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Claims professionals need to actively manage empathy, panel says
The panel tied empathy to sustained “capacity,” warning that when it runs low, communication breaks down and staff stop listening to injured workers.
Empathy, claims professionals are told to show it, but three leaders at National Comp 2026 argued it is not a switch that can be turned on, and that the ability to stay empathetic depends on maintaining capacity, according to a session described by Risk & Insurance.
Consulting and clinical psychologist Dr. Les Kertay compared empathy to running out of gas, saying that if a person does not notice the tank is empty, the car stops, and at work that can show up as “not listening” to injured workers.
Risk & Insurance reported that Kertay said the breakdown can look like staff failing to listen to injured workers on the phone and shifting into frustration with coworkers, while the panel’s broader point was that capacity for empathy has to be managed deliberately.
In the Las Vegas session, the outlet said Yvonne Guibert, vice president of education strategy at Institutes of Health, and Greg Hamlin, senior vice president and chief claims officer at Berkley Industrial Comp, joined Kertay to discuss how leaders can model and support empathy for claims teams.