The millennial claims writer: Training a new generation

It is estimated that in the next several years, 25 percent of the “old-guard” claims professionals will retire and eventually be replaced by millennials – those who were born between 1980 and 1999.

There is some angst among claims executives about the takeover of a new generation. One of the biggest worries is how a generation raised on cell phones, text messaging and emoticons will ever be able to become effective writers, despite the existence of numerous template letters and forms. They are on the doorstep: vocationally oriented millennials whose education may not have embraced the liberal arts smorgasbord of reading, writing, literature and other aspects of what was once considered a well-rounded education.

It has become a national cliché that writing skills have declined over the past decade or so and that writing errors appear frequently in the media where they were once rarities. While many millennials are very competent writers, there have been enough examples of millennial claims writing deficits to hint at specific poor writing tendencies among this group.

Following are four tips that will help millennials and others become the “go-to” claims professionals as they learn to effectively communicate with policyholders.

1. Spend time trying to learn a new hire's background as a writer.

Questions might include: What are a few of your favorite books? How thorough were the writing classes you took in school? How do you feel texting, e-mail, emoticons or other social media sources have affected your ability to write clear, concise paragraphs? Are you interested in becoming an effective claims writer? You might even ask a new hire to spell words like “noticeable,” “embarrass” and supersede.” Don't be shocked if only one in 20 can spell all three.

2. Cover some writing issues that may seem obvious to more experienced adjusters.

Templates are not perfect and may sometimes not live up to contemporary writing practices. Some template letters have faulty inside addresses and use old-fashioned formats more associated with the typewriter than with the word processor (e.g., semi-block form).

Millennials need to be aware of using impersonal phrases (e.g., “To Whom it May Concern”), the formatting of a “RE line” (Beware of “No.:” instead of “Number:”). Even the word “above” is to be avoided because there may be nothing “above.”

The old-fashioned “cc” (carbon copy) should probably be replaced with “copy” or “copy to:” It should not be rendered “CC” either. Millennials may also miss the subtlety of avoiding an awkward salutation like, “Dear Philip Jones,” instead of writing “Dear Mr. Jones:” or “Dear Philip,”.

Here's a paragraph I saw recently in a new hire's claims letter:

“According to the last date of service on March 10, 2015 by Doctor Stuart Findlay, MD, Mr. Stephens was released from PT treatment for this date of loss of March 12, 2001. The last date of service ABC Inc. paid was March 10, 2015 since the patient was released/discharged.”

While some writers may not know that a comma should follow the full date in a sentence (except at the end of the sentence), since this writer chose “released” earlier, the balance of the letter needed to mirror the template's use of (released/discharged) and just go with “released.”

One other somewhat subtle point. Assuming that PT is an acronym for “physical therapy,” must the writer use the redundant “PT treatment”? Isn't “therapy” treatment? In the same way, the expression “chemotherapy treatment” also carries the therapy/treatment redundancy.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

3. Read claims letters aloud.

If the letter sounds conversational, like one person speaking to another, then the phrasing is probably fine. Writing is more planned than speaking and eliminates the “you knows” and other hiccups of speech, but millennials who read their work aloud will learn to trust their ears to catch phrases their eyes miss.

When a letter reads, “The policy here at ABC, Inc. is close to exhausting,” there is nothing wrong with pointing out the humorous claims image being used and suggesting a substitute like “ending” or “running out.”

Reading letters or emails aloud works well as a training tool, but is also effective for those reviewing any correspondence being sent out on behalf of the company.

Read the following actual sentence aloud: “We are in response of your letter dated December 10, 2015.”

Huh? We are in response of? How about, “We are responding to your letter of December 10, 2015.” By the way, or “BTW” as a millennial might put it, there is nothing wrong, in my humble opinion (IMHO) in using “I” occasionally in claims writing. After all, it takes only one person to respond (LOL!).

Wordiness is also twice as likely to be caught if the letter is read aloud: “At this time we are requesting documentation on this alleged debt in the amount of $3,090.55.”

“At this time” is a waste of words because the point is made without these words. A phrase “in the amount of” can yield to the shorter, less stodgy “for.”

Reading letters aloud also makes it easier to catch the phrasing problem known as a “lack of parallelism.” In the sentence, “Tom signed the check, put it in an envelope, and mailed it,” the ideas are parallel (each mini-phrase begins with a verb – signed, put, mailed). But if you write, “Tom signed the check, put it in an envelope, and it was mailed,” the phrases are awkward and not parallel.

Here is an example from a workers' compensation sample where a poor word choice leads to a lack of parallelism:

“We are handling the workers compensation claim for your low back and left leg.” Use “lower back.”

(Photo: Shutterstock)

4. Run-ons, fragments and the semicolon.

While almost anyone may occasionally be guilty of a run-on sentence (a sentence followed by another sentence without appropriate punctuation following the first sentence), run-ons seem second nature to many millennials. Consider this sentence from a recent e-mail: “I thought about your team all weekend, hope everyone made it through safe and sound.”

In this sentence, the comma is incorrect. Either the period – a final stop – would work or a semicolon, showing the closeness of both full thoughts would be a more appropriate substitute for the comma.

Two sentences later, this writer again slams two thoughts together with a comma, creating a run-on: “I had a question on the smoothies, Happy and Hale is the same vendor from last year and they are going to set up the same as last year if that is ok.”

Sentence fragments — a group of words devoid of the required subject and verb —also come up a lot in millennial writing. Consider this non-sentence: “As we were inspecting the house and ceiling with the consultant who noted the loose shingles.”

It is as though the writer felt that to avoid a lengthy sentence it might be best to stop even though the words do not have the requisite subject and verb.

These examples of run-on sentences could have been corrected by using the semicolon instead of the comma. Most of the time, semicolons separate complete thoughts that relate closely to each other. For example: “Joe is in charge of support staff; Sallie is in charge of managers.

The semicolon can also be used as a way of grouping a concept that already uses a comma. Take this sentence: “He went to Taos, New Mexico, New York, New York, and Chicago, Illinois.” It seems jumbled and we can't tell the cities from the states easily. It should be written “He went to Taos, New Mexico; New York, New York; and Chicago, Illinois. Here, the semicolons help group the city and state for easy reading. Easy, right?

To face the challenge of having younger claims writers evolve into the best generation of writers and editors, insurers must redouble their training efforts, focusing on some of the generational gaffes that can keep young writers from excelling in the world of claims adjusting.

Gary Blake, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is director of The Communication Workshop, a Florida-based company that offers onsite seminars and online webinars devoted to helping claims and other business professionals improve their writing. He is the author of The Elements of Business Writing, used as a text at more than 100 insurance companies.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor