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Latest Insurance Talent Perspectives

Building and Maintaining a Strong Employer Brand

In today’s competitive labor market, a strong employer brand is a key differentiator in recruiting top talent, reducing costs, enhancing the candidate pool, and retaining high performers by instilling pride in their roles and company. 

View our latest white paper for tips to ensure your company represents itself as an employer of choice.

Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study Results

The Jacobson Group and Aon conduct a Semi-Annual Insurance Labor Market Study to examine industry hiring and revenue trends and projections. The findings of our Q3 2024 iteration reflect a relatively stable labor market, with modest job growth.

Download the results to explore 2024’s staffing forecasts and hiring plans for the insurance industry.

Combatting the Finance and Accounting Talent Shortage

Faced with a shallowing pool of emerging talent and a workforce nearing retirement, finding qualified accounting and finance professionals has been an intensifying challenge for the industry. A comprehensive multi-prong approach is necessary to cultivate a workforce that can meet evolving demands and ensure operational continuity.

Read our blog post for insights on staying ahead of the growing finance and accounting talent crisis.

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Recruiter Report: Choosing the Right Recruiting Firm

As you make your talent plans for the coming year, it’s likely you’re considering adding new positions or hiring to fill vacant roles. Depending on your organization’s needs, time constraints, budget and the urgency to fill, you may be considering whether a recruiting firm is right for you. Our team works with numerous hiring managers and internal recruiters throughout the insurance industry to help them find the right talent year-round. In this edition of Recruiter Report, we’re sharing our insights to help answer the question, “What should you look for in a professional recruiting firm?” Recognize when external support is necessary. Even with a strong internal recruiting team, there are situations where it is advantageous to seek an external recruiting partner. The right recruiting firm can save you time, expand your network and provide you with valuable market insight. This is especially true in the current insurance labor market, where unemployment remains low and it’s often necessary to engage passive candidates. Here are a few initial questions to help determine if using a recruiting firm is right for you: Has the role been open for an extended time period? How critical is the role to the success of your organization or team? Does the position require highly-specialized expertise? What have you already done to identify talent? Is it a confidential search? Do you have the internal resources and bandwidth to effectively recruit for the position? Identify the right partner. When using a recruiting firm, it’s essential to partner with one that can most effectively meet your needs. Consider the following areas: Industry expertise: Many insurance roles require specific skillsets and technical knowledge. Unlike most generalist firms, insurance-specific staffing firms offer recruiters who understand the nuances and technical expertise needed for specific roles. Additionally, they can provide realistic expectations on your search based on the state of the insurance labor market and help you remain competitive. Access to a broad network of talent: The right insurance-specific firm will also have a broad network of insurance talent. This provides a more targeted search, as well as access to a wealth of individuals who are otherwise not looking for a new position. Relationship-focused approach: Using a staffing firm should feel like a true partnership, where everyone has your organization’s best interest in mind. Look for a firm that is available for questions, straightforward with you about potential challenges within your search, and proactive in adjusting and adapting as needed. Thorough process: A firm that prioritizes quality over quantity will ultimately save you time and energy. This means asking the right questions upfront to thoroughly understand the requirements for your open role, and performing in-depth screenings to ensure you’re only presented with strong candidates. As you talk with potential recruiting partners, these questions can help gauge whether they have the industry knowledge, network and process required for success. What similar roles have they filled or are they currently working on? How confident are they about their ability to successfully fill your role? What do they foresee as potential challenges? Are their expectations realistic for the current market? Can they provide insights into the competitive landscape? How do they ensure they are aligned with your expectations, from culture fit to the role's technical requirements? What is their estimated timeline for presenting candidates, and how do they ensure quality? How do they incorporate your feedback to stay on track? If a firm seems too good to be true, or you start working with a firm and are not seeing your desired results, look for these few common red flags: Unrealistic cost: As with most services, if you make a decision based on cost, it is likely you will get what you pay for. Limited reach: Especially if you are recruiting for a specific skillset, hiring on a national level or offering remote work, having a broad reach is essential. Local and smaller recruiting firms often have contacts in your specific market, but will not have the network of talent that a national firm does. Unrealistic deadlines: If a firm says they can provide candidates in just a day or two, it’s not likely they have a thorough screening process, which ultimately can waste your time interviewing individuals who are not right for the role. Inability to find qualified candidates: We often hear this from insurers who have worked with generalist firms, as a result of the firm lacking in-depth market expertise and insurance-focused networks. Commit to a collaborative partnership. Once you’ve identified the right firm, do your part to make the partnership as successful as possible. Be open with information about your company’s culture, team dynamics and workstyles. Consider sharing the employees that you’ve found to be most successful in similar roles and the qualities that set them apart. Be realistic with the state of the marketplace and open to feedback around how competitive your approach to workplace flexibility, compensation and titles/level may be.  At the same time, ensure you’re providing thorough feedback on candidates to help guide the process. Working with the right recruiting firm is often key to successfully filling an open position. By assessing your needs, finding the right partner and remaining collaborative, you’ll be able to find the best individual for your open role. For more insights on recruiting in the current environment, view our past editions of Recruiter Report. What is the main challenge your team faces when hiring in today's environment? Share your thoughts in our latest LinkedIn poll.

Claims Roles Still in High Demand for Insurers: Jacobson, Aon-Ward

The Claims and Litigation Management Magazine covered Jacobson and Aon's Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study, noting that, for the first time, technology is no longer the most in-demand position among carriers.

Insurance Industry Forecasts Strong Growth and Hiring In Next 12 Months

Risk & Insurance covered The Jacobson Group and Aon's Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study, highlighting that the insurance industry is set for a transformative year. 

Rethinking Annual Performance Assessments

As we near the end of 2024, annual performance assessments are on the minds of many companies. Traditionally, this is a time to reflect on the year and evaluate whether individuals achieved the goals they set back in January. However, if it’s November and you’re just now thinking about performance management, you’ve fallen behind. Companies that prioritize performance are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers. Having just one or two formal conversations to determine whether an individual met your expectations throughout the past 12 months sets both you and the employee up for failure. In today’s workplace, building connections and committing to open communication are more important than ever. These factors also play a large role in effectively managing your employees’ performance and progress, as well as their levels of engagement and job satisfaction. If you’re having ongoing performance discussions with your team members all year, it makes the year-end review much less daunting – if necessary at all! Here are a few ways to incorporate performance management into discussions throughout the year, while helping individuals feel more confident and empowered in their roles. Recognize that people want to do well. As a manager, having the right mindset can heavily influence the tone and outcomes of your conversations around performance. Remember: most people really do want to do a good job. It’s important to help your employees clearly understand their role within the organization, provide guidelines around expectations and norms, and offer immediate feedback to course correct or celebrate when needed. Connect their work to the larger goals of the organization to help them understand the bigger picture and better align on company-wide priorities. Connect regularly. Professionals have become accustomed to instant feedback in all areas of their lives, and are often unsettled and stressed by feelings of uncertainty. Frequent check-ins are essential to accurately understand how your team members are feeling about their roles and work. Ask how things are going for them, and how they think they are doing. What makes them proud of themselves? Where do they feel like they’re not doing as well as they’d like? This is a great opportunity to understand if you’re aligned, identify potential disconnects and make any necessary adjustments in real-time. All individuals have a mental relationship and emotional connection with work; it can be a source of stress or a source of inspiration and fulfillment. Focus on what you can do to help them feel powerful, knowledgeable and confident. Listen and build trust. Performance is not a one-way conversation. If you’re the manager, ensure you’re doing just as much listening as you do talking. At the same time, recognize this can only be effective if you’ve built a foundation of trust that enables your team to be honest with you. An employee who trusts their manager has their best interests at heart will understand constructive feedback is coming from a place of tough professional love, with a goal of better meeting business objectives. An employee who doesn’t trust their manager may internalize feedback as their manager preparing to fire or demote them. Creating a safe space for open conversation and a culture where feedback is expected and embraced should be a priority. Break down larger goals. Rather than setting lofty annual goals, break them down into smaller goals with shorter deadlines. What actions need to happen in a certain month to ensure an individual is on track to be successful? Not only does this help goals seem less overwhelming, it also provides clear check-in points to ensure everything and everyone is on track for success. If not, take the opportunity to realign, remove roadblocks and clarify expectations. Be honest and make it about the work, not the person. Feedback – both positive and constructive – is essential in bettering your team and reaching your larger objectives. Often, managers struggle with delivering negative feedback, especially to an otherwise strong employee. However, individuals can’t do better until they know better. Aim to give feedback in a way that separates the individual from the results they’re getting. Clarify that your feedback is not about them as a person, but about their specific actions or approach to a project or situation. By shifting the focus off of them and onto their work, you’re also able to pinpoint actionable steps for improvement in a more objective and less emotionally charged way. Identify areas of disconnect. While many aspects of performance are focused on numbers and metrics, others may be less tangible. Inevitably, there will be a time when you and an employee have differing opinions on how something went. It’s unproductive to debate who is right or wrong, but it is valuable to understand the employee’s perspective, share your own perspective and then understand the disconnect between the two. Ask them to share the reasons why they feel something was successful or unsuccessful. If you feel a different way, don’t negate their feelings. Instead, explain how you see it and why. In addition to providing clear reasoning, this also helps shift the focus to the tasks at hand, rather than the person as an individual, and opens the conversation to discussing how you can be better aligned in the future. After you’ve shared your feedback, look forward and don’t dwell on the past. While annual assessments are likely part of your company’s formal performance review process, they shouldn’t deliver any information an employee isn’t already aware of. By having more frequent check-ins, fostering open and ongoing communication, and breaking down goals, both you and your employees will be well-aligned throughout the year. Additionally, individuals will feel more empowered, confident and satisfied in their work, positioning them for a strong future with your team and company.

November 2024: Labor Market PULSE

In October, we saw the unemployment rate for insurance carriers and related activities continue its decline from 3.1% in August, lowering to 1.5%. Meanwhile, the overall U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%. While the labor market may be slightly cooling, it remains stable. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a decrease of 1,400 industry jobs in October—and revised September numbers show a loss of an additional 300 jobs, compared to the increase of 4,800 jobs initially reported for the month. However, this is a relatively small change, and the industry has added more than 28,000 jobs since the start of the year. The larger U.S. economy also saw slowed job growth in October, with the addition of just 12,000 jobs, compared to the six-digit growth we’ve seen nearly every other month of 2024. Economists attribute this partially to some employees being temporarily off payrolls as a result of the recent hurricanes. AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector decreased to 1.5% in October. The insurance carriers and related activities sector lost 1,400 jobs in October. At more than 3 million jobs, industry employment increased by approximately 36,600 jobs compared to October 2023. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 4.1% in October and the overall economy added 12,000 jobs. INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS On a year-to-year basis, September* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 3.4%), reinsurance (up 1.9%), TPAs (up 1.3%), property and casualty (up 0.2%) and life/health (up 0.1%).  Meanwhile, jobs decreased in claims (down 3.8%) and title (down 0.1%). On a year-to-year basis, September* saw weekly wage increases in agents/brokers (up 9.6%), TPAs (up 9.5%), reinsurance (up 6.2%), claims (up 4.3%), life/health (up 3%), title (up 1.7%) and property and casualty (up 1.6%).  BLS Reported Adjustments: Adjusted employment numbers for September show the industry saw a decrease of 300 jobs, compared to the previously reported increase of 4,800 jobs. The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled. *The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report and reports on wages and employment for the industry category are only available for two months prior. The source for the data represented in PULSE is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Insurance data is derived from the insurance carriers and related activities sector.

Employee Engagement: Getting Back to Basics for 2025

Quiet quitting remains a concern, and insurers are seeking ideas to re-energize their teams in 2025. Explore ways to re-establish the connections and work environments that foster employee engagement in our latest white paper. 

Compass 17.4: Employee Engagement: Getting Back to Basics for 2025

This quarter’s Compass feature article offers ways to combat quiet quitting, enhance employee engagement and drive your organization forward in the new year. The newsletter also includes an overview of the industry's current labor market and recent executive-level job changes.

Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study Results: Hiring Continues

The insurance industry remains relatively stable as we move through 2024. Our recent Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study, conducted in partnership with Aon, revealed 86% of carriers intend to increase or maintain their staff sizes in the next 12 months. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 11 consecutive months of job growth for the insurance carriers and related activities sector. However, while the industry continues to add jobs, this employment growth remains relatively modest. Just over half (52%) of companies intend to grow their teams in the next 12 months, unchanged from January 2024 and down 11 points compared to July 2023; while 34% plan to maintain their current headcounts. The main drivers for growth are expected increases in business volume and expansion into new markets. At the same time, 14% of companies expect a reduction in their workforce—up 4 points from one year ago—with automation continuing to be the most common reason. No respondents plan to decrease staff size by more than 10%. For the first time in the study’s 15-year history, technology positions are not the industry’s greatest need; underwriting and claims roles are currently in highest demand, with technology ranking third. Desired job levels remain relatively consistent with previous studies: 77% of those planning to hire say they’re most in need of experienced professionals, followed by entry-level individuals at 21% and executives at 2%. For individuals who are new to the workforce, entry-level positions are most needed within operations (62%, which is 14 points higher than one year ago), claims (38%) and underwriting (21%). Compliance (4%) and loss control/risk management (7%) are the areas most likely to add executive-level positions. Recruiting difficulty has eased in eight of the survey’s 11 categories; however, most positions continue to be considered at least moderately difficult to fill. Actuarial, executive and analytics roles remain the most challenging. Nevertheless, just 11% of companies report their ability to hire talent has become more difficult over the past year, down from 17% in July 2023. Flexibility remains important for many professionals, and 72% of companies shared the majority of their employees work a hybrid model (38% one to two days in office; 34% three to four days in office). About a quarter of companies say most of their staff is fully remote (up from 18% in January 2024) and just 4% report most employees are in the office full time (down from 6% at the beginning of the year). The vast majority (94%) of companies do not plan to make changes to their work models in the next six months. The remaining 6% plan to require more in-office presence, down 10 points from January. Whether you are ready to take your next professional step or looking for new opportunities in the insurance sector, the industry is continuing to grow. If you are actively interviewing, make sure to check out this post, “Navigating Job Interviews: 7 Questions to Assess Fit and Stand Out” to help guide your search and make informed decisions throughout the process. The Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study took place from July 8 through July 28, with participation from insurance carriers across all industry sectors. The semi-annual survey collects and examines data on insurance industry hiring, as well as revenue trends and projections. For more insight on the industry’s hiring plans and additional labor market details, view the full report.

Redefining the Employee Experience for Today’s Workplace

Redefining the Employee Experience for Today’s Workplace

Published in Insurance Journal Providing an exceptional employee experience is vital for organizational success, particularly in the current landscape of hybrid and remote work. In this Insurance Journal article, Jacobson's Corey Pinkham discusses how employers can support team members at every stage of the employee lifecycle—from recruitment to exit—by focusing on communication, professional growth, engagement and well-being.

MPL Carriers Face Hiring Challenges

Inside Medical Liability released part one of a two-part series on staffing challenges in the Medical Professional Liability space. In this feature article, Jacobson's Julie Czarnik shared insights on the MPL labor market, generational talent shifts, how the sector can make itself more attractive to potential hires and more.

October 2024: Labor Market PULSE

After rising to 3.1% in August, the unemployment rate for the insurance carriers and related activities sector dropped to 2.3% in September. The overall U.S. unemployment rate remains consistent, dropping just a tenth of a point. The industry also added jobs, marking its 11th consecutive month of job growth. Within the larger finance and insurance sector, job openings fell to a near two-year low in August*. The rate of retirements also slowed during August, dropping to 0.1% from 0.4% in July. Overall, the industry remains strong as we enter the final quarter of 2024. AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector decreased to 2.3% in September. The insurance carriers and related activities sector gained 4,800 jobs in September. At more than 3 million jobs, industry employment increased by approximately 45,200 jobs compared to September 2023. The U.S. unemployment rate slightly decreased to 4.1% in September and the overall economy added 254,000 jobs. INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS On a year-to-year basis, August* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 3.7%), TPAs (up 1.6%), reinsurance (up 0.6%), life/health (up 0.1%), and property and casualty (up 0.3%).  Meanwhile, jobs decreased in claims (down 1.3%) and title (down 0.6%). On a year-to-year basis, August* saw weekly wage increases in agents/brokers (up 10.7%), reinsurance (up 9.6%), title (up 9%), TPAs (up 8.9%), claims (up 3.6%), life/health (up 2.3%) and property and casualty (up 1.1%).  BLS Reported Adjustments: Adjusted employment numbers for August show the industry saw an increase of 3,800 jobs, compared to the previously reported increase of 3,300 jobs. The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled. *The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report and reports on wages and employment for the industry category are only available for two months prior. The source for the data represented in PULSE is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Insurance data is derived from the insurance carriers and related activities sector.

Polling Results: What Is Influencing Recruiting Today?

Insurers continue to adapt to an evolving labor market. From interview timelines and the most important candidate traits, to desirable leadership qualities, we’ve polled our LinkedIn audience for insights on their processes and priorities. Below is a glimpse into the industry’s current attitudes and areas of focus. As market conditions shift, so do talent priorities. Retention became the dominant focus for 40% of employers in the second half of 2024. Not far behind, 37% are prioritizing employee development and 22% are most focused on hiring. When we asked the same question in 2021, hiring and development were tied as top priorities (40%) and retention was ranked lowest (17%). The shift implies a growing emphasis on keeping high performers engaged and reducing turnover. Given the perceived easing of the labor market, some hiring managers have lost their sense of urgency with regard to hiring. However, these lengthened interview processes are causing some companies to lose out on top candidates. Moving quickly during the interview and hiring process remains essential. Thirty-eight percent of hiring managers shared they typically make offers within two weeks of initial contact with a candidate. Just 13% take longer than four weeks. Flexibility in work location has become a non-negotiable for many professionals. Nearly 7 out of 10 hiring managers reported that remote work has the greatest impact when crafting an offer that stands out, outranking tailored compensation packages (16%), company culture (12%) and generous PTO (4%). Today’s recruiting processes often require hiring managers to make informed choices with fewer candidate interactions. Our poll found that 51% of hiring managers prioritize culture fit in initial interviews —outweighing leadership potential (27%), technical skills (16%) and soft skills (6%). Asking the right questions and engaging in meaningful dialogue can help provide insight on these areas and more. Leadership demands are evolving amid shifting work environments and employee expectations. Half of professionals rate integrity as the top leadership quality, followed by empathy (35%) and strategic thinking (14%). Read more about the key traits of today's most successful leaders here. For more of our LinkedIn poll results, view our past post on professionals’ current expectations. To share your thoughts in our future polls, follow us on LinkedIn.