Attracting and retaining the right talent is one of the top challenges for insurers right now, with a shrinking and non-diverse pool to choose from and a massive amount of pent up demand for quality talent and significant amount of people moving out of the market.
So, can developing Employer Brands help and what else is happening in the Market?
At an event hosted by Gracechurch, Caroline Wagstaff CEO of the London Market Group outlined the challenges and potential solutions to attracting new and diverse talent to the London Market and Ben Bolton MD of Gracechurch presented findings from the first Employer Brand study.
The main issues that make it tough for London to attract diverse new talent are:
A lack of understanding about what the insurance market is
The industry has a reputation problem
The market is hard to navigate with 350+ firms in the business and a lot of jargon
A lack of diversity and inclusion
Increasing the talent pool
Competition is healthy and a level playing field should be discouraged...
As a whole, the industry is moving towards inclusivity as there are more women and ethnicities in insurance than ever before. However, it is not moving at the pace it should.
Nepotism in the market is still rife, since it is understandably difficult to not hire friends or family... however if the pool of talent is made bigger, it will be easier to recruit a much more diverse range of talent.
It is important to get the insurance markets message out better - the key functions to make this happen this will be marketing and HR. Leadership engagement is also very important and we have to think of ways of getting board level sponsorship.
The Gracechurch Research
Low ratings of employee satisfaction is a problem in that if the most influential people in the market don’t rate its strengths how can we hope to inspire people to come in?
Attractants
Factors which most strongly link to employer recommendation.
Deterrents
Bureaucracy (inflexibility) and being ‘too big’ are the main reasons given for low NPS scores.
The Gracechurch Employer Brand Monitor underwriter research shows that:
Underwriter ratings of London insurers as employers are extremely low
Underwriters are most attracted to businesses that have strong trusted leaders, a good market reputation with clear strategies and quality staff
They reject businesses that have spotty financial performance or appear to be too bureaucratic
There are significant opportunities for businesses to market themselves more effectively to potential talent rather than just relying on remuneration.
Building a successful employer brand
When assessing employer brand in the insurance industry it is important to evaluate the current perception of the company, the desired ratings and then ask these questions to create a roadmap to reach the goals:
What does a modern insurer need to look like?
How do we get leadership to buy into this?
Do we understand what inspires people to want to work with us?
What constitutes effective communication in the space?
How do we target the most appealing audiences effectively?
What is the competition doing and are we keeping up to speed?
So, in summary, attracting new talent requires a brand-positive cohort. In 2022, insurer recruitment will be focused more on marketing themselves and the industry rather than being salary-led and revolving around nepotism.
The Employer Brand event was held on 16th November 2021 at the Eight Club Bank
The Employer Brand Monitor uses a universally applicable set of brand and reputation attributes measuring the external perceptions of an organisation’s social and cultural environment. The study covers claims, broking and other functions including technology and operational roles.
Supporting initiatives
LMG has launched a major talent initiative called London Insurance Life (LiL) https://londoninsurancelife-lmg.com/about-us/:
Providing information about the market (FAQ’s, interactive learning modules and glossaries)
Giving people access to relatable role models (ambassadors, podcasts, and videos)
A job board to get more entry-level and graduates into the industry