The insurance industry hits a perfect storm in finding talent

By Sharon Emek

It’s 2024, and the insurance industry’s struggle with finding great talent continues.

That’s because insurance is experiencing a perfect storm in terms of labor – retiring workers adding to an already ample supply of job openings, and few new employees to fill them.

As with many industries, the insurance workforce has been aging. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the median age of the insurance industry workforce is 44 years. Currently, 538,000 employees in the industry are aged 55-64 and 186,000 are 65 and older.

There is some good news. The insurance sector has seen some improvement in the number of job openings. In November 2022, there were 405,000 openings in finance and insurance. By November 2023, that number had decreased to 290,000. However, the pace of new hires in the industry has decreased from 162,000 in 2022 to 134,000 in 2023.

Moreover, the dearth of workers to fill positions comes in direct contrast to employers’ plans to expand. A recent Deloitte study reveals that one-third of global respondents intended to increase headcount. However, doing so then and now is an exercise met with a core challenge – how to attract talent to insurance. The Deloitte survey also found that 43% of respondents believe it’s getting harder to find skilled workers in a number of areas, with information technology being the toughest. Other business areas where insurers could face recruitment challenges include risk management, cybersecurity, and marketing as well as finance, compliance, operations and actuarial.

Where’s the disconnect in attracting talent?

Why does the insurance industry struggle to find and retain top talent, and why is that more so than in other industries? The answer: Insurance has an image problem. Millennials are not considering an insurance career simply because they perceive it to be a boring option, according to a survey conducted by The Hartford. Only 4% of millennials expressed interest in working within the insurance industry, Pew Research found.

There are other disconnects, as well. Companies are beginning to implement more return-to-office mandates post-pandemic. From 2020 through mid-2023, the insurance sector was forced to shift quickly to a remote or hybrid work environment in order to maintain customer support. With pandemic restrictions a thing of the past, companies are resuming their in-house operations by requiring onsite attendance.

However, many workers are now accustomed to the possibility of a better work-life balance that remote and hybrid work models offer. An Accenture survey found that 83% of workers want hybrid work options. With some employers drawing a hard line on remote or even hybrid work, workers are opting out. A recent ResumeBuilder.com survey found that 18% of workers forced to return to the office are currently seeking other employment, and 36% say they plan to look for one this year.

It isn’t just a return-to-work mandate that has employers struggling to attract talent. Another factor impacting insurers: lack of understanding what skills their employees need going forward. According to PwC research, insurers are falling behind in competing for talent because they have yet to identify and pursue what they really need in an employee’s skill set. Are recruitment and staffing decisions based on how business has always been conducted, or is the organization moving toward a more future-focused approach that better positions the business to face a more challenging, competitive market?

Attracting (and keeping) talent

To meet those new challenges, your organization should start with the basics. Today’s job seekers are listing workplace culture as one of their top priorities in their next job – More 77% of respondents globally consider company culture before applying for a job and 79% consider the company’s mission and purpose before applying, says a 2019 Glassdoor survey.

Make sure your mission statement sets a clear purpose. More than that, assess your corporate culture to make sure it aligns with your mission statement. Are company actions matching that mission? If not, how is that misalignment impacting your employees?

A healthy culture puts employees at the core of your operational approach and demonstrates that your organization values the workforce. To gain and maintain employee satisfaction focus on the following areas:

Open-door communication. Your employees should feel that they have a manager with whom they can speak freely, who cares about them and wants them to succeed and grow.
Setting career objectives. More than simply stating what they’d like to achieve, your employees should feel as though management is a partner in their career growth. Offer training, mentoring and weekly one-on-one meetings to go over your employee’s progress and identify areas of improvement.
Improve employer/employee collaboration. Employees should feel management is part of the team, but also that they as employees have a voice in how projects are handled. Giving them accountability and responsibility helps to build trust and bring employees into a more proactive role.
Wellness of the whole employee. That includes financial wellness and mental wellness.

Changes at hiring

Aligning your culture with your mission and value statements will broaden your applicant pool but may require a rethink of your hiring process to avoid excluding “non-traditional” but otherwise qualified candidates.

Start with the job posting. Is the language in the posting communicating an unconscious bias? Are you using words that would discourage segments of the workforce, such as looking for a candidate for “chairman” and not “chairperson” or “communicate with clients” instead of “speak with clients.” Opt for ADA-compliant language and gender-neutral terms.

Also, reconsider the educational pedigree requirement. There are any number of job seekers who have years of experience as well as transferable skills that you may be overlooking due to the degree requirements. Look instead for candidates whose skills are adaptable to your organization’s needs. Consider hiring someone who shows potential for learning these skills or who has similar skills that can transfer to the job.

That goes for your current workforce, as well. Review their backgrounds. What skills do they possess that may be underused? How can you redirect their efforts to improve results in other areas of the company? Doing so can also improve team collaboration across departments.

Rethinking work

Reimagining how your workforce operates can also improve your talent acquisition and retention. To fill gaps in your organization, make use of outsourcing. Consider engaging outsourced workers and remote temporary employees. Contracting some of the work to an outsourced team can alleviate backlog within your organization and attract job seekers who are looking for interim or gap work arrangements.

You can augment your workforce with a remote work model. As more job seekers opt for careers that offer work-life balance, your organization can gain right-fit talent by opening the job search to potential applicants from across the country. By removing the geographic boundaries, you can hire from a wide talent pool and attract candidates with the skills you seek – skills that may not be available in local candidates.

Remove the age barrier, too. Many of today’s insurance industry retirees are looking to reengage with the industry, but in a lower stress, more back-office support role. Hiring a retired insurance professional in a work-from-home capacity can not only help reduce the workload but can give you access to a career’s worth of knowledge and soft skills.

Today’s talent dilemma shows little sign of alleviating. That means the insurance sector must make some key changes in order to compete in a tough labor market.

Your organization can improve its competitive advantage by rethinking the company culture, the hiring process, and how and where employees do business. By putting the work in now, your organization can improve how it finds, engages, and retains key talent.

Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC, is founder and CEO of Wahve, a talent solution provider to the insurance industry. Contact her at [email protected].