September 1, 2025 • 46 mins
What makes workers' compensation work better? Our Season 9 wrap-up brings together key voices from across the industry to reflect on the episodes that shaped our understanding of what truly matters in claims management.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Matt Yehling shares how going beyond minimum requirements created life-changing results for an injured worker needing a prosthetic limb. Rather than settling for local options, the team flew him to a specialized facility in Atlanta, resulting not just in a better prosthetic, but in full return to work and renewed quality of life. This powerful story exemplifies how investing more upfront often creates better long-term outcomes for everyone involved.
Responsiveness emerges as a critical theme throughout the discussion. As Luella Alcorn points out, every phone call represents an opportunity to build trust, while Chris Drake highlights how accessibility prevents unnecessary litigation. When comparing frustrating automated systems to speaking with an actual person who addresses concerns immediately, the panel agrees that human connection remains irreplaceable in claims management.
The conversation shifts to the importance of education, with Jeremy Morrison explaining how demystifying complex concepts like experience modification factors helps businesses make better decisions about safety. Meanwhile, Luella's experience with the RISE Professional Group demonstrates how mentorship and professional development are addressing the industry's concerning 70% turnover rate in some claims organizations.
After five years and over 29,000 downloads, the Adjusted podcast continues to showcase the human side of workers' compensation. The team's commitment to empathy, education, and responsiveness proves that the most successful outcomes happen when we treat claims not just as files, but as people with stories that matter.
Help us reach more people by sharing, subscribing, and leaving a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts.
Season 9 is brought to you by Berkley Industrial Comp. This episode is hosted by Greg Hamlin and guest co-host from Episodes in Season 9. If you want to reach out to anyone at Berkley Industrial Comp, call 1-800-448-5621.
Visit the Berkley Industrial Comp blog for more!
Got questions? Send them to marketing@berkleyindustrial.com
For music inquiries, contact Cameron Runyan at camrunyan9@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg Hamlin (00:11):
Hello everybody and welcome to Adjusted.
I'm your host, greg Hamlin,coming at you from sweet home,
Alabama, where we are in thethroes of summer and we have
115% heat index probably, whichfor someone who grew up in
Michigan and Indiana, is aboutas miserable as it could
possibly be.
(00:31):
So I'm just living indoorsthese days and only go outside
to drive to and from work, andthen I'm trying to convince my
kids to mow the grass, so Idon't have to go out there
during that time either.
So good thing about bigfamilies, I guess, excited about
this episode.
This is our wrap-up episode.
So we, believe it or not, arewrapping up our season nine,
(00:53):
where we have recorded well over100 episodes and hours and
hours of content.
With me I have several guests,so we'll start first.
We'll kind of do a roll call.
We'll start first with Lue,kind of do a roll call.
We'll start first with LuellaAlcorn.
For each of you, if you couldjust introduce yourself what
your role is and where you're at, that would be awesome.
Luella Alcorn (01:13):
You got it.
Luella Alcorn, Senior BusinessOperations Manager, and I sit in
our Lexington, Kentucky office.
Greg Hamlin (01:21):
And that's God's country Favorite place I've ever
lived.
I do love Alabama, but I have asweet spot for those rolling
hills in Kentucky, so I didn'tgrow up here, but I love it as
well, yeah.
So many friends there too forme.
Next up, Matt Yaling.
Matthew Yehling (01:36):
Hello everyone.
This is Matthew Yaling.
I'm in St Louis, missouri,along the banks of the mighty
Mississippi.
I'm with Midwest EmployersCasualty and I'm the vice
president of claims for claimsoperations.
So excited to talk about thewrap up and we're also in the
throes of summer, but a littlebit of a cool spell coming
(01:59):
through right now.
We're only in the 80s today.
Greg Hamlin (02:03):
So look forward to this.
Glad to have you, matt, asalways.
And for those listeners whodidn't catch it, his title
changed so I got to embarrasshim for a minute.
Congratulations.
He is now the head honcho overthere for claims at MEC, so
well-deserved and certainly gladto continue to collaborate with
you.
All right, thanks, matt.
Next up we have Jeremy Morrison, or as I call him, j-mo Jeremy,
(02:27):
if you want to introduceyourself to everybody.
Jeremy Morrison (02:30):
Yes, hi.
Thanks, greg Jeremy Morrison.
I'm in underwriting and happyto be on again with this great
panel and guests and celebrities, so thank you for having me.
Greg Hamlin (02:42):
So most people don't know this and I'm going to
embarrass him here again, butJeremy is a high school state
championship winner for highschool baseball and I think you
could argue, if you were to lookat the people who report to him
, that he does a dang good jobcoaching up our underwriting
associates.
So we're really lucky to havesomebody who not only is an
(03:05):
amazing underwriter but alsoknows how to coach it up.
So start calling you coach.
Jeremy Morrison (03:12):
Thank you.
Luella Alcorn (03:14):
Yeah, he has a good team on and off the field.
Greg Hamlin (03:17):
That's exactly right.
Glad to have you, jeremy, nextup.
Chris Drake, hailing fromHoosier land, I'll let you
introduce yourself, chris.
Christ Drake (03:28):
Yeah, I was going to say Luella said Lexington's
God's country and we say thathere in Indiana too.
So I'm guessing everybodyprobably says that.
But Chris Drake, I do set inthe Indianapolis area.
I am a claims manager withBerkeley Industrial Comp and
look forward to talking toeverybody.
Greg Hamlin (03:45):
You know, I'm an IU grad, so I've got a sweet spot
for Indiana, that's for sure.
So a little flat, a little flat, a lot of cornfields, a lot of
soybeans, but some really goodpeople, Absolutely.
There's a reason why they callit Hoosier Hospitality.
So you show up in Indiana,you're going to get taken care
of so glad to have you, Chris.
And then I think I caughteverybody on this round.
(04:07):
You know what I'm going to addone other person that doesn't
always get the credit hedeserves actually two and make
sure we get them in here on theroll call.
So we have our marketing, ourhead of marketing, which never
ends up on these episodesbecause he's behind the scenes
making us look amazing.
Great, Gabriel Santos.
Gabriel, if you could say helloto everybody, Hello everybody.
(04:30):
Good to be in front of thecameras here.
So I'm now in New York.
Originally from Brazil, so it'sa little bit colder up here,
but really good to join you guystoday.
We miss having Gabriel in ouroffice down here in Birmingham,
but still glad to have him aspart of the team and he's in the
(04:50):
big NYC now working out of oneof the Berkeley offices there,
but he's still on our team doingmarketing, so we're pretty
fortunate.
Last person I wanna make sure Icatch Cindy Housel.
A lot of people don't know sheis behind the scenes making all
of this work and without her Idon't know where we would be.
I can't tell you how many timesshe shows up in my office and
says hey, greg, we're runningout of content, you need to get
(05:13):
on it.
So I appreciate, cindy.
Cindy, if you could introduceyourself.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
Yeah, I'm Cindy Housel and I'm here in
Birmingham with Greg and, as amatter of fact, right before
this call, gabriel and I wereworking together and I asked him
if he was prepared to speak andhe said no.
So you just walked right intoit, greg, and we appreciate you.
Greg Hamlin (05:33):
You just never know .
With me I'm a wild card, so Idefinitely want to take the time
to acknowledge them, becausethis podcast doesn't happen with
the people behind the sceneswho are doing a lot of the work,
whether that's posting onLinkedIn or getting the files
edited or keeping us on schedule.
So when we do these wrap-upepisodes, I do like to take a
minute just to acknowledge thehard work of the people who
(05:55):
sometimes don't get recognizedand you don't get to hear them.
So Cindy, I felt like, isamazing.
I always think of her as ouroffice's resident cheerleader,
always positive, always there tosupport, so definitely glad to
have her involvement.
So I wanted to start by justnow that we've kind of
(06:15):
introduced everybody talkingabout the experience, hosting,
what was hard, what was fun,what did the audience miss, and
so we got a lot of new faces.
I'm going to start with Matt,because Matt's the old pro now,
having done this with me forseveral years.
Matthew Yehling (06:38):
Anything stand out to you, this go-around or
anything over time that you'veseen, you have more that we
didn't catch on the podcast.
But comparing yourself to Oprahand to other famous podcasters
is comical.
So the things that are oftensaid or maybe hit the cutting
floor before we start recordingor even after we start recording
(07:02):
.
There's a lot of great contentthat makes a lighter mood and a
more natural conversation.
So I think that makes for agood listening experience and
Greg does a really good job ofensuring that's happening before
and then sometimes after, andthere's been several podcasts
that I've experienced with youthat it's like man, I wish we
(07:24):
would have had that discussionor caught that on the actual
podcast, but really greatinterview that we had and I know
we're going to talk about itlater.
So one of the things that we'vehad a couple of times happen is
you do this podcast or yourecord it and the audio or
something happens, I don't knowit gets deleted, it doesn't
(07:44):
record properly.
You do it again and usually thesecond time is not as good, but
the experience we had this year,like the second time, was even
better than the first, and thenwe'll talk about in a minute
about what happened later.
But those interactions andmeeting other people and hearing
these stories is alwaysinteresting and I always pick up
a nugget from each one of theseexperiences.
(08:05):
So I just encourage whoever'slistening like we're trying to
have insights that improveworkers comp for everybody and
like hopefully you're picking upsome little nugget of wisdom or
some little nugget of empathyor whatever the subject is.
And that's really what I comeout of each one of these like
kind of refreshed and likerejuvenated that we are doing
(08:27):
something, we're adding good tothe atmosphere, like you always
close with and doing somethingto better the process, better
the people and make workers compa better fit for everybody.
So making everyone's experiencehopefully better.
So that's kind of one of myinsights.
(08:47):
And so two things I guess thejokes and making it a lively
experience for everyone, andthen the impact and grabbing a
little insight out of each oneof these discussions.
Greg Hamlin (09:00):
Yeah, I would agree I'm far better leader than I
was five years ago when westarted this journey.
Just things I've learned fromall of the amazing guests we've
had and Matt points out, youknow a lot of the really good
interviewers.
You don't realize how good theyare at what they're doing, to
be able to ask the questions andthen ask the follow up
(09:20):
questions and be completelypresent and also be able to help
somebody relax so that they canbe themselves.
It's hard and I have so muchrespect for, like the big
podcasters that are out thereand what they're able to
accomplish.
Having done this now for fiveyears and hopefully I'm better
than when I first started I wastelling Chris Drake I picked out
(09:42):
an episode which I won't tellthe audience, which it is that I
was like go listen to this oneand you'll see how bad I used to
be.
So there really are somechallenges and you do get better
with it and I've definitelylearned a lot.
So love that insight, Matt.
Chris, this was your first timedoing this, so talk to me about
it for you Talk to me about it.
Christ Drake (10:01):
For you, yeah, I think you go in with probably
unrealistic expectations.
Some people are so dang smoothat it that you think that you
can do that.
And you listen to yourself andyou realize, wow, I got a lot of
work to do.
I'm not necessarily thegreatest podcaster.
Now, to set the bar, I listento a lot of hunting podcasts
which most people are like, okay, I don't care about that.
(10:23):
But also, how captivating isinsurance too, right?
So I made a joke the other dayabout the webinar, just making a
comment about the murdermysteries and all this and how
that's such a rave, and justwanted to try to compare how
adjusted was so much morecaptivating than that.
In reality, us insurance nerds,we love insurance, but for
everybody else, you're trying togive them a little bit of a
(10:45):
lens into what we do every dayand what people can take away
and learn from it Not just aninjured worker from an employer,
from an agent, you name it.
So I think just being able totie all that in into having a
conversation with someone whichis not the most captivating at
times is pretty difficult, butit's honestly been a good
experience and I think the morethat you do it, the more you
(11:06):
become comfortable.
But I've also realized it's notas smooth as people are.
It's more the active listenersand those that have the
investigative knowledge and theability to do that make the
great podcasters.
So I'm glad to be part of this.
I've learned a lot.
Greg Hamlin (11:33):
I've realized I still have a long way to go.
I am definitely not smooth, butI love talking to people.
So it's pretty awesome thinkingabout the next question and
where you want to go next.
And when you're co-hostingyou're also thinking about I
need to back off here and givethe other person a chance to ask
some questions too.
So there's some timing that youjust figure out as you get
better at it, but it's a lot,because if you're not listening
(11:57):
and you're only thinking aboutthe question, you're going to
miss out on half of what's goingon.
So those are great points foryour first round getting
involved.
Luella, you've done a number ofdifferent podcasts, I don't
think as a host, but as a guest.
So what's been your experience,having been a guest multiple
times?
Luella Alcorn (12:14):
The first podcast I did.
I was so excited about it and Ithought it went fairly well.
And then it comes and is posted, and so, family members, you
know we're watching.
I forced my husband to watch itand I did not know that I said
the word right, like at the endof every sentence or the
beginning of every sentence.
So he's listening to it as I'mthere and he's counting on his
(12:36):
fingers one, two and it was likea bazillion times and I was
like I didn't even know I didthat.
So it's interesting to hear yourvoice.
Right, you sound different thanyou think you do.
Okay, that is bizarre, but Isound like my sister.
That's the other thing.
I sound exactly like one of mysisters.
But the other thing is that wehave a rough draft, right, we
kind of know what it is, thetopic is, and then, all of a
(12:56):
sudden, here comes Greg withsome question you didn't even
know and you weren't preparedfor.
So you definitely have to be onyour toes, okay.
And then the other interestingthing for me is how one topic
makes me really, really nervousand I don't know why, and the
other one it's like no problem,let's do it.
So I don't know why.
There's no rhyme or reason toit, but it does get a little bit
easier each time.
It does.
Greg Hamlin (13:17):
I was telling, chris I have the fortunate, I
guess, background that when Iwas about three years old my
neighbors were high schoolersand they needed somebody who was
like three to be in their highschool theater program.
I can't even remember theperformance, I think it was a
Christmas Carol.
Anyway, I was in it for maybefive seconds, but then from then
(13:38):
on I was always in theater andso somehow for me that part is
easier.
Now, if you go golfing with me,my anxiety is going to go to 10
because that is not my skillset.
So you are seeing probably theworst qualities on display as I
try to swing.
So you know everybody's gottheir, their areas, that they
got to get, yeah, morecomfortable got their thing,
(14:01):
yeah, I get it.
and then last up, jeremy, you'vedone several of these with me
as a guest, I don't think as ahost, but what's your experience
been?
Jeremy Morrison (14:09):
It's been a lot of fun to talk about experience
mods or workers' compensationunderwriting, and a few months
ago we had the opportunity to dothat again.
So, yeah, just grateful for theopportunity to talk about
something that policyholdershave to think about and deal
with and answer some questionsabout experience modifications.
(14:31):
It's a lot of fun.
Greg Hamlin (14:32):
Good job of demystifying the underwriting
process, because I think peoplejust don't understand how
experience mods work.
Before I was here at Berkeley,I don't think I had a
fundamental understandingworking at the state fund but
and I think a lot of incorrectdecisions are made because in a
correct understanding of howemods work causes that.
(14:54):
So I just appreciate yourability to explain something
that's incredibly complicated ina way that I can understand, a
way that I can understand from aclay's perspective, which means
means you've dumbed it down, sothank you for that.
Jeremy Morrison (15:07):
Well, I don't know about that, but it is an
important thing because there ispremium incentive tied to this
component of the policy and it'ssomething that insureds have an
active role in their safetyprogram and safety culture and
hopefully they're rewardedfinancially for their investment
(15:29):
in having a strong program fortheir employees.
So it does get a lot ofscrutiny and a lot of questions
because there's dollarsassociated with it.
But no, as you said, it's alittle bit mysterious sometimes,
and sometimes insureds don'twork in the workers'
compensation realm to reallyfully understand the mechanics
(15:49):
behind the calculation.
They hear about it from theiragent or from their broker, but
that might be the extent of it.
Luella Alcorn (15:56):
Thank goodness Jeremy does understand it,
because that is a podcast.
Because that is a podcast, I'vehad multiple times that.
I've then gotten a call fromsomeone and then I have the
podcast link to be able to sendto them and say this is the
information that you need toknow.
Don't take it from me becauseI'm not the expert, but here it
is and you can listen to thisand they explain it better.
I've used it multiple times.
Christ Drake (16:17):
That's awesome I have to start calling him the
professor.
Greg Hamlin (16:19):
Yeah, right absolutely, and professor, he's
got two times.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the episodewe did with empathy and claims.
Hope was involved in that.
She couldn't make it today, butI know Chris is passionate
about this topic as well, so I'mgoing to kind of kick this one
over to you, chris.
And what are your thoughts onempathy and claims?
(16:41):
I know like 20 years ago, whenwe came up in the industry, this
was not on the topic of thingsto do as a claims adjuster.
So how have you seen thatchange and where does that fit
according to what you see now?
Christ Drake (16:57):
I think the theory has always been there.
Right, you talk the talk, butdo you walk the walk in there?
Right, you talk the talk, butdo you walk the walk?
Everybody wants to create agood experience for the injured
worker.
It's set there to indemnifypeople for their losses, but
it's not going to be thiswealth-driving vehicle.
I think with our empatheticresolution model, that speaks
really, really highly to me justmaking it personal, taking
(17:22):
yourself and putting yourself inthe injured worker's shoes.
Like I've said before, you guysprobably get burned out of me
saying this, but they don't getup that day expecting to get
hurt.
They don't go into work thinkingyou know what, I'm going to get
hurt today, Can't wait for that.
It's a disruption to theirlives.
So just being able there tomeet them where they are, to
walk them through the processand to make it to where they can
(17:43):
get back to their normal way ofliving there's a lot to be said
in that and I think in theinsurance industry we talk about
that all the time.
But how many people really livethat and Hope made a really
good point in one of ourmeetings a few days ago just
seeing the increasing trend nowof not just talking about it.
People are walking the walk andyou're seeing, if you look at a
(18:04):
lot of the initiatives that areout there now really advocating
for injured workers and justtrying to break down that stigma
in the insurance industry thatwe're not there to fight you,
we're here to help you and walkthe process, and I think they
did a really good job in thatepisode just driving that home.
Greg Hamlin (18:21):
Excellent points and I couldn't agree more.
This is on my one of my passionprojects.
When we had a lot of downtimeduring COVID, I used to go on
walks a lot, since there wasnothing else to do and nowhere
else to go and I just keptspinning my wheels on this
thought like what might we dodifferent?
That would create a differentexperience and, even if it costs
(18:42):
us a little more on the frontend, would drive an outcome that
would be better for everybodyinvolved.
And if I think, if you can takethat holistic approach of
looking at it through the lensof an outcome and then putting
yourself in their shoes, it'shuge.
My daughter just three days agogot sideswiped in Tuscaloosa and
the guy gave her the finger anddrove away.
(19:03):
And so I'm having to go throughthe policy and do I have
uninsured motors coverage andhelping her file the police
report and getting the vanfigured out.
She's driving our van forwhatever reason.
So that's a lot and theyactually I won't say who, the
carriers, but they did a nicejob.
But I think it goes a long waybecause you're already feeling
(19:23):
frustrated in that moment of mylife just got disrupted.
This is a nine o'clock at nightthat this happened.
She's driving back home becauseshe's in between leases and now
I have to deal with this, andso I think that goes a long way
if we can show empathy and tryto understand where the other
(19:44):
person's coming from.
Matt, you actually had anepisode with me that really
stood out, where we had theopportunity to talk about an
individual that went through acatastrophic event and how they
leveraged that event towards thefuture.
So I want to hear you kind ofmentioned this some already but
your thoughts after that episodeand then in even sense, yeah.
Matthew Yehling (20:08):
So I mean we got to speak with Julie Greer,
one of your senior CAD analysts,and then Steve with Shamrock
Prosthetics and we you know,steve, between the time we
recorded this, we actually, likeI alluded to earlier, we
recorded this twice.
Between the time we recordedthis, we actually, like I
alluded to earlier, we recordedthis twice.
Like learning about Steve'sstory is is impactful enough,
(20:28):
but then between our recordingand and this airing, you know,
steve ended up passing away andso we made it a tribute to him.
But when we were recording withhim, like Steve was an amputee
himself and that story was aboutnot about him, but it's hard
not to make it about you as wellbut he wanted he didn't want to
make it about himself.
You know we were talking aboutanother injured employee
(20:50):
actually that Julie and Steveworked together on, and the
experience of you know how tobring somebody past that initial
injury and and really finding abetter solution for that
injured employee than what wasbeing offered locally for him.
And sometimes, you know, to theearlier point of doing what's
right for the injured employeeor what's right for the person
(21:14):
that has this life-changingevent more complicated than, and
cost us more money than, doingthe minimal and doing what would
have been easier, but in thelong run for that injured
employee the result was better,right.
So this was an example and Idon't remember the exact state I
think it was Illinois.
We might not even have said itbecause we were trying to prove
(21:36):
that PPI and all that but wetook this injured employee
outside of Illinois, flew himdown to Steve's prosthetic shop
down Shamrock, down in Atlanta,georgia area and, you know, got
him fitted.
Steve found out he was in ahigh industrial environment and
drove different equipment andsuited him up for doing that
(22:01):
kind of work down the road fromyou know Steve's shop.
And just a great story of howdoing an alternative, doing
something above and beyond whatas a carrier you're obligated to
do, but for the injuredemployee, a better result for
him, a better prosthetic devicefor the injured employee and
ultimately a better successwhere the injured employee was
(22:23):
able to return to fullemployment and just an overall
success story.
And probably in the long run Imean we'll know in years but a
better result for BerkeleyIndustrial Comp, because now,
instead of paying somebody to beoff work for the next who knows
how long and having to dealwith suboptimal treatment and
(22:43):
prosthetics and wound issues andall these other complications
that can happen with an amputee.
You have a great result, theinjured employee is happy, they
get a great device, they're ableto work and have a meaningful
return to life and all of that.
And it really highlighted whatSteve was trying to do with
Shamrock prosthetics down in theAtlanta area and it's not a
(23:05):
commercial for Shamrock, butthey did a great job and that's
kind of the above and beyondexperience.
And what we're trying to do isinsurance carriers and raise the
bar and show a better outcomefor those injured employees.
And sometimes it's, you know,it feels like, oh, you're going
to send me to this place becausethat doctor or that person is
(23:25):
going to, you know, say no orsuggest something that is going
to be easier for you.
But this was an example whereJulie really went above and
beyond, connected with Steve andconnected with that injured
employee, to get a better resultfor everybody and, in the long
run, a home run really.
And then, like I said, wealluded to already, you know
(23:46):
Steve's passing and I got kindof caught up in like Steve's own
story when we were interviewinghim the first time and then the
second time and he could havebeen a, we could have made it
all about him and he was tryingto reverse.
He said, no, this is not mystory, this is how we help this
injured employee.
But I think it goes back tothat how do you create a
solution for the injuredemployee, how do you connect
(24:08):
with them, how do you listen,like we said earlier, how are
you empathetic?
And then like, what's theresult?
Like we're all trying to aimfor the best result and for most
cases that best result is we'returning that injured employee
back to a functional position.
We want to get you back to whereyou were before this happened
you know you alluded to earlierlike you didn't come to work
(24:30):
expecting to lose a limb orexpecting whatever the injury
would have been.
So like we want to have amindset of how do we bring this
person whole again, or as wholeas they can be.
So really an impactfulexperience, you know, speaking
with Steve and Julie and hearingthat from their perspective and
and it's just a great successstory overall.
(24:50):
So probably one of my favoriteinterviews.
And then sadly learningafterwards that Steve's no
longer with us.
It kind of made it impactfulfrom like hey, tomorrow's not
guaranteed.
What do you do today?
To be the best version ofyourself, to be the best for
other people and to put goodthings out into the world and
just make an impact and make adifference for others.
Greg Hamlin (25:13):
Love that.
Matt and I had the same feeling.
He was a credible human being.
The good news is Shamrock isliving on, so that vision
remains, which is impactful, andwill be his legacy, along with
the people he helped.
And I think sometimes and I saythis a lot I think sometimes we
get caught up in following thestatute, which is important
(25:34):
because the statute tells uswhat we have to do, but then
sometimes we don't think aboutwell, the statute doesn't say
you can't do more.
And if doing more results in abetter outcome for everybody
involved, why wouldn't we do it?
And sometimes we're so focusedon the guardrails that we forget
that.
Okay, we don't have to fly himand his spouse to Atlanta and
(25:55):
pay for a hotel room for a weekwhile they go through this
process.
But if he can return to work,if we can get a better outcome,
if he can use a prosthesisthat's going to help him live
day to day and he has someonewho understands what he's going
through, then we're winning,everybody's winning.
And in that particular state inIllinois, we don't direct care,
so he had to agree to all thosethings, and so gaining
(26:18):
cooperation is another reallyimportant element that sometimes
gets forgotten about that.
If we can gain cooperation, wecan get a better result, and
it's not because we're trying tonickel and dime the injured
worker.
Our best interest, especiallywhen we're talking about these
large losses, is the besttreatment up front.
I'd rather pay for the besttreatment up front and get the
(26:39):
best outcome than the next 20years be stuck with the problems
that came because we didn't doit right to start with.
I know you see that in yourexcess line at MEC, so
definitely one that I hopepeople go back and listen to and
I'm sure we'll rebroadcast inthe future.
From there we went toresponsiveness matters, and this
(27:00):
has been a passion of mine.
Chris and Luella were on thiscall or on this episode, and
there's nothing that drives mecrazier.
This is one of my own personalpet peeves is when I have a
service issue and I can't gethold of anybody.
Sometimes they don't even put anumber anymore on the website,
so you can't even figure out howdo I reach this company to have
(27:21):
my service resolved.
And then, if you're luckyenough to have a number, you're
passed around like a Sundayplate and an hour and a half
goes by and you still don't haveyour problem resolved.
So this is something we pushedfor extremely hard on the claims
side, because I just believe inthe fact that your first
experience with your carrier isgoing to determine a lot that
(27:45):
happens after that, and if we'reirresponsive, that's going to
lead to litigation, that's goingto lead to all kinds of other
horrible things.
So Luella leads up the businessengagement team we have and
Chris leads up our claims team.
So I'd love to hear Luella'sperspective and Chris's
perspective on this episode.
Luella Alcorn (28:03):
You're so right that more and more you go to a
website, you can't find atelephone number.
You scroll up, you scroll down,you look to the bottom, you
look to the right, you know, andyou just cannot find the way.
So we don't want thatexperience for our customers.
We want you to know how toreach out to us.
Some of that is involved incommunication, even before you
need that information to try toeducate you.
(28:25):
But what stood out to me inthis episode is that
responsiveness matters, and wetalked about the different
reasons and who that matters to.
We have injured workers, we havepolicyholders, we have agents,
and sometimes that can't wait,and so it's really important
that we're answering our phonesand giving them, you know, the
information that they need.
(28:45):
I just had a call this morning.
It was a policyholder thatwanted to add a state to their
policy and they needed to knowhad it been completed.
Yet they need to know thatbecause they were going to then
do a job in that state.
They can't wait, they need that.
So it is very important.
It's always changing for usAnother thing where we learn
something new as to what we cando to help them in being quick
(29:08):
in that responsiveness.
But it's also every single timewe're building that trust again
.
It's an opportunity everysingle time they make that phone
call because they could havecalled a month ago and it was
great, but now today needs to begreat too, and next month needs
to be great.
It's every single time thatthey're reaching out to us we've
got to knock it out of the park, and in that episode we did
(29:30):
talk about if let's saysomething does go wrong, let us
know.
We're going to review whathappened, we're going to
apologize and we're going to bebetter the next time for it.
Greg Hamlin (29:40):
I love that and that accountability really is
important Accepting it, owningit, learning from it, getting
better from it and I think we'vecome a tremendous way in five
years.
We have A distance from wherewe were.
Chris, your thoughts from aclaims perspective.
Christ Drake (29:55):
I think it ties in real nicely with what Luella
said.
I mean you think consistency,accountability, accessibility,
right, and I think if you lookat every aspect of the claim,
you may not think about this.
But you have claims, you havebusiness engagement, you have
marketing, you have underwriting.
If you have consistency acrossthe board, which we do with
(30:16):
every single department, you'rebuilding those relationships,
you're building that trust.
We can start to build programsand work with insureds as we
continue to progress.
I thought of this the other day.
I was going through a phoneprompt.
Right, it's a novel idea.
You pick up the phone, you getsomebody on the phone.
It's like, how hard is that?
But I was going through phoneprompts and I had to check
(30:38):
myself at the door.
My voice was elevating everysingle time I was going through
one of the prompts to where mywife could hear me upstairs.
Luella Alcorn (30:46):
Representative Right yeah Representative.
Christ Drake (30:50):
And then I'm trying to think, like, do I put
this in chat, gpt, to figure outa different way to say it so
they're going to understand it?
You don't get that.
I mean, it goes a long way.
People want to hear anotherperson's voice.
You can check tone and I thinkthat goes a long way, especially
for it doesn't matter if it'san angel worker, an agent, a
policyholder, a physician, anattorney.
People just want to be able torelate to somebody and to get
(31:13):
their issue resolved, and Ithink that that definitely
resonated with me.
Greg Hamlin (31:18):
I agree.
You know I shared this.
I don't know that I've evershared on a podcast, but when I
first moved to Birmingham Ineeded a new primary care
physician because I'm not fromhere, I don't know anybody, and
so I got a reference for aprimary care physician who, by
the way, was fantastic,absolutely loved the guy.
He did an amazing job, but hewas part of this enormous
(31:39):
practice.
It was very difficult to park.
I could never get them on thephone to schedule.
I'd have to leave a message.
They'd call me back.
Inevitably.
I'd be on a work call when theywould call back and then their
billing unit like sometimes thebills didn't get to me and then
they wouldn't let me schedule anappointment until I paid my
bill.
But I had no way to talk toanybody to pay the bill.
(32:00):
And I'm like this is ridiculous.
And I found a differentphysician that is near my home
that literally every time I'vecalled, someone picks up the
phone and every time I've showedup I've been like five to 10
minutes early for my doctor'sappointment.
I'm seen before my appointmentand all my needs are addressed
and everything is done in 15minutes and I'm back and I'm
(32:23):
like this is just amazing andshe remembers me, she remembers
my kids, she remembers my wifeand that stood out.
And while that other providerwas amazing, the system support
system around him made it verychallenging for me to have a
positive experience and I thinkwe need to think about that from
what we do as a business is wecan have that fantastic adjuster
(32:46):
or that amazing underwriter,but if the support system around
them creates negativeexperiences, it won't matter and
we'll lose out on opportunitiesand on the claim side, we'll
drive things to litigation thatnever needed to go there.
Huge props to both of you onthat.
Chris.
We did an episode on mediationsand you know, on the claims
world we don't see these as muchas probably some other lines,
(33:09):
but I think there were somevaluable takeaways from this,
just in negotiation in general.
So I know you'd listen to theepisode.
What stood out to you?
Christ Drake (33:18):
First and foremost that you took the time to
acknowledge King Cake andwanting King Cake and not trying
to pull out the baby.
So that was one, but no liketwo things that definitely stuck
out to me and I think Alan dida fantastic job.
What an amazing podcast.
That was one, but no like twothings that definitely stuck out
to me and I think Alan did afantastic job.
What an amazing podcast.
That was Just earlyintervention and getting in and
(33:38):
getting a file mediated has ahigher resolution and it does
not cost that much.
That claim is going to continuebleeding out.
It's probably a goodopportunity to try to go through
a mediation to see if we canassess the value and really move
that far forward and then alsojust taking the time to break
(33:58):
down the actual potentialpitfalls with the mediation and
then the overall emotionalaspect from an injured worker.
They may come in withunrealistic expectations.
Their attorney's probably donea really good job just setting
the stage with them and justletting them know the actual
value.
But maybe they don't believethat You're seeing a lot of
these nuclear verdicts andsocial inflation in the GL space
(34:20):
and then your personal lineswhere they may transfer that
over to work comp thinking okay,I have a friend that had
somewhat of a similar injury.
They got this much money, I'mgoing to get the same thing, if
not a little more.
Inflation's up, so hey, I'mgoing to get a little more than
them.
And in reality they don'tunderstand the merits of their
claim and they don't understandwhat they really need.
They're just assessing a dollarvalue to what they think it's
(34:43):
worth, but they're not thinkingbig picture at the end.
And then you're breaking downthat barrier, that stigma, with
insurance, where you see a lotof the commercials, where
insurance carriers are there toget the lowest possible
settlement and to cheat you outof your money and in reality
that's not what happens.
We're set to indemnify people.
We're looking at their futureneeds, taking that into account
(35:04):
when we're pricing these filesand giving a fair and equitable
settlement.
So using these mediators helpsthem to just also break down the
barrier, help them to thinkthrough the process, what they
actually need, remove theemotions and I think you see
really, really good outcomeswith that.
I wish that we would actuallydo more mediations across the
board because again, you do seea lot of claims go two, three,
(35:27):
four years into litigation.
It's like we could have stoppedall of that, we could have been
able to come up with anequitable settlement that would
have benefited all parties, thatthat injured worker could have
went on with their life and beenfinancially taken care of for
that event.
And you had actually called itout in that podcast about the
whiteboard.
I thought that was interesting,how Allen would have a
whiteboard in each one of themediation rooms to be able to
(35:49):
paint the picture so they couldsee the visual graphic of the
process.
So I thought that was atremendous call out.
Greg Hamlin (35:56):
Yeah, he's a neat guy, he was actually in the area
recently and stopped by theoffice just to say hello, we
don't do a ton of business inLouisiana.
But he just said why can't morecarriers be like you guys?
And so that was a nicecompliment.
But he was trying to understandwhy some of the other carriers
do what they do, because it'sfrustrating to him when he's
trying to mediate it, and sothat was an interesting side
(36:19):
discussion, but certainlysomething we can use more of in
our industry in particular.
From there we went to talkingabout the RISE professional
group.
So actually I thought thiswould be kind of fun.
After the episode we got invitedto participate and my calendar
just did not work.
There was no way for me to getto this Rise thing.
I had some personal thingsgoing on that filled up my time,
(36:41):
and I reached out to Luella andsaid hey, do you have any
interest in doing this?
Does it work with your calendar?
Because if it does, I wouldlove to actually not only do a
podcast about them, but let's gosee what they do.
And so we sent Luella actuallyto RISE.
So what was your experience?
Going to the RISE event, thegala and the training sessions
(37:02):
and the whole thing in Florida?
Luella Alcorn (37:04):
Yeah, it wasn't too hard of a sell because it
was in Fort Lauderdale, otherthan it being in June.
Of course it's super hot there,a beautiful setting, beautiful
setting for their events there.
But in the podcast, amy tellseveryone how, if you want to get
involved, how to do that, justgo to riseprofessionalscom.
They have a lot of informationthere.
You can then sign in.
(37:24):
But it was a wonderful event.
I didn't know anything about itbefore the podcast Greg, so I
listened to it, learned a lot.
Amy Cooper is an amazing personand what she's built is
impressive.
So what it is is it helps youngrising insurance professionals
with building their careers.
So there's networkingopportunities that are there.
(37:45):
They want to make sure you'remeeting the right people to grow
your career.
They help you with publicspeaking and emotional
intelligence and they offermentorship information a mentor
and mentee, what it is to be amentee and what your
responsibility is in that right.
Some young professionals don'tunderstand what that is and you
(38:05):
just think, well, someone'sgoing to come set up the
meetings for me and I'm justgoing to attend and they're
going to tell me what to do.
No, they have a responsibilityin that and they're having them
be accountable for their owncareers and what that's going to
look like.
You talk about being humble,vulnerable, resilient, building
confidence, etc.
Super impressed with thespeakers there.
(38:27):
They had someone that wastalking about career missteps,
because sometimes we do havemissteps, right, so you would
think that that'd be a tabootopic.
She laid it all out there andwas telling her experience and
basically saying don't do what Idid, but what if that is
helping them prepare forsomething that they do
experience later on and theyknow what they can do to pivot
(38:49):
from that misstep and takeaccountability and make progress
in the future.
I was equally impressed withthe level of tenured insurance
professionals that showed up.
There were sponsorships frominsurance organizations,
agencies etc.
As well as they were giving oftheir time to come back and say
this is what I've learned in mycareer 20, 25, 30 plus years
(39:13):
that may help you on your firststeps in the insurance industry.
They had an award ceremony andhighlighted those that have made
huge strides in their earlycareers and I just think it's
fabulous what they built over atRise.
Greg Hamlin (39:27):
I would just encourage any of our listeners
if you're not involved, if it'sthe beginning of your career,
there's an opportunity to getinvolved in learning and
participating.
They do do some virtualtrainings.
It's not all in person.
I know I've taught one on KPIskey performance indicators
multiple times and I also knowthat there are a lot of
experienced professionals whoare volunteering and doing the
(39:50):
mentoring.
So if that's you and you haveinterest in getting involved,
this is not an organizationthat's tied to a carrier.
This is supported by lots ofdifferent organizations, lots of
different carriers.
It's a professional insurancegroup to help people grow their
career and I will say I'm goingto share the statistic that you
could do some Googling.
You could probably findsomething similar if you search
(40:11):
around, but there are someindicators that as many as 70%
of claims organizations areseeing turnover in the last 12
months of their staff that 70%of their staff.
So imagine trying to run anorganization in my shoes.
Thank heavens we don't havethat problem.
We have a pretty awesomeculture.
We've got the same team we had12 months ago, which I'm really
(40:37):
proud of.
But there are so many peopleentering this industry who need
these resources so that they canfill those roles that are open,
and so, I think, definitelysomething for others to think
about and maybe for somecarriers to think about getting
more involved.
Luella Alcorn (40:49):
Absolutely.
They have events all throughoutthe year, virtually, etc.
But then they've already settheir dates for the conference
next year.
So again go to their websiteand all of that is there.
Greg Hamlin (40:59):
Awesome.
Thank you, Luella.
And again, I know both Amy andKatrina, who started it up
amazing people, so shout outs toboth of them.
If you see them at a conferenceAmy Cooper and I think it's
Katrina Gaviato I might havesaid that wrong but if you see
them at a conference, say hello.
They're going to welcome you,They'll probably hug you and
they're just awesome people.
So I'm sure there'll be at thebig conferences like WCI and
(41:22):
Nationals, so keep your eye openfor them.
Then, from there, we went toExperience Mods Jeremy and we
talked a little bit about that,tried to demystify that.
I know we've done a webinar onit.
We've done a couple podcasts onit.
What were some of yourtakeaways from that episode?
Jeremy Morrison (41:37):
Well, I wanted to first say that when Luella
talked about forwarding theepisode to some folks that reach
out asking questions aboutexperience mods, I got a message
in LinkedIn from somebody wholistened.
They said the episode wasbussing.
That's the first time I've everheard that.
Luella Alcorn (41:54):
Talk about young insurance professionals.
Jeremy Morrison (41:57):
So I had to ask my button man, jacob Starmer,
what exactly is that?
But it's a good thing.
It's a very good thing, I guess.
So, anyway, I just wanted tothank you for forwarding that to
the folks that are reaching out.
So, Greg, as to your question.
However, as to your question,yeah, it's good to talk about
(42:18):
mods and kind of the mechanismsof the policy and how things are
priced.
You know the experience.
Mod is one component of premiumand how a policy gets to be
underwritten and ultimately apremium derived.
But it is maybe arguably, theaspect of the policy that the
(42:39):
insured has the most controlover.
Usually it represents howstrong their safety programs are
, and so it does get a lot ofattention.
Their safety programs are, andso it does get a lot of
attention.
So that's always good to talkabout and try to answer
questions, and hopefully somelisteners can take a few things
away from those conversations.
Greg Hamlin (43:00):
I love that, Jeremy , and again, we're going to keep
using it when people have thosequestions try to demystify it,
so yeah absolutely, and I wouldjust say demystify it.
Jeremy Morrison (43:11):
So yeah, absolutely, and I would just say
I don't have to cut you offthere, but I'm sure you'll have
our information in the notes onthe podcast episode and stuff.
But I welcome that.
Happy for anybody to call Agenta policyholder.
Don't be afraid to ask theunderwriters questions.
It's totally fine and hopefullywe can help answer questions or
(43:32):
illuminate some things.
So if anybody cares to, please,by all means you can reach out,
email, call, linkedin, whatever.
Happy to answer questions.
I'm by no means an expert, butI've been doing this long enough
to have a decent understandingof how the mods are calculated
and what factors impact theirswings.
Greg Hamlin (43:55):
I love that, jeremy , and I think you'll find that
throughout our entireorganization, and same for our
other leaders, we really want tohave that connection with the
people we service service I knowthat's putting myself out there
to have that there, but I alsofeel like I would rather deal
with problems and be availablethan to deal with the
(44:15):
consequences, and I think you'dfind that, with everybody on
this call, that that's who weare, that's what we do.
So I appreciate you, jeremy,especially your always
willingness to educate others.
Jeremy Morrison (44:28):
No problem, and I would agree with what you
said there.
Availability is the greatest ofno problem, and I would agree
with what you said there.
You know, availability is thegreatest of all abilities and I
think our company and team iscertainly available to all of
our stakeholders, whether it'sour agents, brokers or our
insureds.
We want to be as responsive anddynamic as possible and help
provide solutions before thingsbecome problems.
Greg Hamlin (44:51):
Thank you, jeremy.
Well, I want to thank each ofyou for your contributions.
A lot of people have gone intomaking Adjusted a successful
podcast, and I'm really proud ofwhat we created.
It's been five years, nearlyalmost exactly since we came up
with the idea and startedoutlining it, putting it
together.
Since we came up with the ideaand started outlining it,
(45:12):
putting it together, we now, asof today, have 29,126 downloads,
which is insane when you thinkthis is a very, very select
group of people that we'remarketing towards in the
workers' comp insurance space.
I'm incredibly proud of that,incredibly proud of the people
who've contributed, whetherthat's the marketing team, the
editing team, the guests thatwe've had, the employees that
(45:33):
have supported me as we do this,and we're excited that we're
going to continue it.
We're kicking off season 10.
It'll be this fall, so more tofollow, and we hope you will
continue to like, share, give usfive-star reviews.
We want this to get to otherother people, so if you can get
it out on your social media, itwould be helpful.
I'm proud of the 29 000, but Isure would love to for it to be
(45:55):
100, and I think that day willeventually come.
So, with that, I remind ourlisteners to do right, think
differently and don't forget tocare and remember to follow us
and, as episodes release everytwo weeks on Monday, thanks
everybody.
Hello everybody and welcome to Adjusted.
I'm your host, greg Hamlin,coming at you from sweet home,
Alabama, where we are in thethroes of summer and we have
115% heat index probably, whichfor someone who grew up in
Michigan and Indiana, is aboutas miserable as it could
possibly be.
(00:31):
So I'm just living indoorsthese days and only go outside
to drive to and from work, andthen I'm trying to convince my
kids to mow the grass, so Idon't have to go out there
during that time either.
So good thing about bigfamilies, I guess, excited about
this episode.
This is our wrap-up episode.
So we, believe it or not, arewrapping up our season nine,
(00:53):
where we have recorded well over100 episodes and hours and
hours of content.
With me I have several guests,so we'll start first.
We'll kind of do a roll call.
We'll start first with Lue,kind of do a roll call.
We'll start first with LuellaAlcorn.
For each of you, if you couldjust introduce yourself what
your role is and where you're at, that would be awesome.
Luella Alcorn (01:13):
You got it.
Luella Alcorn, Senior BusinessOperations Manager, and I sit in
our Lexington, Kentucky office.
Greg Hamlin (01:21):
And that's God's country Favorite place I've ever
lived.
I do love Alabama, but I have asweet spot for those rolling
hills in Kentucky, so I didn'tgrow up here, but I love it as
well, yeah.
So many friends there too forme.
Next up, Matt Yaling.
Matthew Yehling (01:36):
Hello everyone.
This is Matthew Yaling.
I'm in St Louis, missouri,along the banks of the mighty
Mississippi.
I'm with Midwest EmployersCasualty and I'm the vice
president of claims for claimsoperations.
So excited to talk about thewrap up and we're also in the
throes of summer, but a littlebit of a cool spell coming
(01:59):
through right now.
We're only in the 80s today.
Greg Hamlin (02:03):
So look forward to this.
Glad to have you, matt, asalways.
And for those listeners whodidn't catch it, his title
changed so I got to embarrasshim for a minute.
Congratulations.
He is now the head honcho overthere for claims at MEC, so
well-deserved and certainly gladto continue to collaborate with
you.
All right, thanks, matt.
Next up we have Jeremy Morrison, or as I call him, j-mo Jeremy,
(02:27):
if you want to introduceyourself to everybody.
Jeremy Morrison (02:30):
Yes, hi.
Thanks, greg Jeremy Morrison.
I'm in underwriting and happyto be on again with this great
panel and guests and celebrities, so thank you for having me.
Greg Hamlin (02:42):
So most people don't know this and I'm going to
embarrass him here again, butJeremy is a high school state
championship winner for highschool baseball and I think you
could argue, if you were to lookat the people who report to him
, that he does a dang good jobcoaching up our underwriting
associates.
So we're really lucky to havesomebody who not only is an
(03:05):
amazing underwriter but alsoknows how to coach it up.
So start calling you coach.
Jeremy Morrison (03:12):
Thank you.
Luella Alcorn (03:14):
Yeah, he has a good team on and off the field.
Greg Hamlin (03:17):
That's exactly right.
Glad to have you, jeremy, nextup.
Chris Drake, hailing fromHoosier land, I'll let you
introduce yourself, chris.
Christ Drake (03:28):
Yeah, I was going to say Luella said Lexington's
God's country and we say thathere in Indiana too.
So I'm guessing everybodyprobably says that.
But Chris Drake, I do set inthe Indianapolis area.
I am a claims manager withBerkeley Industrial Comp and
look forward to talking toeverybody.
Greg Hamlin (03:45):
You know, I'm an IU grad, so I've got a sweet spot
for Indiana, that's for sure.
So a little flat, a little flat, a lot of cornfields, a lot of
soybeans, but some really goodpeople, Absolutely.
There's a reason why they callit Hoosier Hospitality.
So you show up in Indiana,you're going to get taken care
of so glad to have you, Chris.
And then I think I caughteverybody on this round.
(04:07):
You know what I'm going to addone other person that doesn't
always get the credit hedeserves actually two and make
sure we get them in here on theroll call.
So we have our marketing, ourhead of marketing, which never
ends up on these episodesbecause he's behind the scenes
making us look amazing.
Great, Gabriel Santos.
Gabriel, if you could say helloto everybody, Hello everybody.
(04:30):
Good to be in front of thecameras here.
So I'm now in New York.
Originally from Brazil, so it'sa little bit colder up here,
but really good to join you guystoday.
We miss having Gabriel in ouroffice down here in Birmingham,
but still glad to have him aspart of the team and he's in the
(04:50):
big NYC now working out of oneof the Berkeley offices there,
but he's still on our team doingmarketing, so we're pretty
fortunate.
Last person I wanna make sure Icatch Cindy Housel.
A lot of people don't know sheis behind the scenes making all
of this work and without her Idon't know where we would be.
I can't tell you how many timesshe shows up in my office and
says hey, greg, we're runningout of content, you need to get
(05:13):
on it.
So I appreciate, cindy.
Cindy, if you could introduceyourself.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
Yeah, I'm Cindy Housel and I'm here in
Birmingham with Greg and, as amatter of fact, right before
this call, gabriel and I wereworking together and I asked him
if he was prepared to speak andhe said no.
So you just walked right intoit, greg, and we appreciate you.
Greg Hamlin (05:33):
You just never know .
With me I'm a wild card, so Idefinitely want to take the time
to acknowledge them, becausethis podcast doesn't happen with
the people behind the sceneswho are doing a lot of the work,
whether that's posting onLinkedIn or getting the files
edited or keeping us on schedule.
So when we do these wrap-upepisodes, I do like to take a
minute just to acknowledge thehard work of the people who
(05:55):
sometimes don't get recognizedand you don't get to hear them.
So Cindy, I felt like, isamazing.
I always think of her as ouroffice's resident cheerleader,
always positive, always there tosupport, so definitely glad to
have her involvement.
So I wanted to start by justnow that we've kind of
(06:15):
introduced everybody talkingabout the experience, hosting,
what was hard, what was fun,what did the audience miss, and
so we got a lot of new faces.
I'm going to start with Matt,because Matt's the old pro now,
having done this with me forseveral years.
Matthew Yehling (06:38):
Anything stand out to you, this go-around or
anything over time that you'veseen, you have more that we
didn't catch on the podcast.
But comparing yourself to Oprahand to other famous podcasters
is comical.
So the things that are oftensaid or maybe hit the cutting
floor before we start recordingor even after we start recording
(07:02):
.
There's a lot of great contentthat makes a lighter mood and a
more natural conversation.
So I think that makes for agood listening experience and
Greg does a really good job ofensuring that's happening before
and then sometimes after, andthere's been several podcasts
that I've experienced with youthat it's like man, I wish we
(07:24):
would have had that discussionor caught that on the actual
podcast, but really greatinterview that we had and I know
we're going to talk about itlater.
So one of the things that we'vehad a couple of times happen is
you do this podcast or yourecord it and the audio or
something happens, I don't knowit gets deleted, it doesn't
(07:44):
record properly.
You do it again and usually thesecond time is not as good, but
the experience we had this year,like the second time, was even
better than the first, and thenwe'll talk about in a minute
about what happened later.
But those interactions andmeeting other people and hearing
these stories is alwaysinteresting and I always pick up
a nugget from each one of theseexperiences.
(08:05):
So I just encourage whoever'slistening like we're trying to
have insights that improveworkers comp for everybody and
like hopefully you're picking upsome little nugget of wisdom or
some little nugget of empathyor whatever the subject is.
And that's really what I comeout of each one of these like
kind of refreshed and likerejuvenated that we are doing
(08:27):
something, we're adding good tothe atmosphere, like you always
close with and doing somethingto better the process, better
the people and make workers compa better fit for everybody.
So making everyone's experiencehopefully better.
So that's kind of one of myinsights.
(08:47):
And so two things I guess thejokes and making it a lively
experience for everyone, andthen the impact and grabbing a
little insight out of each oneof these discussions.
Greg Hamlin (09:00):
Yeah, I would agree I'm far better leader than I
was five years ago when westarted this journey.
Just things I've learned fromall of the amazing guests we've
had and Matt points out, youknow a lot of the really good
interviewers.
You don't realize how good theyare at what they're doing, to
be able to ask the questions andthen ask the follow up
(09:20):
questions and be completelypresent and also be able to help
somebody relax so that they canbe themselves.
It's hard and I have so muchrespect for, like the big
podcasters that are out thereand what they're able to
accomplish.
Having done this now for fiveyears and hopefully I'm better
than when I first started I wastelling Chris Drake I picked out
(09:42):
an episode which I won't tellthe audience, which it is that I
was like go listen to this oneand you'll see how bad I used to
be.
So there really are somechallenges and you do get better
with it and I've definitelylearned a lot.
So love that insight, Matt.
Chris, this was your first timedoing this, so talk to me about
it for you Talk to me about it.
Christ Drake (10:01):
For you, yeah, I think you go in with probably
unrealistic expectations.
Some people are so dang smoothat it that you think that you
can do that.
And you listen to yourself andyou realize, wow, I got a lot of
work to do.
I'm not necessarily thegreatest podcaster.
Now, to set the bar, I listento a lot of hunting podcasts
which most people are like, okay, I don't care about that.
(10:23):
But also, how captivating isinsurance too, right?
So I made a joke the other dayabout the webinar, just making a
comment about the murdermysteries and all this and how
that's such a rave, and justwanted to try to compare how
adjusted was so much morecaptivating than that.
In reality, us insurance nerds,we love insurance, but for
everybody else, you're trying togive them a little bit of a
(10:45):
lens into what we do every dayand what people can take away
and learn from it Not just aninjured worker from an employer,
from an agent, you name it.
So I think just being able totie all that in into having a
conversation with someone whichis not the most captivating at
times is pretty difficult, butit's honestly been a good
experience and I think the morethat you do it, the more you
(11:06):
become comfortable.
But I've also realized it's notas smooth as people are.
It's more the active listenersand those that have the
investigative knowledge and theability to do that make the
great podcasters.
So I'm glad to be part of this.
I've learned a lot.
Greg Hamlin (11:33):
I've realized I still have a long way to go.
I am definitely not smooth, butI love talking to people.
So it's pretty awesome thinkingabout the next question and
where you want to go next.
And when you're co-hostingyou're also thinking about I
need to back off here and givethe other person a chance to ask
some questions too.
So there's some timing that youjust figure out as you get
better at it, but it's a lot,because if you're not listening
(11:57):
and you're only thinking aboutthe question, you're going to
miss out on half of what's goingon.
So those are great points foryour first round getting
involved.
Luella, you've done a number ofdifferent podcasts, I don't
think as a host, but as a guest.
So what's been your experience,having been a guest multiple
times?
Luella Alcorn (12:14):
The first podcast I did.
I was so excited about it and Ithought it went fairly well.
And then it comes and is posted, and so, family members, you
know we're watching.
I forced my husband to watch itand I did not know that I said
the word right, like at the endof every sentence or the
beginning of every sentence.
So he's listening to it as I'mthere and he's counting on his
(12:36):
fingers one, two and it was likea bazillion times and I was
like I didn't even know I didthat.
So it's interesting to hear yourvoice.
Right, you sound different thanyou think you do.
Okay, that is bizarre, but Isound like my sister.
That's the other thing.
I sound exactly like one of mysisters.
But the other thing is that wehave a rough draft, right, we
kind of know what it is, thetopic is, and then, all of a
(12:56):
sudden, here comes Greg withsome question you didn't even
know and you weren't preparedfor.
So you definitely have to be onyour toes, okay.
And then the other interestingthing for me is how one topic
makes me really, really nervousand I don't know why, and the
other one it's like no problem,let's do it.
So I don't know why.
There's no rhyme or reason toit, but it does get a little bit
easier each time.
It does.
Greg Hamlin (13:17):
I was telling, chris I have the fortunate, I
guess, background that when Iwas about three years old my
neighbors were high schoolersand they needed somebody who was
like three to be in their highschool theater program.
I can't even remember theperformance, I think it was a
Christmas Carol.
Anyway, I was in it for maybefive seconds, but then from then
(13:38):
on I was always in theater andso somehow for me that part is
easier.
Now, if you go golfing with me,my anxiety is going to go to 10
because that is not my skillset.
So you are seeing probably theworst qualities on display as I
try to swing.
So you know everybody's gottheir, their areas, that they
got to get, yeah, morecomfortable got their thing,
(14:01):
yeah, I get it.
and then last up, jeremy, you'vedone several of these with me
as a guest, I don't think as ahost, but what's your experience
been?
Jeremy Morrison (14:09):
It's been a lot of fun to talk about experience
mods or workers' compensationunderwriting, and a few months
ago we had the opportunity to dothat again.
So, yeah, just grateful for theopportunity to talk about
something that policyholdershave to think about and deal
with and answer some questionsabout experience modifications.
(14:31):
It's a lot of fun.
Greg Hamlin (14:32):
Good job of demystifying the underwriting
process, because I think peoplejust don't understand how
experience mods work.
Before I was here at Berkeley,I don't think I had a
fundamental understandingworking at the state fund but
and I think a lot of incorrectdecisions are made because in a
correct understanding of howemods work causes that.
(14:54):
So I just appreciate yourability to explain something
that's incredibly complicated ina way that I can understand, a
way that I can understand from aclay's perspective, which means
means you've dumbed it down, sothank you for that.
Jeremy Morrison (15:07):
Well, I don't know about that, but it is an
important thing because there ispremium incentive tied to this
component of the policy and it'ssomething that insureds have an
active role in their safetyprogram and safety culture and
hopefully they're rewardedfinancially for their investment
(15:29):
in having a strong program fortheir employees.
So it does get a lot ofscrutiny and a lot of questions
because there's dollarsassociated with it.
But no, as you said, it's alittle bit mysterious sometimes,
and sometimes insureds don'twork in the workers'
compensation realm to reallyfully understand the mechanics
(15:49):
behind the calculation.
They hear about it from theiragent or from their broker, but
that might be the extent of it.
Luella Alcorn (15:56):
Thank goodness Jeremy does understand it,
because that is a podcast.
Because that is a podcast, I'vehad multiple times that.
I've then gotten a call fromsomeone and then I have the
podcast link to be able to sendto them and say this is the
information that you need toknow.
Don't take it from me becauseI'm not the expert, but here it
is and you can listen to thisand they explain it better.
I've used it multiple times.
Christ Drake (16:17):
That's awesome I have to start calling him the
professor.
Greg Hamlin (16:19):
Yeah, right absolutely, and professor, he's
got two times.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the episodewe did with empathy and claims.
Hope was involved in that.
She couldn't make it today, butI know Chris is passionate
about this topic as well, so I'mgoing to kind of kick this one
over to you, chris.
And what are your thoughts onempathy and claims?
(16:41):
I know like 20 years ago, whenwe came up in the industry, this
was not on the topic of thingsto do as a claims adjuster.
So how have you seen thatchange and where does that fit
according to what you see now?
Christ Drake (16:57):
I think the theory has always been there.
Right, you talk the talk, butdo you walk the walk in there?
Right, you talk the talk, butdo you walk the walk?
Everybody wants to create agood experience for the injured
worker.
It's set there to indemnifypeople for their losses, but
it's not going to be thiswealth-driving vehicle.
I think with our empatheticresolution model, that speaks
really, really highly to me justmaking it personal, taking
(17:22):
yourself and putting yourself inthe injured worker's shoes.
Like I've said before, you guysprobably get burned out of me
saying this, but they don't getup that day expecting to get
hurt.
They don't go into work thinkingyou know what, I'm going to get
hurt today, Can't wait for that.
It's a disruption to theirlives.
So just being able there tomeet them where they are, to
walk them through the processand to make it to where they can
(17:43):
get back to their normal way ofliving there's a lot to be said
in that and I think in theinsurance industry we talk about
that all the time.
But how many people really livethat and Hope made a really
good point in one of ourmeetings a few days ago just
seeing the increasing trend nowof not just talking about it.
People are walking the walk andyou're seeing, if you look at a
(18:04):
lot of the initiatives that areout there now really advocating
for injured workers and justtrying to break down that stigma
in the insurance industry thatwe're not there to fight you,
we're here to help you and walkthe process, and I think they
did a really good job in thatepisode just driving that home.
Greg Hamlin (18:21):
Excellent points and I couldn't agree more.
This is on my one of my passionprojects.
When we had a lot of downtimeduring COVID, I used to go on
walks a lot, since there wasnothing else to do and nowhere
else to go and I just keptspinning my wheels on this
thought like what might we dodifferent?
That would create a differentexperience and, even if it costs
(18:42):
us a little more on the frontend, would drive an outcome that
would be better for everybodyinvolved.
And if I think, if you can takethat holistic approach of
looking at it through the lensof an outcome and then putting
yourself in their shoes, it'shuge.
My daughter just three days agogot sideswiped in Tuscaloosa and
the guy gave her the finger anddrove away.
(19:03):
And so I'm having to go throughthe policy and do I have
uninsured motors coverage andhelping her file the police
report and getting the vanfigured out.
She's driving our van forwhatever reason.
So that's a lot and theyactually I won't say who, the
carriers, but they did a nicejob.
But I think it goes a long waybecause you're already feeling
(19:23):
frustrated in that moment of mylife just got disrupted.
This is a nine o'clock at nightthat this happened.
She's driving back home becauseshe's in between leases and now
I have to deal with this, andso I think that goes a long way
if we can show empathy and tryto understand where the other
(19:44):
person's coming from.
Matt, you actually had anepisode with me that really
stood out, where we had theopportunity to talk about an
individual that went through acatastrophic event and how they
leveraged that event towards thefuture.
So I want to hear you kind ofmentioned this some already but
your thoughts after that episodeand then in even sense, yeah.
Matthew Yehling (20:08):
So I mean we got to speak with Julie Greer,
one of your senior CAD analysts,and then Steve with Shamrock
Prosthetics and we you know,steve, between the time we
recorded this, we actually, likeI alluded to earlier, we
recorded this twice.
Between the time we recordedthis, we actually, like I
alluded to earlier, we recordedthis twice.
Like learning about Steve'sstory is is impactful enough,
(20:28):
but then between our recordingand and this airing, you know,
steve ended up passing away andso we made it a tribute to him.
But when we were recording withhim, like Steve was an amputee
himself and that story was aboutnot about him, but it's hard
not to make it about you as wellbut he wanted he didn't want to
make it about himself.
You know we were talking aboutanother injured employee
(20:50):
actually that Julie and Steveworked together on, and the
experience of you know how tobring somebody past that initial
injury and and really finding abetter solution for that
injured employee than what wasbeing offered locally for him.
And sometimes, you know, to theearlier point of doing what's
right for the injured employeeor what's right for the person
(21:14):
that has this life-changingevent more complicated than, and
cost us more money than, doingthe minimal and doing what would
have been easier, but in thelong run for that injured
employee the result was better,right.
So this was an example and Idon't remember the exact state I
think it was Illinois.
We might not even have said itbecause we were trying to prove
(21:36):
that PPI and all that but wetook this injured employee
outside of Illinois, flew himdown to Steve's prosthetic shop
down Shamrock, down in Atlanta,georgia area and, you know, got
him fitted.
Steve found out he was in ahigh industrial environment and
drove different equipment andsuited him up for doing that
(22:01):
kind of work down the road fromyou know Steve's shop.
And just a great story of howdoing an alternative, doing
something above and beyond whatas a carrier you're obligated to
do, but for the injuredemployee, a better result for
him, a better prosthetic devicefor the injured employee and
ultimately a better successwhere the injured employee was
(22:23):
able to return to fullemployment and just an overall
success story.
And probably in the long run Imean we'll know in years but a
better result for BerkeleyIndustrial Comp, because now,
instead of paying somebody to beoff work for the next who knows
how long and having to dealwith suboptimal treatment and
(22:43):
prosthetics and wound issues andall these other complications
that can happen with an amputee.
You have a great result, theinjured employee is happy, they
get a great device, they're ableto work and have a meaningful
return to life and all of that.
And it really highlighted whatSteve was trying to do with
Shamrock prosthetics down in theAtlanta area and it's not a
(23:05):
commercial for Shamrock, butthey did a great job and that's
kind of the above and beyondexperience.
And what we're trying to do isinsurance carriers and raise the
bar and show a better outcomefor those injured employees.
And sometimes it's, you know,it feels like, oh, you're going
to send me to this place becausethat doctor or that person is
(23:25):
going to, you know, say no orsuggest something that is going
to be easier for you.
But this was an example whereJulie really went above and
beyond, connected with Steve andconnected with that injured
employee, to get a better resultfor everybody and, in the long
run, a home run really.
And then, like I said, wealluded to already, you know
(23:46):
Steve's passing and I got kindof caught up in like Steve's own
story when we were interviewinghim the first time and then the
second time and he could havebeen a, we could have made it
all about him and he was tryingto reverse.
He said, no, this is not mystory, this is how we help this
injured employee.
But I think it goes back tothat how do you create a
solution for the injuredemployee, how do you connect
(24:08):
with them, how do you listen,like we said earlier, how are
you empathetic?
And then like, what's theresult?
Like we're all trying to aimfor the best result and for most
cases that best result is we'returning that injured employee
back to a functional position.
We want to get you back to whereyou were before this happened
you know you alluded to earlierlike you didn't come to work
(24:30):
expecting to lose a limb orexpecting whatever the injury
would have been.
So like we want to have amindset of how do we bring this
person whole again, or as wholeas they can be.
So really an impactfulexperience, you know, speaking
with Steve and Julie and hearingthat from their perspective and
and it's just a great successstory overall.
(24:50):
So probably one of my favoriteinterviews.
And then sadly learningafterwards that Steve's no
longer with us.
It kind of made it impactfulfrom like hey, tomorrow's not
guaranteed.
What do you do today?
To be the best version ofyourself, to be the best for
other people and to put goodthings out into the world and
just make an impact and make adifference for others.
Greg Hamlin (25:13):
Love that.
Matt and I had the same feeling.
He was a credible human being.
The good news is Shamrock isliving on, so that vision
remains, which is impactful, andwill be his legacy, along with
the people he helped.
And I think sometimes and I saythis a lot I think sometimes we
get caught up in following thestatute, which is important
(25:34):
because the statute tells uswhat we have to do, but then
sometimes we don't think aboutwell, the statute doesn't say
you can't do more.
And if doing more results in abetter outcome for everybody
involved, why wouldn't we do it?
And sometimes we're so focusedon the guardrails that we forget
that.
Okay, we don't have to fly himand his spouse to Atlanta and
(25:55):
pay for a hotel room for a weekwhile they go through this
process.
But if he can return to work,if we can get a better outcome,
if he can use a prosthesisthat's going to help him live
day to day and he has someonewho understands what he's going
through, then we're winning,everybody's winning.
And in that particular state inIllinois, we don't direct care,
so he had to agree to all thosethings, and so gaining
(26:18):
cooperation is another reallyimportant element that sometimes
gets forgotten about that.
If we can gain cooperation, wecan get a better result, and
it's not because we're trying tonickel and dime the injured
worker.
Our best interest, especiallywhen we're talking about these
large losses, is the besttreatment up front.
I'd rather pay for the besttreatment up front and get the
(26:39):
best outcome than the next 20years be stuck with the problems
that came because we didn't doit right to start with.
I know you see that in yourexcess line at MEC, so
definitely one that I hopepeople go back and listen to and
I'm sure we'll rebroadcast inthe future.
From there we went toresponsiveness matters, and this
(27:00):
has been a passion of mine.
Chris and Luella were on thiscall or on this episode, and
there's nothing that drives mecrazier.
This is one of my own personalpet peeves is when I have a
service issue and I can't gethold of anybody.
Sometimes they don't even put anumber anymore on the website,
so you can't even figure out howdo I reach this company to have
(27:21):
my service resolved.
And then, if you're luckyenough to have a number, you're
passed around like a Sundayplate and an hour and a half
goes by and you still don't haveyour problem resolved.
So this is something we pushedfor extremely hard on the claims
side, because I just believe inthe fact that your first
experience with your carrier isgoing to determine a lot that
(27:45):
happens after that, and if we'reirresponsive, that's going to
lead to litigation, that's goingto lead to all kinds of other
horrible things.
So Luella leads up the businessengagement team we have and
Chris leads up our claims team.
So I'd love to hear Luella'sperspective and Chris's
perspective on this episode.
Luella Alcorn (28:03):
You're so right that more and more you go to a
website, you can't find atelephone number.
You scroll up, you scroll down,you look to the bottom, you
look to the right, you know, andyou just cannot find the way.
So we don't want thatexperience for our customers.
We want you to know how toreach out to us.
Some of that is involved incommunication, even before you
need that information to try toeducate you.
(28:25):
But what stood out to me inthis episode is that
responsiveness matters, and wetalked about the different
reasons and who that matters to.
We have injured workers, we havepolicyholders, we have agents,
and sometimes that can't wait,and so it's really important
that we're answering our phonesand giving them, you know, the
information that they need.
(28:45):
I just had a call this morning.
It was a policyholder thatwanted to add a state to their
policy and they needed to knowhad it been completed.
Yet they need to know thatbecause they were going to then
do a job in that state.
They can't wait, they need that.
So it is very important.
It's always changing for usAnother thing where we learn
something new as to what we cando to help them in being quick
(29:08):
in that responsiveness.
But it's also every single timewe're building that trust again
.
It's an opportunity everysingle time they make that phone
call because they could havecalled a month ago and it was
great, but now today needs to begreat too, and next month needs
to be great.
It's every single time thatthey're reaching out to us we've
got to knock it out of the park, and in that episode we did
(29:30):
talk about if let's saysomething does go wrong, let us
know.
We're going to review whathappened, we're going to
apologize and we're going to bebetter the next time for it.
Greg Hamlin (29:40):
I love that and that accountability really is
important Accepting it, owningit, learning from it, getting
better from it and I think we'vecome a tremendous way in five
years.
We have A distance from wherewe were.
Chris, your thoughts from aclaims perspective.
Christ Drake (29:55):
I think it ties in real nicely with what Luella
said.
I mean you think consistency,accountability, accessibility,
right, and I think if you lookat every aspect of the claim,
you may not think about this.
But you have claims, you havebusiness engagement, you have
marketing, you have underwriting.
If you have consistency acrossthe board, which we do with
(30:16):
every single department, you'rebuilding those relationships,
you're building that trust.
We can start to build programsand work with insureds as we
continue to progress.
I thought of this the other day.
I was going through a phoneprompt.
Right, it's a novel idea.
You pick up the phone, you getsomebody on the phone.
It's like, how hard is that?
But I was going through phoneprompts and I had to check
(30:38):
myself at the door.
My voice was elevating everysingle time I was going through
one of the prompts to where mywife could hear me upstairs.
Luella Alcorn (30:46):
Representative Right yeah Representative.
Christ Drake (30:50):
And then I'm trying to think, like, do I put
this in chat, gpt, to figure outa different way to say it so
they're going to understand it?
You don't get that.
I mean, it goes a long way.
People want to hear anotherperson's voice.
You can check tone and I thinkthat goes a long way, especially
for it doesn't matter if it'san angel worker, an agent, a
policyholder, a physician, anattorney.
People just want to be able torelate to somebody and to get
(31:13):
their issue resolved, and Ithink that that definitely
resonated with me.
Greg Hamlin (31:18):
I agree.
You know I shared this.
I don't know that I've evershared on a podcast, but when I
first moved to Birmingham Ineeded a new primary care
physician because I'm not fromhere, I don't know anybody, and
so I got a reference for aprimary care physician who, by
the way, was fantastic,absolutely loved the guy.
He did an amazing job, but hewas part of this enormous
(31:39):
practice.
It was very difficult to park.
I could never get them on thephone to schedule.
I'd have to leave a message.
They'd call me back.
Inevitably.
I'd be on a work call when theywould call back and then their
billing unit like sometimes thebills didn't get to me and then
they wouldn't let me schedule anappointment until I paid my
bill.
But I had no way to talk toanybody to pay the bill.
(32:00):
And I'm like this is ridiculous.
And I found a differentphysician that is near my home
that literally every time I'vecalled, someone picks up the
phone and every time I've showedup I've been like five to 10
minutes early for my doctor'sappointment.
I'm seen before my appointmentand all my needs are addressed
and everything is done in 15minutes and I'm back and I'm
(32:23):
like this is just amazing andshe remembers me, she remembers
my kids, she remembers my wifeand that stood out.
And while that other providerwas amazing, the system support
system around him made it verychallenging for me to have a
positive experience and I thinkwe need to think about that from
what we do as a business is wecan have that fantastic adjuster
(32:46):
or that amazing underwriter,but if the support system around
them creates negativeexperiences, it won't matter and
we'll lose out on opportunitiesand on the claim side, we'll
drive things to litigation thatnever needed to go there.
Huge props to both of you onthat.
Chris.
We did an episode on mediationsand you know, on the claims
world we don't see these as muchas probably some other lines,
(33:09):
but I think there were somevaluable takeaways from this,
just in negotiation in general.
So I know you'd listen to theepisode.
What stood out to you?
Christ Drake (33:18):
First and foremost that you took the time to
acknowledge King Cake andwanting King Cake and not trying
to pull out the baby.
So that was one, but no liketwo things that definitely stuck
out to me and I think Alan dida fantastic job.
What an amazing podcast.
That was one, but no like twothings that definitely stuck out
to me and I think Alan did afantastic job.
What an amazing podcast.
That was Just earlyintervention and getting in and
(33:38):
getting a file mediated has ahigher resolution and it does
not cost that much.
That claim is going to continuebleeding out.
It's probably a goodopportunity to try to go through
a mediation to see if we canassess the value and really move
that far forward and then alsojust taking the time to break
(33:58):
down the actual potentialpitfalls with the mediation and
then the overall emotionalaspect from an injured worker.
They may come in withunrealistic expectations.
Their attorney's probably donea really good job just setting
the stage with them and justletting them know the actual
value.
But maybe they don't believethat You're seeing a lot of
these nuclear verdicts andsocial inflation in the GL space
(34:20):
and then your personal lineswhere they may transfer that
over to work comp thinking okay,I have a friend that had
somewhat of a similar injury.
They got this much money, I'mgoing to get the same thing, if
not a little more.
Inflation's up, so hey, I'mgoing to get a little more than
them.
And in reality they don'tunderstand the merits of their
claim and they don't understandwhat they really need.
They're just assessing a dollarvalue to what they think it's
(34:43):
worth, but they're not thinkingbig picture at the end.
And then you're breaking downthat barrier, that stigma, with
insurance, where you see a lotof the commercials, where
insurance carriers are there toget the lowest possible
settlement and to cheat you outof your money and in reality
that's not what happens.
We're set to indemnify people.
We're looking at their futureneeds, taking that into account
(35:04):
when we're pricing these filesand giving a fair and equitable
settlement.
So using these mediators helpsthem to just also break down the
barrier, help them to thinkthrough the process, what they
actually need, remove theemotions and I think you see
really, really good outcomeswith that.
I wish that we would actuallydo more mediations across the
board because again, you do seea lot of claims go two, three,
(35:27):
four years into litigation.
It's like we could have stoppedall of that, we could have been
able to come up with anequitable settlement that would
have benefited all parties, thatthat injured worker could have
went on with their life and beenfinancially taken care of for
that event.
And you had actually called itout in that podcast about the
whiteboard.
I thought that was interesting,how Allen would have a
whiteboard in each one of themediation rooms to be able to
(35:49):
paint the picture so they couldsee the visual graphic of the
process.
So I thought that was atremendous call out.
Greg Hamlin (35:56):
Yeah, he's a neat guy, he was actually in the area
recently and stopped by theoffice just to say hello, we
don't do a ton of business inLouisiana.
But he just said why can't morecarriers be like you guys?
And so that was a nicecompliment.
But he was trying to understandwhy some of the other carriers
do what they do, because it'sfrustrating to him when he's
trying to mediate it, and sothat was an interesting side
(36:19):
discussion, but certainlysomething we can use more of in
our industry in particular.
From there we went to talkingabout the RISE professional
group.
So actually I thought thiswould be kind of fun.
After the episode we got invitedto participate and my calendar
just did not work.
There was no way for me to getto this Rise thing.
I had some personal thingsgoing on that filled up my time,
(36:41):
and I reached out to Luella andsaid hey, do you have any
interest in doing this?
Does it work with your calendar?
Because if it does, I wouldlove to actually not only do a
podcast about them, but let's gosee what they do.
And so we sent Luella actuallyto RISE.
So what was your experience?
Going to the RISE event, thegala and the training sessions
(37:02):
and the whole thing in Florida?
Luella Alcorn (37:04):
Yeah, it wasn't too hard of a sell because it
was in Fort Lauderdale, otherthan it being in June.
Of course it's super hot there,a beautiful setting, beautiful
setting for their events there.
But in the podcast, amy tellseveryone how, if you want to get
involved, how to do that, justgo to riseprofessionalscom.
They have a lot of informationthere.
You can then sign in.
(37:24):
But it was a wonderful event.
I didn't know anything about itbefore the podcast Greg, so I
listened to it, learned a lot.
Amy Cooper is an amazing personand what she's built is
impressive.
So what it is is it helps youngrising insurance professionals
with building their careers.
So there's networkingopportunities that are there.
(37:45):
They want to make sure you'remeeting the right people to grow
your career.
They help you with publicspeaking and emotional
intelligence and they offermentorship information a mentor
and mentee, what it is to be amentee and what your
responsibility is in that right.
Some young professionals don'tunderstand what that is and you
(38:05):
just think, well, someone'sgoing to come set up the
meetings for me and I'm justgoing to attend and they're
going to tell me what to do.
No, they have a responsibilityin that and they're having them
be accountable for their owncareers and what that's going to
look like.
You talk about being humble,vulnerable, resilient, building
confidence, etc.
Super impressed with thespeakers there.
(38:27):
They had someone that wastalking about career missteps,
because sometimes we do havemissteps, right, so you would
think that that'd be a tabootopic.
She laid it all out there andwas telling her experience and
basically saying don't do what Idid, but what if that is
helping them prepare forsomething that they do
experience later on and theyknow what they can do to pivot
(38:49):
from that misstep and takeaccountability and make progress
in the future.
I was equally impressed withthe level of tenured insurance
professionals that showed up.
There were sponsorships frominsurance organizations,
agencies etc.
As well as they were giving oftheir time to come back and say
this is what I've learned in mycareer 20, 25, 30 plus years
(39:13):
that may help you on your firststeps in the insurance industry.
They had an award ceremony andhighlighted those that have made
huge strides in their earlycareers and I just think it's
fabulous what they built over atRise.
Greg Hamlin (39:27):
I would just encourage any of our listeners
if you're not involved, if it'sthe beginning of your career,
there's an opportunity to getinvolved in learning and
participating.
They do do some virtualtrainings.
It's not all in person.
I know I've taught one on KPIskey performance indicators
multiple times and I also knowthat there are a lot of
experienced professionals whoare volunteering and doing the
(39:50):
mentoring.
So if that's you and you haveinterest in getting involved,
this is not an organizationthat's tied to a carrier.
This is supported by lots ofdifferent organizations, lots of
different carriers.
It's a professional insurancegroup to help people grow their
career and I will say I'm goingto share the statistic that you
could do some Googling.
You could probably findsomething similar if you search
(40:11):
around, but there are someindicators that as many as 70%
of claims organizations areseeing turnover in the last 12
months of their staff that 70%of their staff.
So imagine trying to run anorganization in my shoes.
Thank heavens we don't havethat problem.
We have a pretty awesomeculture.
We've got the same team we had12 months ago, which I'm really
(40:37):
proud of.
But there are so many peopleentering this industry who need
these resources so that they canfill those roles that are open,
and so, I think, definitelysomething for others to think
about and maybe for somecarriers to think about getting
more involved.
Luella Alcorn (40:49):
Absolutely.
They have events all throughoutthe year, virtually, etc.
But then they've already settheir dates for the conference
next year.
So again go to their websiteand all of that is there.
Greg Hamlin (40:59):
Awesome.
Thank you, Luella.
And again, I know both Amy andKatrina, who started it up
amazing people, so shout outs toboth of them.
If you see them at a conferenceAmy Cooper and I think it's
Katrina Gaviato I might havesaid that wrong but if you see
them at a conference, say hello.
They're going to welcome you,They'll probably hug you and
they're just awesome people.
So I'm sure there'll be at thebig conferences like WCI and
(41:22):
Nationals, so keep your eye openfor them.
Then, from there, we went toExperience Mods Jeremy and we
talked a little bit about that,tried to demystify that.
I know we've done a webinar onit.
We've done a couple podcasts onit.
What were some of yourtakeaways from that episode?
Jeremy Morrison (41:37):
Well, I wanted to first say that when Luella
talked about forwarding theepisode to some folks that reach
out asking questions aboutexperience mods, I got a message
in LinkedIn from somebody wholistened.
They said the episode wasbussing.
That's the first time I've everheard that.
Luella Alcorn (41:54):
Talk about young insurance professionals.
Jeremy Morrison (41:57):
So I had to ask my button man, jacob Starmer,
what exactly is that?
But it's a good thing.
It's a very good thing, I guess.
So, anyway, I just wanted tothank you for forwarding that to
the folks that are reaching out.
So, Greg, as to your question.
However, as to your question,yeah, it's good to talk about
(42:18):
mods and kind of the mechanismsof the policy and how things are
priced.
You know the experience.
Mod is one component of premiumand how a policy gets to be
underwritten and ultimately apremium derived.
But it is maybe arguably, theaspect of the policy that the
(42:39):
insured has the most controlover.
Usually it represents howstrong their safety programs are
, and so it does get a lot ofattention.
Their safety programs are, andso it does get a lot of
attention.
So that's always good to talkabout and try to answer
questions, and hopefully somelisteners can take a few things
away from those conversations.
Greg Hamlin (43:00):
I love that, Jeremy , and again, we're going to keep
using it when people have thosequestions try to demystify it,
so yeah absolutely, and I wouldjust say demystify it.
Jeremy Morrison (43:11):
So yeah, absolutely, and I would just say
I don't have to cut you offthere, but I'm sure you'll have
our information in the notes onthe podcast episode and stuff.
But I welcome that.
Happy for anybody to call Agenta policyholder.
Don't be afraid to ask theunderwriters questions.
It's totally fine and hopefullywe can help answer questions or
(43:32):
illuminate some things.
So if anybody cares to, please,by all means you can reach out,
email, call, linkedin, whatever.
Happy to answer questions.
I'm by no means an expert, butI've been doing this long enough
to have a decent understandingof how the mods are calculated
and what factors impact theirswings.
Greg Hamlin (43:55):
I love that, jeremy , and I think you'll find that
throughout our entireorganization, and same for our
other leaders, we really want tohave that connection with the
people we service service I knowthat's putting myself out there
to have that there, but I alsofeel like I would rather deal
with problems and be availablethan to deal with the
(44:15):
consequences, and I think you'dfind that, with everybody on
this call, that that's who weare, that's what we do.
So I appreciate you, jeremy,especially your always
willingness to educate others.
Jeremy Morrison (44:28):
No problem, and I would agree with what you
said there.
Availability is the greatest ofno problem, and I would agree
with what you said there.
You know, availability is thegreatest of all abilities and I
think our company and team iscertainly available to all of
our stakeholders, whether it'sour agents, brokers or our
insureds.
We want to be as responsive anddynamic as possible and help
provide solutions before thingsbecome problems.
Greg Hamlin (44:51):
Thank you, jeremy.
Well, I want to thank each ofyou for your contributions.
A lot of people have gone intomaking Adjusted a successful
podcast, and I'm really proud ofwhat we created.
It's been five years, nearlyalmost exactly since we came up
with the idea and startedoutlining it, putting it
together.
Since we came up with the ideaand started outlining it,
(45:12):
putting it together, we now, asof today, have 29,126 downloads,
which is insane when you thinkthis is a very, very select
group of people that we'remarketing towards in the
workers' comp insurance space.
I'm incredibly proud of that,incredibly proud of the people
who've contributed, whetherthat's the marketing team, the
editing team, the guests thatwe've had, the employees that
(45:33):
have supported me as we do this,and we're excited that we're
going to continue it.
We're kicking off season 10.
It'll be this fall, so more tofollow, and we hope you will
continue to like, share, give usfive-star reviews.
We want this to get to otherother people, so if you can get
it out on your social media, itwould be helpful.
I'm proud of the 29 000, but Isure would love to for it to be
(45:55):
100, and I think that day willeventually come.
So, with that, I remind ourlisteners to do right, think
differently and don't forget tocare and remember to follow us
and, as episodes release everytwo weeks on Monday, thanks
everybody.
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