What is the great resignation? 2021 saw a historic high of 47.4 million people leave their jobs according to the U.S. Labor Department. The trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down with a record 4.3 million people quitting their jobs in December 2021 alone. “The problem right now is there aren’t enough bodies to fill jobs. Without a major change in the labor force participation rate or employer behavior…it seems unlikely things will change,” said Rucha Vankudre, a senior economist at Emsi Burning Glass, a labor market analytics firm.
However, insurance brokerage companies can proactively implement systems to avoid the hiring challenges and retention difficulties facing the market and ensure they have the necessary employees to help drive predictable, profitable organic growth. The silver lining for insurance brokerage firms is that the insurance industry boasts one of the highest average tenures among both private and public sectors.
Brokerage companies can take a proactive approach to the great resignation and invest in systems to ensure they are hiring and retaining top talent.
How to Retain Employees
In today’s challenging hiring environment, there’s more urgency to install effective recruitment discipline and retention programs, given the current candidate-driven market and higher turnover across the entire labor force. MarshBerry’s research has consistently shown that hiring the right producers is key to a broker’s growth strategy. Furthermore, insurance brokers who take a proactive approach to establishing strong training and development programs are more likely to have better staff retention, given higher satisfaction and productivity of employees.
There are proven recruitment processes that can help ensure your firm finds and hires the right candidates. Leadership may assume that the current recruiting process is sufficient, but a third-party evaluation may uncover areas that need improvement. Given the current competitive environment for candidates, there are opportunities to create better efficiencies in your interview process that can boost hiring rates.
Examples to streamline your process include:
- Ease in scheduling/rescheduling interviews.
- Expectations about hiring timelines and compensation are discussed early and often.
- Consolidated interview steps/windows to minimize the amount of time candidates take away from their current job.
- Reserve personality/skills assessments for interested and qualified candidates.
- Ask for formal applications during the offer process.
Investing in development and training programs can make the difference between keeping and losing employees.
While firms in the insurance sector have one of the highest median tenures of all occupations, the average tenure did drop over the last decade by 0.5 years. Many factors play into the average tenure at a company, but high-growth firms tend to have greater stability, broader generational mix of staff, and training and development opportunities to retain their workforce.
Post-pandemic work environment expectations have evolved. Remote workforces, onboarding through virtual meetings and the lack of in-person interaction has forced organizations to reconsider their development approach. Regular training and development programs will not only help employee retention by improving worker contentment, but can help them build new skills, methodologies and strategies that will ultimately lead to organic growth.
Now is the time to implement processes that will help your company hire and retain the necessary talent to thrive through the “great resignation” and beyond. Doing so will ensure that your firm stays competitive and high growth even as others see growth slow from hiring challenges.
If you have questions about Today’s ViewPoint or would like to learn more about strategies that can help drive predictable, profitable organic growth for your firm, please email or call Bryan Lake, Senior Consultant, at 616.214.3335.
Subscribe to MarshBerry’s Today’s ViewPoint blog for the latest news and updates and follow us on social media.
