Staffing Shortages in our Industry
At the 2016 RIMS Annual Conference, Daniel Lisenbey, President and CEO of Broadspire talked about the looming staffing shortages in the insurance industry.
Understanding the issue
25% of the insurance industry will retire by the end of 2018, and over 40% will retire in the next 10 years. Nursing is used extensively in the insurance industry and by 2020 there will be 1.5 million nursing jobs in the US that will be unfilled. For the nursing industry, there is simply not enough infrastructure at the colleges to educate enough nurses to keep up with the demand.
In 2015 the Millennials surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation. Unfortunately, only 4% of college grads are considering the insurance industry as an option. We need to change this.
Marketing to Millennials
Millennials are more interested in life experiences than tangible objects. Their focus is not just economic and material goods. They also have different values and tend to focus on things like happiness, passion, sharing, discovery and diversity. In addition, they want to be informed and involved. Millennials don’t want to just be given tasks, they want to understand the rationale behind the tasks. To attract millennials to the insurance industry, we have to emphasize the elements in the insurance industry that they will be interested in.
There are many considerations when it comes to managing a multi-generational workforce. You need to build collaborative relationships, study your employees, create opportunities for multi-generational mentoring, and recognize the differences in incentives.
Recruiting for the Future
Start now developing recruiting strategies for recruiting. This includes recent grads and don’t forget about retired military vets. To recruit Millennials you must use the resources they use such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Glass Door. Your website should highlight your company culture and it should be easily viewable on mobile devices.
It is also important that you start recruiting early. We need to be educating high school students on the insurance industry and the opportunities there. We need to be doing campus marketing efforts on college campuses. Finally, our company needs to expand the use of internships to better expose potential workers to the nuances of the insurance industry.