The staffing challenges seen in recent years have been widespread across many industries, though the insurance sector has experienced unique difficulties from a lack of available talent.
Recent turnover in the field isn’t just a shuffle of talent among different roles: 65% of workers who have resigned between April 2020 and April 2022 have completely left the insurance industry. At the same time, competitive forces and other macro trends push insurers to improve their services and enhance the policyholder experience–even while being shorthanded.
Let’s dive into why insurers need to find the right talent and how working with the right Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partner can help resolve these staffing issues and support policyholder retention.
Why You Need to Find the Right Insurance Talent
Let’s consider why finding skilled and experienced talent is critical:
Competency in a Complex Industry
The insurance industry is notoriously complex, requiring talent to have specialized knowledge and experience to do their jobs properly. Insurers need professionals with the right skills and experience to master the nuances and intricacies of underwriting, claims management, risk assessment, and more. In today’s climate, insurers may struggle to remain competitive and offer timely service to policyholders when they lack this skilled labor.
Innovation & Creativity to Navigate a Changing Marketplace
There have been many ongoing changes and shifts in the insurance market. There’s an increasing demand for insurance talent to be flexible and adaptable to these changing trends while still working accurately and efficiently. To remain competitive, firms need to find the right talent to respond to emerging technologies, changing policyholder expectations, and a shifting regulatory landscape with innovation and creativity.
Quality Policyholder Experiences
Insurance talent can make or break policyholder experiences, which are critical to boosting policyholder retention and remaining competitive in today’s rapidly-evolving landscape. Insurers need to invest in the talent that will support better policyholder satisfaction through positive customer service interactions, competency, problem-solving, empathy, and a customer-focused approach.
A Closer Look at Insurance Staffing Challenges
Insurance industry experts reported a record number of unfilled jobs last year, with the 10-year average unemployment rate in the industry sitting just above 2.5%. The total employment in the industry was noted as 1.56 million workers, 85,000 less than two years prior. This isn’t due to a lack of demand by firms but rather due to a struggle to hire quickly enough to replace outgoing talent.
Broader economic and technological changes are partially to blame for the staffing challenges that insurers have faced in recent years. However, working with BPO partners can bridge the gap for insurers who rely on skilled talent to provide their policyholders with a quality experience but are having trouble filling roles on their own.
How Working with the Right BPO Provider Can Help
BPO partners provide you with skilled and qualified talent, so you don’t have to spend time recruiting for yourself. Their people can plug right into your firm, seamlessly offering on-brand service to policyholders so you can focus on core tasks that spur future growth.
Even firms that aren’t currently experiencing labor shortages can gain a competitive edge by partnering with the right BPO provider; they can ensure they always have the right talent (and enough of it) to meet policyholder demands and efficiently scale their business.
Covenir: Your Onshore ‘People Power’
When insurers have the right people on board, they’re prepared to navigate the changing industry and continue offering top-tier service to policyholders. However, given the industry’s staffing challenges, it isn’t always that simple.
When working with a BPO provider like Covenir, you can access flexible solutions with skilled onshore talent prepared to jump in quickly. We give you the ‘people power’ to meet your policyholders’ demands while offering the on-brand and reliable service they expect. We have extensive industry experience with customer service, FNOL and claims, underwriting support, policy advising and sales, print and distribution, and virtual mailroom services.
Contact us today to learn more about our turnkey solutions and how they can provide you with the ‘people power’ you need to overcome today’s insurance staffing challenges.