Adjusters: The Difference Between On Roster, Available, Standby, & Deployed

As we find ourselves at the end of hail season and approaching catastrophic adjusting busiest and craziest time, hurricane season, I thought I'd address a REALLY important topic.

Deployment etiquette.

During Hurricane Dorian adjuster after adjuster's hearts were broken, dreams dashed, and money bleeding out of their ears.

Many new adjusters were put on "standby" or even "deployed" before the hurricane ever made landfall and a single claim was filed.

These new adjusters were confused, angry, and felt lied to about being told they were "deployed," spending money on travel, hotels, and positioning and yet they didn't make a single $$ or very little with standby pay.

Some of these adjusters emailed me expressing their concern and feeling of betrayal by the industry.

I don't want this to happen to you!

No, I'm not about to IA Firm Bash. (although I could... there is plenty of dirty laundries out there, but who doesn't have that?)

I'm going to explain how the industry works so you won't have your expectations in the wrong place.

The problem wasn't exactly what the IA Firms DID, it was what the IA EXPECTED. Let's set those expectations straight for all future deployment opportunities.

To do this I'll use a comparison to a type of relationship much of us are more familiar with, dating.

On the Roster

Every month I get a new adjuster emailing me, "XYZ Firm hired me!"

I instantly know that something is wrong. They're using the wrong language and so I ask, "What do you mean they hired you?"

"I'm on their roster."

OK, my guess is you know this doesn't mean you are about to make money. Being on a roster simply means you are on the list. You might be #12,756 on that list, but you are on the list. If they get to you, you may get work.

This is the picking of the teams on the playground... if you are the new kid it's often "Get to the back of the line."

You aren't going to be first picked so don't stop your journey of becoming an IA and trying to get on MORE rosters or making yourself MORE valuable... this is just admission onto the playground from one single company.

You still haven't been picked for a team. More accurately it's like a girl just waived at your from across the store... you've been noticed. That is all.

Are You Available for Immediate Deployment?

"Are you available for immediate deployment?"

Boy, this sounds exciting! If you've gotten one of these texts (and I've gotten 100's now) your heart rate picks up and you shakily text into the phone "YES!"

You run to pack your bags and expect details for your deployment to be inbound at any moment, but often you never hear another word from the IA Firm.

What in the world is going on here?

Let me explain.

The IA Firm is watching a storm (like a hurricane) that may cause claims. They may even have been contacted by a client, like an insurance company, saying "We expect to need you and your teams... get ready."

So what are the IA Firm to do?

They have a list of thousands or possibly tens of thousands of people on their roster... but who is working already?

Not only for them... but for other companies?

They've got to find out who may be able to deploy and is even AVAILABLE to deploy.

If you get one of these texts answer it back, but don't get your hopes up just yet. Don't rearrange your schedule or your life just yet. They just are updating all 12,756 adjuster profiles to see who is available and willing to go work if the opportunity arises.

Standby

After being in the industry for 12 years you'd think I'd totally get this "standby" thing, but I don't. I mean I do, but I don't.

Standby for one company means one thing, standby for another company means something completely DIFFERENT!

I'll explain what standby SHOULD mean and what I think it means for most companies, but sometimes you need to read between the lines of the IA Firm who is putting you on standby or ask them for clarification.

If you get a message saying,

"You've been put on standby, do you accept?"

or some variation of that message or phone call, this means they expect work ANY DAY and want to reserve you for their company.

It is a soft commitment. Kinda like "Would you be interested in going out sometime?" style of commitment. You may still ask out someone else or be asked out by another firm, but there is a verbal... we may be a thing kinda commitment.

To one firm this means you will not accept other IA Firms standby and they've locked you down, to another firm they may expect you to shop around and possibly ask out the prom queen if the opportunity arises.

This is where the confusion comes in so I'll give you my best advice on deployment etiquette.

My advice may not be for you. My advice isn’t universal and each person will handle it differently.

STANDBY is not a reason to pass up work. If XYZ IA Firm puts me on standby… then ABC firm offers to deploy me… I take the first company to offer me work.

I can hear the IA Firms cringing even now (My inbox is open and awaiting comments LOL!) but hear me out. The IA Firm HAS NOT committed to you. They aren’t saying they’ll give you work. They aren’t even telling to tell you what # you are on their list. They may have 2000 people on standby… because they have to.

Big insurance companies tell them to get a # of people ready for them, but that isn’t a commitment to us from the IA Firm, it’s a commitment to the insurance company.

If you pass up real deployments, real work because you are #1697 and they only deploy 1500 people you may miss out on a storm… not worth the risk in my mind.

You are Deployed

The message you’ve been waiting for finally comes!

“You are DEPLOYED to Mobile, Alabama. Report for work on Thursday 9/1 at 8am to xyz address”

Surely this means the money in the bank… right?

Before Hurricane Dorian, I would have said you have a 90% probability of YES, but IA Firms are onto our standby games and so now they mask standby in deployments.

I’m not holding it against them… but when an adjuster hears deployed they hear working, yet that isn’t the case. As I’ve already mentioned, Hurricane Dorian put a hurting on a lot of people when it didn’t pan out.

If you are deployed you SHOULD NOT accept other deployments.

You are locked down for that single IA Firm (if working as a w2) if you accept a deployment for a day claim or catastrophic company as a 1099 employee traveling to help them with their claim volume, then you may be able to work for multiple firms if you need more work.

But to be clear, When you are deployed is saying… “we are dating.”

It is a big no-no to back out of deployments and you risk being blocked off that IA Firms for future deployments if you back out or if you bail early for a quote-unquote “better gig” or opportunity. (aka the prom queen)

Be loyal to those that deploy you and stick with them until you see the storm work out or not… it's your horse in this storm's race… you’ve bet your chips once you accept a deployment.

Working

Once I see claims in my queue, box, claim management system, or email I finally feel better but up until that point, I’m not totally convinced I’ll see $$$.

Once you get claims you are officially married to the IA Firm. They’ve slipped the ring on the finger and called you their adjuster.

Now if you go and do dumb things or are a terrible spouse/adjuster you may be divorced quicker than you can say, “Hollywood,” but there is an official commitment from both sides.

I’ll stress it again as I did in the last point… don’t BAIL ON DEPLOYMENTS. When accepting a deployment you are accepting working for…. As long as they need you and are willing to pay you in a W2 role.

It’s more ambiguous with 1099 deployments, but if there is still a healthy amount of work don’t bail. In either scenario, you bet on your horse or horses (in 1099) and they are counting on you. Leaving a storm early or bailing to the next big company or deployment with a better fee schedule is a great way to NEVER GET CALLED AGAIN.

This happened in mass during Hurricane Harvey and Irma. Companies had adjusters deployed in Houston for Harvey and then when Irma hit Florida commitments wavered like they do on soap operas.

IA’s bailed for bigger fee schedules and better offers and burned bridge after bridge. You may think you never want to work for the first company again, but burned bridges don’t just burn a single bridge. Often it’ll get around in the industry that you like to sleep around… and cheat on companies that give you work and then you’ll struggle for work.

I hope this helps clear up the confusion about rosters, available, standby, deployed, and working and show you how to have proper deployment etiquette in your catastrophic adjusting career.

Here is a quick visual summary I created to help you remember the Path to Proper Deployment Etiquette.

If it did I’d love a quick comment letting me know and a share so others will know how this all works.

Get out there and Claim Your Life!