BlueCross BlueShield maps a year of change for employees

The past year wasn’t a fun one for anyone even remotely associated with health care, from those of us who pay for it to those of us who provide it.

But workers in health insurance companies have been among the hardest hit—as employees at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee can attest.

“Increased political scrutiny and negative press around the rising cost of health care have taken their toll,” says Kip Soteres, manager of employee communications for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. “The need to introduce innovation into our processes and business model, plus the pressure to contain costs, demanded changes in the ways we do many things—almost everything we do, in fact.”

As a result, employees at the organization felt backlogged, harried and overworked—and did so in an environment of economic uncertainty.

“They are asked to process substantial changes that affect everything from front-line operational processes to their own retirement packages,” Soteres explains. “Managers have seen workloads go up against a backdrop of restrained resources. It has been hard on everyone.”