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Accelerating change in the insurance industry: Why you need to invest in talent strategy to grow

This report brings together research and industry trend data with opinion from sector experts at Attensi, to help the industry understand current challenges and future proof their business.

Team Attensi

Published · Updated

Onboarding, staff retention and digital transformation, it’s time to invest in your talent strategy to grow

This report brings together research and industry trend data with opinion from sector experts at Attensi, to help the industry understand current challenges and future proof their business.

To find out more, download Attensi’s whitepaper. Inside you’ll find insights on:

  • The big challenges: From automation to onboarding, the big challenges facing the sector.
  • Onboarding: You only get one chance to make a first impression.
  • Ongoing development: Helping your team feel valued and immersed in their own development.
  • The future trends leading the way: Find out what’s on the horizon for the insurance sector, including tech disruption, data-led training and new ways of learning.
Download our white paper

The big challenges — from automation to onboarding

55%
of insurance executives said talent acquisition challenges and retention could prevent growth in 2022
26%
expected these pressures to have eased by the end of the year
55%
increase in the need for digital skills for insurance executives and these types of roles by 2030 (McKinsey)
88%
agree technology and automation will become more important in the coming years (LMG & KPMG)

After profiling roles at leading insurance firms in Europe and the United States — including underwriting, actuarial, claims, finance and operational duties — McKinsey found that 10-55% of these roles could be automated over the next ten years. Advanced technology doesn't necessarily mean fewer human-centric roles; as organisations embrace technology and AI, teams can be redesigned into new categories of work, including hybrid jobs and "superjobs."

Onboarding more senior or complex roles can take anywhere between 12 and 15 months, with a recent report from Gallup finding that only 12% of organisations do a good job of onboarding new talent. Replacing or hiring a mid-level employee can cost up to 150% of their salary, and for a highly skilled employee up to 400% of their salary (Sparkbay).

'The Great Resignation' has also forced firms to rethink their recruitment and retention strategies — for the first time, choice has shifted firmly to the employee. This shift shouldn't be seen as demoralising for business leaders, but as an opportunity to align with new priorities and build a strong team of skilled, dedicated talent.

Onboarding

You only get one chance to make a first impression

A robust onboarding process is key in any sector, but the nuanced roles in insurance mean delivering bespoke solutions to address individualised learning. A one-size-fits-all approach to onboarding is not the solution to building a successful team:

Agents: paid on their performance, agents need to be supported to get up to speed quickly — spending too long onboarding them delays their ability to earn, and people in these roles need to feel enabled fast or they're very likely to move on.

Customer service: onboarding for customer-facing roles is intensive, taking 4–6 weeks before a team member is contributing — and up to 6 months in some cases. These roles have high turnover and low engagement, making them costly to fill and train.

Underwriting: this role requires skill based on judgement as well as expertise, previously only possible through mentoring and risky real-client experience requiring significant senior resource.

Claims: a judgement-based skill that takes time to hone — these roles can be intimidating in the early days, leading to increased attrition as people navigate the variety of customer interactions.

"You only get one chance to make a good first impression with new members of your team — and to avoid duplication of recruitment and onboarding costs if turnover is high."

Case studies

Onboarding in action

Attensi's state-of-the-art, gamified insurance training solutions give employees the opportunity to experience life-like scenarios to facilitate learning and development. In a global industry like insurance, gamified training means you're never limited by location or language, and it lets you measure success and view leaderboards, playtime, and real cultural change without business risk.

Insurance Call Centers

Main goal: to increase efficiency of training for call centre team members across the US, UK and India — providing company-specific training, reducing time to competency, and enabling new team members to be confident in their role.

5 → 3 weeks
reduced training time
40% → 15%
reduced employee turnover
500%
ROI achieved

Hiscox Foundations Program

Main goal: to increase competence and confidence in junior underwriters — improving Band 1 underwriters' ability to analyse cases and communicate with brokers, agents and internal claims teams, ensuring standardisation of core competencies and best practice.

95%
believe this training helped them navigate external relationships (e.g. brokers, external stakeholders)
95%
say this training helped them understand how and when to communicate with the claims team
80%
felt more confident in their ability as a Junior Underwriter after completing the training

transforming insurance

Ongoing development

Skills in the insurance sector are complex, evolving and carry high risk to businesses if individuals aren't performing at the right level. Investing in continued learning and development helps people feel valued and better match their ongoing skills needs — especially in a time of change and uncertainty across the sector.

Gamified simulations allow teams to immerse themselves right into a subject in a way traditional learning methods don't encourage. Take underwriting as an example — transforming away from traditional mentoring to gamified solutions can help businesses reduce risk, save time, and empower employees to learn and develop in new and exciting ways.

Future trends leading the way

Tech disruption: will continue, but that's nothing new. The use of data and analytics to drive decision-making will continue to shift the dynamic for teams and clients — knowing what is good data, what is noise, and how to use the right data to drive good decisions will differentiate the businesses who thrive from those who don't.

New ways of learning: Millennials and Gen Z expect to be able to dip in and out of training at their convenience — and it's not just about age, everyone now expects training to be user-friendly and to fit around a better work-life balance. Easy-to-use, challenging yet enjoyable training drives repeat behaviour, increased knowledge, scalability and consistency across an organisation.

Data-led training: will help businesses develop training content with a measurable impact on business KPIs. The goal is no longer completion-focused but continuous, incremental improvement that drives culture and belonging — moving training from a tick-box 'assurance' exercise to something with real-world impact.

Why Attensi? Attensi's solutions place users in true-to-life scenarios, so when they encounter a similar situation in the workplace, they'll know the appropriate action to take — a 'dress rehearsal.' Users get the chance to understand what good looks like, and to try, fail and repeat training in order to build the muscle memory necessary to instil confidence in their own abilities.

"Using data and analytics will continue to shift the dynamics."

Huw Newton Hill
Head of Attensi US

Are you ready to level up your training?

Join industry leaders who are changing the game with Attensi

  • Hiscox
  • Zurich
  • Nordea
  • American National
  • Everest Group
  • If