How Elastic Staffing Helps Insurers Handle Claim Surges and CAT Events

Insurance carriers are facing a perfect storm of challenges: an aging workforce, escalating CAT events, and rising operational costs. Traditional staffing models, built for predictability and scale, are proving inadequate in today’s volatile risk environment. This piece explores "Elastic Staffing" as a modern approach that restructures workforce planning around a lean core team, tightly integrated vendor partners, and automation-powered workflows.

For claims professionals, the implications are direct and transformative. During CAT events, claims volume can spike up to 20 times within a day, overwhelming internal teams. Elastic Staffing allows insurers to scale licensed, U.S.-based claims support within hours, preserving CSAT scores and response times without permanent hires. For adjusters, this means working alongside trained external teams that maintain brand integrity and service quality, rather than struggling with backlog or burnout.

The model also enhances the intake of First Notice of Loss (FNOL), facilitates rapid market entry without overhiring, and ensures complex claim handling remains within the experienced core. Technology like AI and automation removes repetitive administrative work, allowing adjusters to focus on judgment-heavy tasks such as fraud detection, negotiation, and high-value settlements.

For carriers and MGAs, implementing Elastic Staffing demands clear service level agreements, shared KPIs with vendor teams, and intentional leadership to sustain culture across internal and external talent. As claims departments evolve, this model offers adjusters a more agile, resilient, and technologically supported working environment.