Specialty Risk Services (SRS), one of the leading property-casualty third party administrators for workers' compensation and general liability claims, has taken an innovative approach to traditional training by combining its training and quality departments in order to target employees' diverse elearning requirements.

Called the SRS Quality Advantage, the program merges SRS' quality department and training department into one cohesive unit and relies heavily on Web conferencing and online training to implement quality and training strategies countrywide.

"SRS is an industry leader because we find new ways to address issues. Restructuring the department is just one part of the solution," said Richard Grew, SRS director of Quality & Training. "Finding new ways to train employees, such as Web conferencing and online training course offerings, will be significant in terms of cost savings as well as the quality of training our employees receive countrywide."

Online training is not something new, but is not widely used specifically for training by the TPA industry. This technology allows users to participate in an online instructor-lead training module that can be attended by a handful to very large numbers of employees from various offices across the nation at the same time. SRS online training sessions are cataloged for later reference by employees who need additional training on a topic.

The SRS Quality Advantage program aims to bridge the inherent gaps in communication, accountability, and divergent priorities that often exist with separate quality and training units and a large geographically dispersed group of adjusters. This one unit approach ensures all employees increase their competencies and ability to perform critical tasks of the job. Core skill enhancement and development takes place in a focused elearning environment where employees can grow to reach their full potential.

"SRS handles billions of dollars in client claims and our continued success directly results from our ability to deliver a service that seamlessly integrates into the business priorities of our clients - and achieves results," said Joe Boures, SRS president. "Online training plays a critical role in that process. The SRS Quality Advantage program reaches all of our 1,400 employees countrywide and has the checks and balances in place to ensure employees fully understand a training topic as well as the quality measures we expect in their work."

SRS supplements its online training with a comprehensive Training and Development site available on the company's Intranet site. This repository of information provides employees with elearning training materials, manuals, development guides and other resources with a few clicks of the mouse, enabling efficient, consistent sharing of information among the geographically diverse staff. Employees also have access to the SRS Claim College, a series of in-depth training sessions that deal specifically with today's most pressing claim topics.

Based in Hartford, CT, Specialty Risk Services, LLC (SRS) is one of the largest Third Party Administrators in the industry. Founded in 1990, the company provides workers' compensation, auto, general and product liability, integrated disability, claim administration and risk management services nationwide. Approved by more than 18 insurance carriers, SRS offers bundled and unbundled services to both self-insured and insured clients, including many Fortune 1,000 companies.