Strategies To Win The Post-Pandemic Talent War

By Alison Salka

The COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all aspects of the insurance business. One critical aspect of any business — attracting and retaining talent — has become more challenging. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 10.9 million open jobs and 8.4 million unemployed potential workers. Executives LIMRA spoke to said it’s taking longer to find talent (especially for junior-level positions) and that candidates expect more from the employers with whom they choose to work.

Hybrid Is Here To Stay

Companies moved quickly to a remote model last year. This was intended to be short term but continued well into this year. Remote or hybrid work will become permanent for many companies. It may be necessary to find and retain people who prefer the benefits of a work-from-home arrangement and don’t want to work in a traditional office environment.

In a recent survey of 16 life insurance company chief human resources officers, three-quarters said they are using more full-time remote or hybrid schedules to retain employees in certain critical or high-demand roles.

They are commonly doing this for information technology, actuarial, underwriting and data analytics roles. Maintaining a distinct company culture and facilitating collaboration in a remote environment have become heavily discussed topics among executives.

Some companies are considering outsourcing certain roles, since a remote employee and a contracted one do similar work but expenses are lower when jobs are outsourced.

In addition to culture, a remote work environment also affects wages. Compensation used to be a function of location, with certain metropolitan areas requiring higher wages due to higher expenses. Remote work makes it easier to match compensation to the requirements of the work. Talent matters more than location, and digital capabilities will drive engagement and collaboration.

Remote work requires a good digital employee experience. One company executive told LIMRA they hired 30% of their workforce during the pandemic and didn’t meet a single candidate face-to-face. One good practice is to welcome new employees with a warm email and some company swag along with their equipment. It’s difficult to over-communicate with a new employee, and little gestures mean a lot.

In the past, company perks were often specific to headquarters. Amenities such as on-site gyms, stores, masseuses and barbers don’t benefit a distributed workforce. With a remote workforce, perks need to transfer — providing a company store credit or a stipend or a gift card are more relevant ways to reward employees.

Matching Employer Value Propositions With Employee Experience

The insurance industry doesn’t have a reputation of being dynamic, which makes it challenging to hire young professionals. At the same time, many young people have inflated expectations of what their job should be and are willing to fight for it. And right now, they have leverage.

Branding isn’t just for marketing. Companies must outline a clear mission and value proposition for candidates. Competitive compensation and benefits are table stakes. A good “employee experience” is becoming an expectation as well. Employees want a voice in engineering their work experience and fitting their jobs to their lives, not their lives to their jobs. Employers who give their workers this freedom will benefit.

Candidates want to know that their colleagues see them and care about them as multifaceted people. They also want their companies to care about issues outside the business, and they want their opinions and their employer’s opinion to be consistent. Potential employees care more now than previously on where a company stands on diversity, sustainability and social justice.

If employees are physically distant at work, they must be socially connected. Showing interest in employees as people with multifaceted lives goes a long way toward engaging them. As an executive recruiter from Slayton Search Partners recently said, “The war for talent is over; talent won.”

This doesn’t mean that the relationships between employers and employees can’t be win-win. Employers who figure out how to design and implement a meaningful mission and experience will be winners in any arena.