Moore: How Are Workers' Comp Webinars Sustaining Their Popularity?

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 | 0

Workers' comp webinars should have faded into the mist after the pandemic was officially over late last year. People are social beings as we all had thought, but I cannot stand one more webinar or video meeting.

James Moore

Let us cover three concepts to see if we can still stand the ubiquitous webinars and video meetings we all withstood during the pandemic with a light at the end of the tunnel (or maybe not.) These came from talking with many different comp/risk management/safety friends and ancillary service vendors:

• Massive number of remote workers, many in another state.
• Budgets are still adjusted for no travel post-pandemic.
• 24 months of being conditioned to dislike large in-person groups.

Bye-bye, webinars

Not so fast.

At the beginning of 2022 and for most of the year, the in-person meetings and conferences seemed to pick up steam quickly. I traveled extensively to the big conferences and meetings. Then, something interesting occurred: Webinars became the norm again to replace many of the in-person meetings and conferences.

Not all conferences or meetings shrank extensively in 2022 or 2023. Then in mid-2023, the move back toward video meetings and conferences happened under the radar. I do realize that in 2018 and 2019, many workers' comp events were already switched to video.

Remote workers

One very common theme pops up in almost every conversation that I have with anyone from the world of workers' comp. Most insurance workers now work from home with possibly one or two days in-office per week.

Workers' comp claims adjusters did not return to full-time, in-office situations. Many I have spoken with are OK with working from home. Do adjusters need to be in the office to sit in front of a screen all day when they can do that at home? For a few cents a day, a claims adjuster or any workers' comp insurance personnel can be tracked for performance, hours worked and what apps the workers used during the day. J&L is paying $6.99 a month per seat for full tracking and time monitoring with our web contractors.

Webinars and meetings on a budget

In early 2023 at in-person conferences/meetings, I heard something that used to be rare and now is commonplace. Even senior execs said they were not going to a certain conference or meeting because of budgetary concerns.

Switching a budget from where no one travels to where everyone travels to every conference and meeting may have overloaded budgets. The question “Can you do it by video?” is very prevalent with CFOs currently. CFOs are not to blame, as the pool of insureds and their premium reduced greatly during and just after the pandemic.

Conditioned to video

Video conferences became so popular in 2020 and 2021 that I wrote a few articles on how to speed up online connections to workers' comp webinars and meetings. The article is still valid today for working online.

We were taught to stand 6 feet apart and wear masks. Old habits die hard, including getting used to in-person meetings and conferences again.

This blog post is provided by James Moore, AIC, MBA, ChFC, ARM, and is republished with permission from J&L Risk Management Consultants. Visit the full website at www.cutcompcosts.com.