Two Days Home, Three in the Office: A Recommendation to Pilot Hybrid Work for Desk Claims Adjusters at a Regional Insurer Losing a Quarter of Its Staff Each Year
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
MGT/521: Management
Week 5 Learning Team Presentation
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The insurer, employees and figures are a composite written for a model presentation.
Slide 1: Our Recommendation
Pilot a hybrid schedule for desk claims adjusters: two remote days and three office days a week, for six months, in two of our four claims teams.
Speaker notes
Good afternoon. We are asking for approval of a six-month pilot, not a permanent policy. We believe hybrid work will cut the turnover that is costing this department more than a million dollars a year, and we are proposing a test that will tell us whether we are right. The rest of our presentation explains why, what could go wrong and how we will know.
Slide 2: The Problem
180 desk adjusters; 24% left in the past year, up from 15% before the return-to-office policy.
Average cost to replace an adjuster: about $28,000 in recruiting, training and lost productivity.
Annual turnover cost: about $1.2 million.
Exit interviews: commute and flexibility named by 58% of leavers.
Speaker notes
Since the department returned to full-time office work two years ago, turnover has climbed. Replacing an adjuster takes about four months before a new hire handles a full caseload, so each departure costs us in recruiting, training and in claims that take longer to close. Forty-three adjusters left last year, and at about $28,000 each, that is roughly $1.2 million. More than half of the people who left named the commute or lack of flexibility as a main reason, and several joined competitors that offer hybrid schedules.
Slide 3: What the Evidence Shows
Full-time remote, randomized: productivity up, quits down (Bloom et al., 2015).
Hybrid two days home, randomized: quits down by about a third, no harm to performance reviews or promotions (Bloom et al., 2024).
Meta-analysis: telecommuting linked to higher autonomy and lower turnover intent (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007).
Speaker notes
The strongest evidence comes from randomized experiments. Bloom et al. (2015) randomly assigned call center employees at a large Chinese travel company to work from home or stay in the office for nine months. The home workers performed better, mostly because they worked more minutes and took fewer breaks, and they were about half as likely to quit. Because desk claims work, like call center work, is individual and measurable, that result is relevant to us. A later experiment by Bloom et al. (2024), with more than 1,600 graduate employees at the same company, tested a hybrid schedule of two home days a week. Quit rates fell by about a third, and over two years there was no difference in performance reviews or promotions. A meta-analysis by Gajendran and Harrison (2007) found that telecommuting was associated with greater perceived autonomy, lower work-family conflict and lower turnover intentions, with small effects on relationships with coworkers for people working from home most of the week.
Slide 4: Why Hybrid, Not Fully Remote
Office days for training, complex claims reviews and team huddles.
Newer adjusters learn faster sitting near experienced colleagues.
Keeps team relationships that the meta-analysis shows can weaken with heavy remote work.
Speaker notes
We are not recommending full remote work. About a third of our adjusters have less than two years of experience, and they learn by overhearing and asking experienced colleagues. Three office days, set for the same days across each team, protect that learning and team connection, while two remote days remove about 40% of commuting time.
Slide 5: The Objections
Productivity will fall.
Newer adjusters will struggle.
Customer data security.
Fairness to field adjusters and support staff.
Speaker notes
We take each objection seriously. On productivity, the pilot measures it directly, and our claims system tracks cycle times and closure rates for each adjuster. On newer adjusters, those in their first year will be office-based for four days a week until they reach a full caseload. On security, remote days use company laptops on the existing secure network connection, the same setup used today by field adjusters. On fairness, field adjusters already work mostly outside the office, and support staff whose roles allow it can join the pilot's second phase.
Slide 6: Pilot Design
Two of four teams, about 90 adjusters; the other two teams continue as now, as a comparison.
Fixed office days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
Six months, starting next quarter.
Speaker notes
Using two teams as a comparison lets us separate the effect of hybrid work from seasonal changes in claim volume. We chose the teams with similar caseloads and experience levels.
Slide 7: How We Will Judge Success
Voluntary turnover in pilot teams versus comparison teams.
Claim cycle time and closures per adjuster.
Quality audit scores and customer satisfaction.
Engagement survey at start and end.
Decision rule: expand if turnover falls and cycle time and quality do not worsen.
Speaker notes
We will report results to leadership monthly and make a recommendation at six months. If turnover falls and productivity and quality hold, we will propose expanding hybrid work to all desk teams. If productivity or quality worsen meaningfully, we will end the pilot.
Slide 8: The Ask
Approve a six-month hybrid pilot for two desk claims teams, with the measures and decision rule shown.
Speaker notes
The cost of the pilot is small: no new equipment and a few hours of analyst time each month. The cost of doing nothing is continued turnover of about $1.2 million a year. We ask for your approval to test the change. Thank you; we welcome your questions.
References
Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 630(8018), 920-925. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07500-2
Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2015). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165-218. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qju032
Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1524-1541. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1524
How this MGT 521 Week 5 example is structured
The MGT/521 shelf page describes Week 5 as ending with a team deliverable or a presentation defending one recommendation. The deck states the recommendation on its first slide and uses every later slide to support, test or bound it. Speaker notes carry the reasoning a presenter would give aloud, and the deck ends with how the decision will be judged, so leadership approves a test rather than a belief. Students search this week as MGT 521 Week 5, MGT521 Wk 5 or MGT/521 Wk 5; all three are the same assignment.
MGT/521 Week 5 questions, answered
What does MGT/521 Week 5 usually ask for?
The MGT/521 shelf describes Week 5 as a team deliverable or a presentation defending one recommendation. Many sections ask learning teams to present a management recommendation for an organization, supported by evidence, with speaker notes. Your own instructions set the slide count.
What does research say about working from home and productivity?
Results depend on the job and design. A randomized experiment at a Chinese travel company found that call center employees working from home full time performed better and quit less often, and a later experiment with hybrid schedules found lower quit rates with no damage to performance reviews or promotions.
How do I defend a recommendation in a presentation?
Put the recommendation first, support it with evidence and the organization's own data, state the strongest objections fairly and answer them, and end with how success will be measured. Keep each slide to one idea and use the notes for explanation.
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