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By
Christy Witzke, Director of Marketing and Groups, SAIF
Corporation
In an effort to better serve small businesses as well as
policyholders with low service needs, some state funds have begun to
utilize a service center model. The goal of a service center is to
provide a centralized location with a selection of innovative and
practical services geared toward business owners, to help them lower
their workers’ compensation costs.
SAIF Corporation, Oregon's not-for-profit, state-chartered workers' compensation insurance
company, established a service center for small businesses in 1996.
It was originally developed in partnership with Associated Oregon
Industries (AOI), based on a successful model they developed for
quoting and servicing their small business constituents. SAIF has
developed this model over the past 13 years, and continues to look
for more effective ways to streamline paperwork while continuing to
offer a “one-stop” service for its predominately small business
market.
The SAIF
model
SAIF employs a staff of 20 licensed insurance producers who are
the primary contact for both customers and insurance agents. They
are located in a single office in Portland,
Oregon, for efficiency, backup, and ease of contact. Their
responsibilities include writing new policies, answering billing
questions, responding to customers’ and agents’ emails,
processing address changes, and forwarding calls on to other parts
of the company, such as claims or billing. These routine tasks,
however, fail to describe the real substance of their work, which is
to provide a personalized business relationship with SAIF’s
policyholders and agents.
As of December 2008, almost 40,000 of SAIF’s
50,000 policyholders were served by the service center. SAIF’s
service center typically services accounts generating $30,000 or
less in premium. Efficiencies are gained by offering only guaranteed
cost policies with either advance installment (one payroll report)
or arrears (interim—typically quarterly) payroll reporting.
Those policyholders on the advance installment plan (SAIFPlus plan)
earn an automatic five-percent discount.
Certain types of coverage are automatically
excluded from the service center and sent to SAIF’s regional
underwriting department. These types of coverage include FELA,
leasing companies, Maritime/Jones Act, retrospective rating plans,
and high hazard operations (e.g. operations with significant
personal aircraft travel, foundries, and other high
industrial-hygiene risks). SAIF’s flexible approach offers
policyholders the best coverage and service for their type of risk,
which at times results in accounts moving into, or out of, the
service center.
Safety
consulting
Knowing that one of the most significant steps a small business
can take to improve its safety, and thus its premium cost, is to
develop and implement basic elements of an effective safety culture.
The service center recently expanded its safety consulting from one
safety consultant triaging small business customers to a dedicated
group of seven safety professionals whose purpose is to respond to
the needs of SAIF’s small and mid-sized customers as well as
businesses with an Assigned Risk policy serviced by SAIF. Safety
Services, which began formal operation in January 2009, supports
policyholders with phone-based or in-person consulting, as well as
classes on a variety of useful subjects.
In addition to providing consulting and
education, this group of consultants will also be looking for trends
within industries and regions to further enhance the overall safety
program delivery for all of SAIF’s customers.
Back to
work
Additionally, SAIF assembled a team of employees who specialize
in returning service center customers’ injured workers to work as
soon as possible. Small employers have different needs and abilities
related to bringing injured workers back to work and a dedicated
unit improves the process. In 2009, SAIF will implement a dedicated
claims unit for the same reasons.
In an ever changing economy which can quickly
impact small businesses, a service center model allows a state fund
to stay in tune with the needs of small businesses and look for new
ways to help this population.
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