Human capital trends in the insurance industry – Deloitte

Article Synopsis :

Employee engagement, talent management and a culture of transparency are now boardroom issues and not just HR team KPIs.

Employee engagement and talent management matter more than ever in the digital age

In “Human capital trends in the insurance industry” Deloitte identifies shifts in regulation, technology and customer expectations and their potential implications for the insurance industry.

Ten trends outlined specifically in the report are as follows:

(I) Leading

1.     Leadership a perennial issue: Lack of sustainable leadership is the primary trend. Identifying the development issues of employees and delivering the right training should help address the issue.

2.     Learning and development in the spotlight: According to a Deloitte survey, only a third of insurance companies consider themselves ready in terms of the skills to meet changing industry demands. Though a lot is happening in the Learning and Development (L&D) industry insurers aren’t leveraging these innovations. The industry needs to transform existing L&D programmes to close skills gaps.

(II) Engaging

3.     Culture and Engagement: Changing competition fuels the need for insurers to have more nurturing, engaging cultures. Insurers should invest to create transparent, mobile and innovation-oriented cultures to engage/attract the right talent.

4.     Workforce on Demand: According to a Deloitte survey, there will be an increase in the need for contingent workers during next 3-5 years. Insurers need to focus more on shifting themselves from a ‘closed talent’ economy to more of an ‘open talent’ economy, training internal staff as well as freelancers and contractual workers.

5.     Performance Management: Performance management is a key area in which Deloitte sees a major gap. Insurers need to better understand workforce preferences and offer requisite flexibility and incentives.

(III) Reinventing

6.     Reinventing HR: According to Deloitte’s 2015 Human Capital Trends Report, 42% of executives rate “reinventing HR” as very important to the organization. As a true business partner, HR must efficiently manage employee data, effectively recruit and deploy talent, and communicate organizational changes. HR systems must accommodate changing regulatory landscapes and support growth in terms of scalability and optimum resource utilization.

7.     HR and People Analytics: HR plays an important role in applying analytics in attracting and retaining the right talent.

8.     Bring people data in: Insurers need to leverage social media platforms to engage employees toward building the right frameworks and strategies. Partnership and collaboration between HR and marketing teams on access to major social networks, process transparency, and progress measurement is a good way to get started.

(IV) Reimagining

9.     Simplification of work: In a Deloitte survey, 81% of insurance industry respondents rated their work environment and business practices as ‘complex.’ Insurers need to invest in a better work-life balance to attract high-value talent.

10.  Machines as talent and not competition: Insurers are deploying machines to automate underwriting, provide insurance quotes online and digitise customer service. Building a hybrid machine and human workforce will help drive innovation, quicker decision making and speedier outputs as well as more efficient operations.

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