecating stories about how a person I was talking to “ended up” in insurance. Obviously it is not many graduates’ first choice for employment. But it is a crucial function in keeping the global economy moving. And if the workload is manageable, and the pay and benefits top-tier, smart people looking for stable employment will come.
With trepidation about AI hitting almost every career path, the insurance industry can position itself as a place where AI is an augmentation tool rather than a replacement. The bespoke nature of every insurance claim makes it incredibly unlikely that AI will be able to manage every claim without issue anytime soon. But there is a lot of headroom to use AI to make the average claim more manageable and prevent the overwhelming workloads reported by claims leaders.
Adjusters also play a crucial role in customer relations, representing the promise of insurance at the time of claim to make a family or business’s loss right. A bad claim experience will lead a customer to change carriers at renewal – especially if the rate goes up at the same time. It’s true that onboarding and renumerating skilled staffers is expensive. But it’s even more expensive to pay a claim, then lose that customer.
An investment in claims is an investment in a stable business. An unsustainable exodus from this critical role is destabilizing – and in insurers’ best interest to stop that from continuing. An investment in people and processes is important to ensure profitable growth in 2026 and beyond.
