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Understanding People

Understanding people, Chaucer’s Head of Claims Operations and Delegated Authority, Guy Monk explains, is the key to success in handling individual claims and providing great service. With an average tenure of over ten years, Guy explains the strategy behind Chaucer’s award-winning claims team.

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Although payment of insurance claims is often a controversial subject with the wider public, Chaucer’s Head of Claims Operations and Delegated Authority Guy Monk explains when we sit down, the reality is that paying claims rather than declining them, and providing fast, attentive service, is central to every claims professional’s life.

“I've had many years of people [outside of the insurance industry] rolling their eyes when I tell them I work in insurance claims. There is a stereotype that insurance companies are always trying to get out of paying, or we’re out for ourselves. The reality is that, certainly at Chaucer, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Guy says.

From our conversation, it is clear that transparent communication is key – “you will never find a more motivated group of people, looking to get a good outcome for the customer”.

It’s unsurprising that a conversation with a claims specialist should kick off with the bad rap the insurance market sometimes gets. Claims service and positive outcomes are the areas of insurance which are most critical to customers, and Guy believes that ensuring these aspects run smoothly in the customer journey from start to finish, is critical for maintaining a good reputation as an insurer – and ensuring commercial success.

These are impassioned comments from someone who clearly cares about the sector and the outcomes for his clients. His assertions are backed up by market research: in an independent market survey of brokers rating 34 key carriers, Chaucer sits in first place.

“We currently rank top in the market and are particularly strong in speed of response and communication. Our ratings are a result of the consistent high-quality service we are providing to thousands of customers.”

Troubleshooting claims cases and analysing processes and service standards to ensure clients are taken good care of, is only part of the picture of what keeps Guy motivated. The Claims division at Chaucer is a nurturing environment, he says, which looks after associates so they can be the best they can at their jobs and feel comfortable and committed.

From a young age Guy had an unusual introduction to the realities of insurance, as his father worked for National Power for 40 years. Guy often heard tales of incidents on the national grid, learning not just about outages and explosions but also the fall-out that can occur including property damage, injury and risk to life, interruption in service and emergency services involvement.

At 18, after studying sociology, psychology and philosophy at college, Guy began his career working in a call centre, handling credit card fraud claims, before moving to work in the energy market handling energy claims.