The Hidden Costs of Repetitive Tasks

As shown in a study published by the Society for Human Resource Management, when employees are required to perform repetitive tasks, they quickly lose interest and a sense of purpose. These employees are both less satisfied and less engaged. With reduced rates of job satisfaction comes the increased likelihood of turnover and the costs associated with hiring and training new adjusters.

There are also missed opportunities associated with high levels of engagement and wellness. Laid out in the Forbes article, 10 Timely Statistics About The Connection Between Employee Engagement And Wellness, these benefits can include reduced employee burnout, more empowered employees, and increased rates of profitability.

For claims organizations, as with all businesses, the question becomes: What steps can we take to increase employee engagement and improve levels of job satisfaction?

Does Automation Have a (Positive) Play?

Enter automation.

The introduction of automation may seem counterintuitive when it comes to improvements in job satisfaction and employee engagement. For the most part, this is due to widespread resistance to automation on the part of employees who fear (in some roles and industries, with good reason) that the introduction of robotic process automation (RPA) and AI will make their jobs obsolete. On the other hand, the benefits of automating workflows and procedures are too clear to ignore. Take, for example, a KPMG study that found automation reduced costs in the financial industry by 40-75%.

There’s no doubt that convincing adjusters of the positive impact of automation on their jobs may, at least initially, be a tough sell. However, there is a case to be made. As outlined in an recent blog focused on the role of claims automation tools in attracting and retaining talent, automating manual processes and workflows not only “drive(s) improvements in claimant communication and client satisfaction, (it) can also play a part in changing, for the better, the work that claims professionals do each day.”

An EY study, Why and how insurers should act today to drive future success in a changing claims landscape, provides the following example of how communication about automation can be framed: “Rather than removing the human element from the claim process, technology has allowed skilled resources to now concentrate on higher-value tasks (like fraud analysis).”

How Origami Risk Can Help

The following are just a few examples of the ways in which automating claims administration processes Origami can contribute to freeing up adjusters to focus on such higher-value tasks:

• For workers’ compensation adjusters, Origami Risk’s WC Compliance software eliminates both the need to spend time searching for and rekeying data into state forms
• Claims supervisors can take advantage of tools such as round robin work assignments to automate the time-consuming process of assigning and re-assigning tasks
• Integrated average weekly wage and indemnity benefits calculations automate what is otherwise a time-consuming and potentially error-filled process
• Digital engagement features such as online portals allow claimants or independent agents/brokers to enter claims, check statuses, and run generate reports
• Automated check notifications and pre-filled data can also reduce time spent following up on individual requests for information and duplicative, repetitive work
• Automated alerts and dashboards to keep clients, independent agents, and brokers informed rather than relying on adjusters or claims service representatives

An integrated, cloud-based claims management solution that includes workflow automation tools certainly won’t, on its own, solve issues related to engagement and job satisfaction. But it can be used by adjusters to better manage day-to-day activities, thus improving process efficiencies, reducing the number of repetitive tasks an adjuster is required to perform, and lowering levels of stress that lead to dissatisfaction and burnout.