Our people are our greatest asset is a cliché that happens to be true, at least for loss adjuster Woodgate & Clark, where the company has made training and developing its adjusting team one of the four core pillars of activity for 2022.
HR Manager Lyndsey Moore has designed the programme in conjunction with the technical leaders in the business, which she says has two aims. It’s partly about retaining experienced people for as long as possible, but primarily, it’s making sure younger adjusters improve their knowledge and skills and become positive advocates for Woodgate & Clark.
In short, she says: “The business is keen to hold onto its reputation for having the best technical expertise in the sector and that Woodgate & Clark is the place to come to if you’re serious about a career in loss adjusting and are hungry for success. 80% of our adjusters have a qualification and 70% are ACILA-qualified, one of the highest ratios in the industry.”
Lyndsey explained that fuelling the succession pipeline is a top priority, given approximately 5% of senior adjusters are retiring each year. “We have mapped career paths and adjuster development programmes designed to deliver continuous improvement in our skills base so we can continue to serve the needs of our clients. .”
“We support about 20% of our adjusters at any one time going for their CILA/CII or RICS (surveyor) qualifications, and we also have a small number of apprentices going through a structured, 18-24 month Insurance Professional course that is linked with either the CILA or CII exams, where they are mentored to provide them with the soft skills as well as the technical capability.”
Woodgate & Clark is selective in recruitment. Lyndsey explains: “We don’t want people for the skills they already have; it’s about getting the right type of person on board.”
One differentiator, which comes from being a medium sized adjusting business, is culture and Woodgate & Clark puts a lot of effort into building a unique working environment.
Lyndsey says: “We pride ourselves on being a family. We make a point of supporting and nurturing all our people and passing on our experience through our mentoring programme and ADF (Adjuster Development Forum).
The ADF is an initiative from one of the company’s young adjusters, who had gone through the qualifications journey on his own and wanted to give something back to colleagues who were on the same path. It is a forum of qualifying and newly qualified adjusters, meeting on a monthly basis to talk about topics and issues of interest. The ADF is unique to Woodgate & Clark.
Lyndsey says: “It’s driven by the individuals. It’s not a top-down imposed idea.”
Qualifications are essential for the adjusting team. “Qualifications give our adjusters confidence, credibility and respect from industry peers. Qualifications also give our adjusters access to our major loss pathway where they get exposure to larger losses and other more interesting case work, initially under the guidance of a more experienced adjuster.”
The fall in the number of loss adjusters is an industry wide problem, and Lyndsey said Woodgate & Clark supported cross industry efforts, through trade body CILA to promote the profession. She urged CILA to cast the net wider, beyond the insurance industry and right across financial services where there are a lot of transferable skills.
There are now more women applying for CILA qualifications than men, so the proportion of female loss adjusters will increase. Woodgate & Clark doesn’t have specific policies for women; it’s about attracting talented people, regardless of their gender, Lyndsey explained, but the business has flexible working as part of the overall nurturing culture which does appeal to women adjusters.
Overall, when, it comes to training and development, Lyndsey says that Woodgate & Clark’s size means they have the ability to deliver a personal touch. “We do what we say”, and adds: “We walk the talk when it comes to training and development and fund our employee’s development because we believe it is vital to close the skills gap.”
“We provide both general training sessions as well as tailored courses for individuals. Feedback through our mentoring system and via audits and report approvals helps us to react quickly in identifying a development need. We emphasise loss adjusting and development for claims professionals but invest in other areas too.”
She said that training and development was initially affected by the pandemic. In person programmes stopped and the business had to work swiftly to transfer them onto a virtual platform where possible. Now, however, Lyndsey reports that it is "full speed ahead and we’re busy catching up, with a view to being completely back on schedule by the end of July..”
“It’s great that the executive team has placed training at the top of the business’ list of priorities and backed it with the resources required. We are really excited for our training and development initiatives and I’m confident it will bring forward the next generation of skilled adjusters for Woodgate & Clark.”
