Why retention matters in insurance
Just like you approach a customer as an investment, your approach to hiring should be geared toward building relationships that are more valuable in the long term. Increasing your employee retention by just five percent can double your profits because of the compounding referrals-and-renewals effect. Retention becomes more important when you consider that it can take up to two times an agent’s salary to replace them. In order to overcome the significant effect of the Great Resignation on the insurance industry, business owners have to consider the landscape of the insurance market. A broad survey of the 2022 finance sector from The Jacobson Group shows that hiring is not the problem – retention is: the data presents a ten-year low in industry layoffs but a 10-year high in employee resignation. People aren’t being laid off, they are quitting. It’s not just sales agents, positions are vacant in technology, actuarial services, underwriting, analysis, and claims adjusting. You need to have an understanding of best practices in hiring which lead to retention, as well as some foundational elements of relationship-building which help make an employee more likely to stay. WizeHire provides hiring tools that are built around best practices, and our industry experts help you craft a hiring strategy to build better profits in the long term.Overcome retention challenges
Problems with recruitment and retention are familiar to the insurance industry, and an “acute” hiring shortage places overall unemployment in the insurance sector at 1.5 percent compared to the national average of 3.6 percent as of June 2022, according to Insurance NewsNet. Most business owners intend to hire more sales agents, but how can they find them? Multiple factors make it difficult:- The insurance industry has seen an increasing level of turnover which began as early as 2011.
- In the face of economic hurdles and COVID-19 pandemic conditions, many older insurance agents chose to retire early.
- The insurance workforce is aging, and employers are finding it challenging to hire millennial and Gen Z employees.
Tailor your insurance recruiting strategy
Employees in today’s market value flexibility, with many employees preferring jobs that allow work-from-home opportunities. Significantly, younger generations also prefer workplace cultures that are driven by strong core values and a commitment to employees and often perceive the insurance business as less desirable than other industries. In terms of company values, younger generations prefer leadership styles that are transformational in nature, with mentors who provide a strong example of ethical and inspiring workplace behavior to initiate change from the bottom up, rather than top-down leadership approaches. In your initial job listing, emphasizing opportunities for mentorship and growth for employees transitioning from other industries can help attract a younger generation and capitalize on the wide talent pool available as a result of the 2021 Great Resignation. Steps to enhance your job listing:
Wizehire’s pre-written job ad templates are optimized specifically for the insurance industry and allow for full customization so that your company’s values and benefits can be communicated in a voice targeted at the values of your ideal candidate. Our tools and strategies can help you establish a company voice that promotes the values you truly espouse, rather than using generic language a recruit might find in any job listing for insurance positions.
Attracting employees you can retain in the long-term means understanding how to communicate your values, emphasizing your strengths as a company in leveraging technology and applying methods of transformational leadership, and attracting talent with diverse skills to enhance your overall pool of human resources. Having specialized support from a team of hiring professionals makes it easier to keep up with hiring trends while you are busy staying up-to-date on policy benefits and client paperwork.
If you’re ready to kickstart your insurance recruiting today here’s how to get started.
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