The insurance industry is at a crossroads. A significant portion of the workforce is nearing retirement (of almost one million licensed agents and brokers, the average age is 45.9 years old, according to Agent Methods). Although the Big “I” and other insurance organizations reach out to the younger generation, many show little interest in joining the field. In short, the insurance brain drain I began talking about fifteen years ago is upon us. 

Insurance organizations face a pressing talent crisis. One of the trends worsening employee retention is the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sweeping our industry. Any M&A can create problems that not only impact the acquired agency but may impact an agent across town or across the nation given work-from-home trends as higher-paying agencies target your workers.  

To thrive and maintain a competitive edge, insurance companies must rethink how they attract, manage and retain top intellectual talent. By understanding personality dynamics, fostering teamwork and promoting diversity, forward-thinking organizations can cultivate a skilled and resilient workforce able to relate to your region’s demographics. 

Let’s explore some tips to help you manage your workforce better.  

The challenges of finding and retaining quality talent are more present now than any time in our industry.  

Let’s face it, the insurance industry faces a perception problem. This perception may get worse as negative news from claims handling problems (think California wildfire adjustments) and inability to find coverage, whether in the health industry or the property/casualty industry, worsens the problem.  

Our talent management today must focus on hiring the brightest and best, whether it’s that excellent customer service professional you meet when you rent a car to college students eager to find a career that has work-life balance and supports their communities.  

Let’s talk organizational dysfunction, the kind that drives away excellent employees. Frustrating bureaucracy, unclear career paths and outdated management approaches all play a role. As organizational leaders, we must manage our managers to improve the workplace.  

Ask yourself, “Would I want to work for my organization?” If the answer is not a resounding yes, it’s time to design an environment where people want to work. Building your company’s employer brand is essential. Briefly study brands such as Apple, Hilton, or Southwest Airlines. They attract top talent not only because of their success but because of the cultures they've cultivated. 

Here’s how insurance organizations can follow their lead.  

The Benefits of Understanding Your Employees’ and Candidates’ Personality Types 

A fundamental aspect of talent management comes from understanding the varied personalities that comprise your workforce. Frameworks like the Merrill-Reid Personality Model and Myers-Briggs Typology help categorize people into personality types, which can be instrumental for team management. Especially when employees take these tests in groups and discuss the findings, you will find that even those jaded employees enjoy the exercise and benefit from it.  

There is no better way to communicate than to understand others’ communication preferences. Here are some choices.  

 With a better understanding of your employees’ communication styles, you can help reduce controversies and ensure stronger collaboration across your agency. 

Right now, diversity efforts are under fire. However, here is the truth— study after study shows diverse teams produce better outcomes. According to this Harvard Business Review article, here are the benefits of diversity as a good business decision. 

• Diverse teams’ outcomes are as follows, according to a 2015 McKinsey report. 
• Diverse teams focus more on facts and make fewer factual errors when reviewing evidence. 
• Diverse teams process information more carefully. 
• Diverse teams are more innovative. 
• Diverse teams may debate more. Healthy debates lead to better decisions, according to Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  

I was at a recent life and health sales training event, and was delighted to see the age, gender and racial diversity at this conference. Instead of pushing back against diversity initiatives, many insurers such as Progressive Insurance lean into inclusion.  

To ensure diversity, organizations must understand the following.  

Identify and reward employees who serve as your knowledge agents. One study shows that 36% of organizational knowledge is tacit and tied to individuals—not shared across teams. Think how this statistic will impact organizations as long-time insurance experts retire.  

Highlight these employees’ contributions and encourage mentoring and knowledge-sharing for long-term organizations gains. Let those who experience success tell their stories—landing a big client, attending a great seminar, building a relationship with a new underwriter, or helping to get a denied claim overturned for your insured, for example. Or consider asking employees to share their failures—a lost client, a botched presentation, or a negative encounter with an underwriter. Stories are sticky and those high performers should be able to brag a bit or let others learn from their mistakes.  

Finally, begin memorializing your agency’s intellectual capital. For example, who are the best underwriters for hull coverage? Which carriers are moving toward the type of automation you support seek? Without recording the knowledge of your organization’s thought leaders, you will be in a less competitive situation if they retire or go elsewhere.  

Instill in your employees the desire to learn, if you can. A person close to me inherited his parents' agency and kept on one staff person because of that acquisition. Despite what a wonderful person she was, she never took the initiative to better educate herself in her role. She was content to have a job, not a career. (In fact, my friend and I who knew the situation called it her “jobette.”) 

When this agency owner sold, she took a position with a national brokerage firm in personal lines sales, where most of her experience lay. That brokerage encouraged learning and growth, wanting employees to have a clear career path and to always stay current with changing coverages and carriers.  

She was not a good fit for this new and more demanding culture. She soon left that job to work in a different industry where she now is more comfortable performing the same job every day.  

Your employees should see insurance as a career, not just a job. A focus on continuous education can help to create this shift. Encouraging employees to earn industry designations or attend classes in person not only builds their skills but also fosters mutual respect for the profession. 

Cross training is another invaluable tool. By exposing employees to various roles, you can reduce burnout, improve motivation and better prepare workers for leadership opportunities. It also builds empathy among team members as they begin to better understand one another’s challenges. 

A few of the best managers I had early in my career told me this: “Make a decision, because you will rarely get us into problems we can’t fix.” Encourage your employees to take the initiative, but ensure they feel safe coming to you with any problems that could morph into an E&O claim or a very unhappy customer. Learning the hard way usually teaches a more valuable lesson than will spoon-feeding a solution.  

One common pitfall for insurance companies is underutilizing their most talented employees. Avoid wasting brilliant minds on repetitive or uninspiring tasks. Push tasks to the lowest appropriate level in the organization and outsource when necessary. 

I cannot imagine all the hours wasted since computers became available because top performers were then expected to perform administrative tasks. Here are a few things that managers should not be doing because it’s 1) distracting, 2) irritating and 3) an ineffective use of their time and talents.  

Consider how much money you could save by hiring a few administrative assistants who could take over tasks that bog down your managers. Your managers should focus on their tasks, which are mentoring and growing their team, meeting organizational objectives and developing their helpful networks to build intellectual capital.  

Today’s emerging workforce wants work flexibility, a positive and inclusive workplace, a purpose in their work and opportunities for learning and career growth.  

Employee retention begins with creating an engaging, respectful work environment. Employees will only tolerate bad behavior, such as micromanagement, bullying, or gossip, for so long before they leave. Toxic behavior can also damage customer relationships, so tackling bad behavior head-on benefits everyone. 

Here are immediate steps to improve retention and morale: 

Finally, consider an organizational SWOT analysis. Put together a team, including front-line employees, to identify your organization’s strengths and weaknesses. Double down on opportunities to develop leadership and overcome challenges. Proactively address threats like knowledge gaps, keeping your workforce ready to compete.  

You cannot do much in your organization if your employees don’t trust you. I once presented at the Public Risk Managers Association a very personal learning hour. The title of the presentation was, “Top Ten Mistakes I Made as a New Risk Manager.” I was vulnerable, looking back over my risk management career to evaluate the (many) mistakes I made. As my father always said, “Hindsight is 20/20.”  

After the presentation, I had quite a few participants tell me it was the most helpful seminar they attended at that conference because I was so practical and honest.  

Trust is the foundation of any strong team. Build it through open communication and vulnerability exercises, such as sharing personal histories, wins, or losses.  

There is a goldmine of talent out there waiting for you to find it. Highlight your agile, inclusive workforce through blogs, stories, networking and most importantly, talking to all you meet about the benefits of an insurance career.  

If you show your employees that you trust them and are there to help them shape their career, you can create a more successful agency.  

Your personnel talent is not just another resource; it is the foundational future of your organization. While change seems hard, you do not have to make changes all at once. We understand how overwhelming change initiatives can seem as you struggle each day just to service your clients. Small “corrections to course,” as I often refer to change management, will soon pay big dividends. 

 Originally Published: February 14, 2025

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2025, Big “I" Virtual University. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be used or reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission from Big “I" Virtual University. For further information, contact jamie.behymer@iiaba.net.