5 Ways To Improve Employee Retention In The Insurance Industry

The insurance industry is currently facing significant challenges due to its ageing workforce. To put it bluntly, senior professionals are retiring which means there's a new demand for younger talent. 

As a natural response, many insurance employers will focus purely on attracting this talent, but they struggle to retain them, something that is vital. Why? Because the roles that need to be covered will require these younger employees to progress in the company for a decent amount of time to be equipped to take over. 

Insurance employers are simply not able to hire fast enough to replace the workers who are leaving. The CEO of The Jacobson Group says "We (the insurance industry) are at the lowest in the last 10 years in terms of the percentage of people who are being laid off, and we’re at the highest in the last 10 years in terms of the number of people who are quitting."

To give you a rundown, the insurance industry has a 12-15% turnover rate (Deloitte), with voluntary turnover spiking at higher levels than before. So how can you retain them?

Offer competitive pay and benefits

Let's start from the basics. 

A standard salary isn't enough to give employees an incentive to stay and 60% of insurance professionals say that pay was their primary reason for leaving (Iamagazine). Offering a truly competitive salary is a core foundation for ensuring employees feel not only valued but that they see a future in the company where they can earn more.

And with a good salary comes good benefits. 

Providing generous benefits doesn't just make the overall package sound more attractive when candidates go for the role, but it gives them a higher incentive to stay. Whether that's health insurance, good pension schemes, decent annual leave, or years-in-service rewards, you'll create a package that is hard for other companies (and other industries) to compete with.

Offer a better work-life balance

This is a post-pandemic buzzword that has occupied the employment world since.

Your first thoughts of this would probably be about remote, hybrid and flexible working. And whilst they have their perks, this is probably not something you as an insurance employer need to put on your priority list. 

Before the pandemic, 90% of insurance employees worked in the office four or more days a week. Since the pandemic, however, this number has plummeted to less than 5%, with 86% going into the office three times a week or less (CII)

You may be assuming then that your employees are more than privileged to have a healthy work-life balance. There is a long-standing assumption that people don't work as hard when they're at home... a study shows otherwise. Hays has found that 52% of employees reported working longer hours than before COVID (People Management)

How much longer you may ask? 41% said 5-10 extra hours per week, 25% said more than 10.

And when you're relating this to the insurance industry with already heavy caseloads, this could be even more... making it understandable when 50% of insurance professionals say that work-life balance is a reason why they're leaving the industry (Iamagazine).

It's not unusual to hear that insurance employees are facing intense pressure and demanding workloads. This can be hard to fix when the industry is already facing a talent shortage, but finding ways to support employees through this transition will go a long way.

Offer solid progression opportunities

This should be a no-brainer. 

With the ageing workforce, it would make the most sense to progress younger employees. Unfortunately, the reality for most insurance companies is that the majority of focus has been on the more senior employees who have now progressed to the point of retirement with nobody in the company to backfill.

Now employers are panicking to attract new talent through university schemes and apprenticeships but what happens once they're attracted? They aren't doing enough to progress them. As a result, many entry to mid-level insurance professionals leave and never make it to that point where they can take over the positions that are at risk. 

Creating clear progression paths and supporting employees with their professional growth will not only train them to be capable of taking over the roles that are becoming vacant - but it will show them that you value them, making them more likely to stay.

- Written by Ben Pope

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