Insurers must reimagine work, ACLI speaker says

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and data insights can help insurers address continued disruption. However, for these technologies to be effective, insurers also must reimagine work, workforce skills development and the workforce itself to ensure success now and in the future.

Jeana Muñoz, a managing director in Accenture’s insurance industry group, provided the building blocks to create new business models and redefine the future of work during a session, “Rearchitecting the Insurance Workforce,” at the 2022 American Council of Life Insurers annual conference in Washington.

“Today is a unique moment for change – with skills shortages, social responsibility and the great resignation/disconnect,” she said. “Life insurers therefore need to rethink their approach to talent, building workforce strategies for growth, relevance and flexibility.

“Insurers are being forced to focus inward to assess their culture, employee value proposition, systems and processes to meet changing expectations and deliver the optimized, compelling and differentiated experience required to succeed in a tight labor market.”

Workforce of the future

She made the following recommendations for preparing the workforce of the future:

• Attract and retain - Design your employee experience around brand purpose in order to attract and retain the right talent.
• Empower your talent - Anticipate future skill needs based on current demand trends, and chart future career pathways for those in jobs disrupted by automation and flexible workforces.
• Adapt your talent pools - Leverage skills, identify work that should be managed through flexible talent sources, find hidden worker talent pools and create an internal talent marketplace.

She described the key things employers must get right when rearchitecting the insurance workforce:

1. Put people first at every step, focusing on bridging your brand and the employee experience.
2. Enhance people experience, engagement, collaboration and productivity through a skill forward strategy.
3. Build a more elastic workforce leveraging partnerships and digital tools.
4. Create pathways for new talent sources through reimagining typical talent pools.

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].