ICBC hires 40 after survey finds ‘burnout’
STAFF CLAIMS: Software system blamed for high stress levels
The Insurance Corp. of B.C. says it is hiring 40 claims department workers after staff complained about excessive workload in a 2014 survey.
A 247-page report, obtained under Freedom of Information, says high stress and low morale are rampant at the public auto insurer. Many respondents blamed a new software system that was supposed to make their jobs easier.
“Everyone pays lip service about this ‘fabulous new system’ because it’s detrimental for them not to,” wrote one respondent to the anonymous survey. “It has at least doubled the amount of work I have to do on any given task.”
Wrote another: “We are all suffering from workplace burnout and we are all feeling the effects emotionally, mentally and physically. We need more staff and need time off claims to handle our pending files.”
ICBC paid California-based Guidewire $13.2 million from 2011 to 2014 to move to electronic claim files. ClaimCenter is a key part of the Crown corporation’s $400 million Transformation Program.
Growing pains were expected when ClaimCenter rollout began in 2013, said Annette Toth, vice-president of MoveUP, the union that represents workers in the 2,500-person department. But Toth said there has been no noticeable improvement. She said workers have also blamed ClaimCenter for repetitive stress injuries and they feel every day as if they are letting down policyholders.
“The staff are definitely frustrated,” Toth said. “Their workload was excessive before ClaimCenter was rolled out and it has only increased. The promises were that it would make it easier, and it hasn’t.”
Guidewire spokeswoman Diana Stott said “we are not aware of any user satisfaction concerns at ICBC.”
Disillusionment and disengagement are themes that run throughout the survey.
Oneworkercomplainedaboutuncheckedwasteand fraud.“Asacompanywewastesomuchmoneyontowing and tow yards and storage fees that are not tracked adequately and it seems to be OK. We have now told our insureds that anyone can claim injury which has gotten way out of control. It has opened the floodgates for fake claims and I find it disgusting that is the direction that our company is going in.”
NDP critic Adrian Dix said the BC Liberals transformed ICBC into a company “designed to help the government either balance its budget or pretend to balance its budget.” Since 2010, $1.2 billion of ICBC profits were sent to government coffers.
“What you see is worse service, less happy workers and missing performance targets,” Dix said. “The survey is an indicator of things needing change.”
Adam Grossman, ICBC senior media relations adviser, said by email that, given structural changes and staffing cutbacks since 2012, “it is not unexpected that some staff feel unsettled.”
Grossman said ICBC began a new study in 2015 to gauge workload and is recruiting internally and externally to fill the 40 positions to manage the rising number of injury claims. He said department leadership committed to meet with staff in-person, at least once a week, and hold regular “process improvement sessions.”