Burand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #11

Unexpected Staffing Issues do cause E&O claims. Staffing is not usually the title of a PowerPoint slide in an E&O class but staffing is at the heart of many E&O claims. The simplest way in which staffing causes E&O claims is hiring incapable people or training them poorly. Staff today that cannot document files while talking on the phone to clients and carriers (which requires headsets) are almost certainly going to make more mistakes. This is because transferring data later opens the door for forgetting.

This urgency is related to the workloads of many CSRs which is high today. Workloads are high for many reasons including expense controls. The result is that many agencies, even and maybe especially some of the largest agencies’ staff, are taking significant shortcuts just to get their work done. This is a penny wise, pound foolish management strategy. Hire enough people to do the job correctly and totally to minimize your E&O exposures.

A related issue, especially for personal lines agencies, is having someone who can speak another language if you have clients that do not speak and maybe even read good English. Sending someone that cannot read English a notice they have a responsibility to read their policy may not work so well if contested. Similarly, verbally discussing coverages with someone who does not understand English leaves an agency open to an extreme case of “he said, she said.”

Staffing with enough quality people possessing the skill sets required of the 21st Century agency is a great competitive advantage and crucial to minimizing your E&O exposures.