Crawford is delighted to announce that the first cohort of employees in the company’s recently created SMART field adjuster program graduated into the subsidence field team at the end of August.
The SMART program was established in 2021 in response to ongoing pressure on talent supply in the insurance industry. Faced with increasing demand for claims handlers, changing working models and a need to attract talent from more diverse backgrounds, Crawford’s subsidence business embarked on a sustainable recruitment plan, investing heavily in its future by recruiting and committing to develop ten graduate employees from backgrounds as diverse as archaeology to bar tending.
The SMART program ensures that all new colleagues achieve qualifications such as CII, Cert CILA, ACABE, MCIOB and MRICS. From there, it provides robust, planned support for both professional development and personal career progression, in keeping with Crawford’s ambition to nurture and grow leaders of the future, build a more sustainable workforce and boost social mobility.
The program is already delivering tangible results. Since its inception, the UK and Ireland subsidence field team has grown by 35%, the proportion of adjusters aged 50+ has been fallen by 45% and field turnover has been slashed by 80%.
After 12 months of training, Crawford’s 2021 intake received their graduation certificates from Lisa Bartlett, president, UK and Ireland, and Lee Sadowski, director of Platforms UK & Subsidence, in an informal ceremony in Birmingham which celebrated their graduation to the field team.
“It’s our ambition to develop and build the UK’s pre-eminent field assessment team and the SMART program is part of that journey,”
Sadowski said. “I am immensely proud to welcome these new graduates and I look forward to watching them flourish within Crawford”.
Lee continued, “Our graduates are passionate about what they do and ready to meet the challenge of a busy year for subsidence after the dry summer and record-breaking temperatures. Our graduates are ready for the challenge ahead and to meet the surge in subsidence claims over the next few months.”
