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The Human Element of AI Transformation

Discover ways to effectively navigate through AI transformation. Only 4% of companies say they’re creating real value from their AI investments. The key differentiator is how well organizations manage the human side of implementation. 

Download the white paper to explore best practices for taking a human-focused approach as you lead through change.

Recruiter Report: Find the “Perfect” Candidate

Finding top talent remains difficult in today’s labor market. However, holding out for the “perfect” candidate may mean losing out on high-potential individuals that would thrive in the role.

Read our blog post gain insights on redefining what the ideal candidate looks like and share how to take a realistic and future-focused approach to making the right hire.

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December 2022: Labor Market Pulse

The insurance industry is closing out 2022 with low industry unemployment and a high level of open finance and insurance positions. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty and a pending recession, insurance remains a candidate’s market as we enter the new year.  Voluntary quits remain elevated within finance and insurance; however, retirements saw a decline from 13,000 in September to just 3,000 in October*. Organizations are contemplating how to best move forward and it’s likely we’ll continue to see ongoing reshuffling in early 2023, as more permanent plans and expectations are enforced, further impacting employee-employer relationships.  AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector increased to 1.5% in November.  The insurance carriers and related activities sector gained  3,800 jobs in November. At roughly 2.8 million jobs, industry employment increased by approximately 43,100 jobs compared to November 2021. The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 3.7% in November and the overall economy added 263,000 jobs.   INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS On a year-to-year basis, October* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 3.8%), property and casualty (up 2.1%), TPAs (up 1.7%), and life/health (up 0.7%). Meanwhile, job decreases were seen in claims (down 8.2%), title (down 7.3%) and reinsurance (down 1.5%). On a year-to-year basis, October* saw weekly wage increases in: property and casualty (up 9.7%), TPAs (up 7.4%), life/health (up 5.4%),  agents/brokers (up 4.7%), reinsurance (up 4.7%), and title (up 3.6%). Meanwhile, wages decreased in claims (down 5.5%).        BLS Reported Adjustments: Adjusted employment numbers for October show the industry saw an increase of 10,200 jobs, compared to the previously reported increase of 9,400 jobs. The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled. *The BLS JOLTS 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.

Health Highlights: Q4 2022

The health insurance industry continues to evolve, as insurers strive to best meet changing member needs and provide a holistic member experience. Now, as many health plans aim to grow their Medicare Advantage business, the ability to effectively deliver on these initiatives has become a key differentiator. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are 3,998 Medicare Advantage plans available for the 2023 enrollment period. On average, a Medicare beneficiary can choose from 43 Medicare Advantage plans, compared to just 20 plans five years ago. As Medicare Advantage open enrollment approaches, insurers are working to stand out in a highly competitive market. Our team is ingrained within the health insurance space and has frequent conversations with industry leaders about their current areas of focus. Here are a few considerations and trends of note: Increased InnovationCurrently, 45% of seniors enrolled in Medicare are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, and that percentage is expected to increase to more than 50% by 2025. There’s an opportunity for health plans to gain market share, making it important to be progressive and creative within all areas of the business. This has led many health plans to prioritize innovative technology and solutions to attract and retain an increasingly complex and diverse population, while also enhancing member satisfaction and encouraging preventive care throughout members’ entire healthcare journeys. In turn, reaching these goals has a positive impact on multiple key success indicators, such as NPS and HEDIS.We’re seeing a lot of focus on technology, analytics and marketing roles, as health plans determine how to best integrate data and create a personalized experience, while effectively communicating with their members’ caregivers, doctors and family members. Offering the right tools, including intuitive apps, online portals and streamlined communication platforms is essential. Individuals are assessing how they feel at each touchpoint and won’t hesitate to move on if they feel their needs can be better met elsewhere. Tight Labor MarketThe insurance industry’s unemployment rate is just 1.5% and our recent Q3 2022 Insurance Labor Market Study found 61% of life/health insurers are planning to add staff in the coming months. However, there is limited available talent within the health insurance space, often hindering insurers from meeting their hiring goals. Given that individuals with Medicare Advantage experience are highly sought after across all functional areas, these broader hiring challenges are further compounded. Health insurers must adapt their approach to recruiting to stand out from their competitors. This includes revamping position descriptions to resonate with a broad audience and highlighting the organization’s unique attributes. Additionally, recruiting for transferable skills and potential over specific technical experience is critical for expanding talent pools and remaining future-focused. Today’s accelerated pace of hiring has made it essential to quickly understand what a candidate values and efficiently communicates how the organization can meet their needs and contribute to their longer-term goals. Along with competitive compensation, flexibility remains key for most candidates, even as some insurers bring employees back into the office. Emphasis on Employee Retention and GrowthAt the same time, the reshuffling of talent continues and managers must be proactive and intentional in retaining their current workforce. An organization’s employees are its competitors’ candidates and are likely being actively recruited in the current climate. Increased regulations, pricing transparency, burnout and abundant job opportunities can all contribute to disengagement, making it necessary for managers to have candid retention and professional development conversations with their employees. By taking an intentional approach to employee retention, insurers can uncover individuals’ goals and motivators, better aligning rewards and longer-term career progression. If possible, providing additional training on emotional intelligence and management skills can help grow future leaders from within. This also provides plans with the opportunity to uncover areas where outside talent or project teams may be needed. Comprehensive Data and Creative AnalyticsNot surprisingly, technology roles are the most in demand of all functional areas, according to our Q3 2022 Insurance Labor Market Study. However, life/health insurers also consider technology positions the most challenging to fill. In fact, recruiting difficulty for technology within life/health hit its highest level in our study’s history. Health plans have access to more comprehensive data points than ever before. Having the right talent in place to capture, interpret and strategically leverage this information is vital. This extends from understanding members and their needs when they call in, to identifying emerging health trends and capturing broad information about external factors that may impact a population’s health.In the highly competitive Medicare Advantage market, the right talent enables you to lay the foundation for ongoing success. Effectively recruiting and retaining these individuals can lead to a seamless, holistic and innovative member experience, helping plans stand out among an increasing number of options.

Compass 15.4: Comprehensive Succession Planning for Future Success

This quarter’s Compass feature article explores best practices for effectively approaching succession planning beyond the executive ranks. The newsletter also includes an overview of the industry's current labor market and recent executive-level job changes.

November 2022: Labor Market Pulse

As we near the end of 2022, the insurance labor market remains relatively strong. Unemployment is low, at 1.1%, and the insurance carriers and related activities sector has added nearly 34,000 jobs since the start of the year. However, finance and insurance job openings continued a four-month decline in September*, dropping to 280,000. Additionally, retirements fell to their lowest level in more than a decade, while voluntary quits remained high at 97,000. As the industry continues to work through shifting workforce priorities and ongoing realignment, focusing on retention, strategic recruiting and comprehensive succession planning remains paramount. For insight on the industry’s succession readiness, view the results of our recent study. AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector increased to 1.1% in October.  The insurance carriers and related activities sector gained  9,400 jobs in October. At roughly 2.8 million jobs, industry employment increased by approximately 43,300 jobs compared to October 2021. The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 3.7% in October and the overall economy added 261,000 jobs.   INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS On a year-to-year basis, September* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 3.3%), property and casualty (up 1.7%), TPAs (up 1.5%), and life/health (up 0.6%). Meanwhile, job decreases were seen in claims (down 10.7%), title (down 4.2%) and reinsurance (down 3.3%). On a year-to-year basis, September* saw weekly wage increases in all categories: property and casualty (up 11.2%), title (up 8.6%), life/health (up 6.3%), TPAs (up 6.1%), agents/brokers (up 4.7%), reinsurance (up 4.1%), and claims (up 0.8%).        BLS Reported Adjustments: Adjusted employment numbers for September show the industry saw a decrease of 8,800 jobs, compared to the previously reported increase of 9,300 jobs. The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled. *The BLS JOLTS 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.

2022 Insurance Industry Succession Planning Study Results

Explore the industry's succession readiness across all organizational levels. The Jacobson Group's Insurance Industry Succession Planning Study measures the breadth and depth of carriers' succession readiness. The 2022 study was conducted from September 15 through October 2 and was open to insurance carriers across all industry sectors. Download the results for valuable benchmarking insights to help refine your organization's succession planning strategies.

Identifying the Right Talent for Your Insurtech

Published in Insurance Journal: Insurtechs are continuing to disrupt the insurance industry, while pushing traditional insurers to focus on modernization initiatives and how they can best leverage the capabilities of data and analytics. Whether you're an insurtech organization or any other insurance organization embarking on modernization initiatives, the ability to bring in the right people to push these initiatives forward is essential. Read this article to explore a few key areas to consider as you identify and retain the individuals who can most effectively move your organization forward.

Recruiter Report: Recruiting for Skills, Not Experience

The tight labor market continues to intensify, with savvy insurers seeking creative ways to attract qualified professionals and expand their talent pools. Our team regularly works with hiring managers to determine the needs of a particular role, as well as how to creatively uncover qualified, yet perhaps non-traditional, candidates. In this edition of Recruiter Report, we explore how to look beyond professionals’ experience and resumes to uncover their potential for success in a role. Below we explore the pressing question, How can insurers most effectively recruit for skills? Determine the skills necessary for success in a role. Traditionally, many hiring managers focus on specific educational requirements, background experience and past positions titles when defining the requirements for a position. However, this not only limits your candidate pool, it potentially excludes individuals who may have the aptitude and abilities to thrive in the role. Rethink how you approach the recruiting process by identifying the core skills needed for success. Rather than focusing on a specific number of years’ experience in a certain position, identify what you’re hoping an individual would have gained within that timeframe, using this information to influence your search. For instance, transferable skills such as customer service, attention to detail and emotional intelligence are key for claims roles; while strong analytical thinking and sales skills create a solid foundation for underwriters. These interpersonal skills are often more difficult to teach than department-specific programs and processes. Refresh job descriptions to resonate with a broader audience. As you expand your candidate pool and explore less traditional hires, ensure this mindset is also reflected in your job postings. If you’ve previously included long lists of qualifications and desired experience, determine which are vital coming into the role and what can be learned on the job. By distilling your requirements down to the most essential elements, you’ll avoid discouraging otherwise well-qualified individuals from applying. At the same time, rather than simply listing a role’s day-to-day responsibilities, use your job posting to showcase its larger impact, growth potential, and opportunities to flex and develop various skills. Take a fresh approach to how you’re positioning open roles, focusing on making them more inclusive and compelling to a broader audience. Look for talent outside your comfort zone. The industry has recently seen record numbers of open positions; yet, there’s not enough available talent to go around. Keeping specific skills in mind, explore how you can expand your talent pool beyond your standard recruiting campuses and industry competitors. Consider different insurance verticals or even other industries that leverage similar skillsets. Partner with a broad range of college programs, actively participate in career fairs and expand your social media footprint. You may also choose to reach out to specialized recruiting firms with broad networks and extensive reach. Leverage behavioral interview questions. Especially when interviewing individuals who are not making linear moves or lack exact experience, determine how you can best uncover their ability to perform within a role. Rather than solely focusing on their background and past positions, ask questions that are more future-focused and help you understand how a candidate would handle potential scenarios. Here are a few examples of the many open-ended behavioral interview questions that can provide insight into an individual’s transferable skills, thought process and approach to various situations:            • How do you coach your team members to use their critical thinking skills?       • In what ways do you guide your team to advance the goals of the organization?       • Provide an example of a time you made a mistake at work and explain how you fixed the issue.       • Tell me about your biggest professional achievement. Be intentional when selecting interviewers. Along with behavioral interview questions, explore additional methods for further uncovering a candidate’s transferable skills. This could mean having someone other than the hiring manager or department head participate in the interview process. The candidate may feel more at ease with a peer, allowing them to engage in more natural conversation and enabling you to uncover different facets of their experience and skills. As an added benefit, this also grants candidates broader insight into your organization’s people and its culture. Recruiting for skills, as well as experience, is a key strategy for expanding your candidate pool and cultivating an agile and diverse workforce in today’s challenging market. Determine the transferrable skills needed to excel in a role, rework job descriptions to resonate with today’s candidates and create tailored behavioral interview questions to uncover potential beyond a resume. View the last edition of this quarterly series, “Recruiter Report: Job Hopping”

October 2022: Labor Market Pulse

The overall U.S. economy exceeded job growth expectations in September. While the insurance carriers and related activities sector experienced a slight decrease in employment, industry unemployment dropped to below 1% for the first time in nearly a year. Wages also increased year-over-year across all insurance sectors. Following two consecutive months of record finance and insurance job openings, August* saw a significant drop in open positions. However, at 347,000 open roles, this remains well above 2021’s monthly average of 296,000. Additionally, average monthly voluntary quits and average monthly hires remain at record highs in 2022. The industry’s ongoing reshuffling persists, as employers continue to compete in a challenging labor market. AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector decreased to 0.9% in September.  The insurance carriers and related activities sector lost  9,300 jobs in September. At roughly 2.8 million jobs, industry employment increased by approximately 37,900 jobs compared to September 2021. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 3.5% in September and the overall economy added 263,000 jobs.   INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS On a year-to-year basis, August* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 3.9%), TPAs (up 3.0%), property and casualty (up 1.5%), and life/health (up 0.4%). Meanwhile, job decreases were seen in claims (down 7.2%), title (down 3.4%), and reinsurance (down 0.7%). On a year-to-year basis, August* saw weekly wage increases in property and casualty (up 10.7%), title (up 6.7%), reinsurance (up 6.1%), life/health (up 5.8%), agents/brokers (up 5.4%), claims (up 4.7%), and TPAs (up 4.5%).        BLS Reported Adjustments: Adjusted employment numbers for August show the industry saw an increase of 5,600 jobs, compared to the previously reported increase of 5,400 jobs. The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled. *The BLS JOLTS 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.

Cultivating a Corporate Culture that Transcends Locations

Published in Insurance Journal: Over the past few years, organizations have continued to evolve in response to shifting environments and priorities. Now, as insurance organizations are establishing more permanent plans for moving forward and operating long term, it's important to explore how a corporate culture can best translate to the new working reality. Read this article to learn best strategies for cultivating a strong culture that transcends locations.

Q3 2022 Labor Market Study Results Infographic

The results of the third quarter iteration of the 2022 U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study are now available. The study, led by The Jacobson Group and Aon, plc, examines insurance industry labor and hiring trends. View highlighted stats in our infographic.

Episode 8: Exploring the Current State of the Insurance Labor Market – Q3 2022

As we enter the second half of 2022, insurers remain optimistic about employment growth, according to the results of The Jacobson Group and Aon-Ward’s Q3 2022 Insurance Labor Market Study. Jeff Rieder, partner at Aon and head of Ward Benchmarking, and Greg Jacobson, co-CEO of The Jacobson Group, discuss the study’s key findings and provide insight on areas insurers should consider to stay ahead in the challenging labor market.

The Digitally Lagging Insurance Industry is Poised for a Well-Funded Transformation

Published in Insider Intelligence The insurance industry has lagged behind most other sectors in its digital transformation, but change is coming. Insurance technology spending is expected to grow significantly between 2022 and 2026. Insurers plan to use the increased tech spending to digitize their core capabilities, build out digital self-servicing tools, and create personalized products and experiences for customers. Read this article to explore the importance of digital transformation within the insurance industry.