In our most recent Claimversation, we dug into a topic that sits at the heart of every insurance organization today: What does it take to build a culture that attracts, supports, and retains the next generation of claims professionals, while honoring the experience and wisdom of those who have dedicated decades to this work?
To explore this, Ashley Sneller, VP of Marketing at Benekiva, sat down with Kristen Crook, our Director of Customer Success. With a career grounded entirely in insurance and claims, Kristen brought honesty, humor, and unwavering passion for the people behind the process. Watch the full recording, or read the recap below.
What unfolded was a refreshing conversation about culture—not as a buzzword, but as a day-to-day reality shaped by the time we give people, the systems we build, and the humanity we bring to the work.
When asked what matters most in creating a culture that welcomes new talent and passes on generational knowledge, Kristen didn't hesitate: culture starts with the people doing the work every day.
Examiners spend 40–50 hours a week together. They become each other's support system, sounding board, and sometimes even family. And because claims examiners are often the first point of contact for claimants navigating the worst days of their lives, their emotional bandwidth matters. Their environment matters. Their tools matter.
Kristen emphasized that building a healthy culture begins with listening—really listening—to examiners. Sit with them. Ask them to walk you through their day. Invite them to tell you what's frustrating, what's slowing them down, what's confusing, and what's working well. Leaders can't fix what they don't take the time to understand.
But listening is only the first step.
"You fight for them. You prioritize the issues, you build your case, and you push until you get them what they need." — Kristen Crook
Throughout her career, Kristen has witnessed the same pattern across different insurance organizations: a culture strained under the weight of inefficient processes.
This operational chaos doesn't just frustrate teams; it creates a huge barrier for onboarding new talent. It also affects claimants, who are calling during the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
"Even the slightest frustration in your voice can change a claimant's entire experience." — Kristen Crook
When examiners are overwhelmed, empathy becomes harder to access, even for the most caring, dedicated professionals. And that's where culture suffers.
One of the strongest themes to come out of the conversation was the idea of making space.
Many examiners feel like they can't take a lunch break, join a team meeting, or pause long enough to think about process improvements. They're constantly firefighting, with no room to breathe.
But meaningful cultural change requires slowing down long enough to understand the work and improve it. Leaders must advocate for team time: time for training, collaboration, reflection, and connection. These aren't "nice to haves"; they're the foundation for a sustainable, healthy team.
"It might hurt in the moment, but slowing down helps you speed up." — Kristen Crook
While culture is rooted in people, technology is what frees people to do their best work.
New entrants to the workforce expect modern tools. But Kristen emphasized that technology isn't about replacing people, it's about empowering them. Automation and streamlined workflows give examiners the time and clarity they need to focus on meaningful interactions with claimants.
Without the right systems in place, training becomes harder, errors increase, and knowledge becomes siloed. With the right systems, examiners get something invaluable: time back—time they can use to serve claimants more compassionately and confidently.
Ashley asked Kristen what advice she would give others trying to convince leadership to invest in better processes or systems. Her answer was simple: never stop fighting for your team.
Leadership advocacy is not a one-time conversation. It's ongoing, grounded in the understanding that examiners who feel supported create better outcomes for claimants and better reputations for carriers.
Kristen believes the next generation of professionals will find deep purpose and longevity in this field, as long as they're supported. Claims is one of the most meaningful careers someone can choose, and new talent is often eager to contribute fresh ideas and fresh energy.
However, they need infrastructure in place to succeed:
Retention, in Kristen's view, isn't about perfection, it's about involvement, transparency, and shared progress.
As the conversation closed, Kristen reflected on what she's most hopeful for: an industry that marries compassion with modern technology in a way that transforms the claimant experience.
Technology should never remove empathy from claims—it should create space for more of it. When examiners aren't buried under administrative tasks, they have the emotional availability to stay on the phone longer, ask open-ended questions, and walk alongside claimants as they navigate their loss.
At the end of the day, claims is about people helping people. And the culture we create determines whether examiners have the capacity to show up for claimants with clarity, care, and compassion.
If there's one message to take from this Claimversation, it's this:
Because when people feel supported, everything else—service quality, retention, innovation, and empathy—flows naturally.
Discover how Benekiva's platform can help you modernize claims operations and empower your team to deliver exceptional claimant experiences.
