Insurance Jobs: How Today’s Tech is Helping the Industry Address its Labor Gap
While most every business sector is experiencing the impact of today’s labor shortage, the situation is particularly dire in the insurance industry. Today, insurance companies are facing their most challenging recruiting period, with nearly half citing great difficulty in filling much-needed positions. The problem is so critical that according to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, it is estimated that in the next 10 years there will be more than 400,000 open insurance jobs that need to be filled. Wow.
The primary reason for this deficit is that the majority of the insurance industry labor force is getting ready to retire. In fact, over the past decade, the number of insurance professionals aged 55 and older increased by 74%, and it is predicted that more than 50% of the current insurance workforce is expected to retire over the next 15 years.
Exacerbating the situation is the fact that due to increased competition, today’s insurance companies are setting themselves up for growth mode. This means that to scale and become more competitive, insurers must increase — not decrease — the size of their current workforce.
Lastly, compared to other business sectors, the insurance industry as a whole just isn’t an appealing career choice for many of today’s younger generation. From manually driven administrative tasks to antiquated sales processes and outdated operating systems and programs, the industry is hard pressed to attract and entice younger people to be excited about an insurance career.
Making insurance jobs enticing with the right tech
Today’s automation technology is making insurance jobs more attractive to new generations by reducing mundane and repetitive tasks such as policy administration, data entry, new submissions, and document processing that traditionally have been manual. In addition, many critical insurance processes such as underwriting new business and issuing renewals can be processed sooner and with a greater degree of accuracy – significantly shortening the sales cycle.
By streamlining processes, new entrants to the industry are afforded more time and resources to spend on creative and strategic endeavors such as engaging with customers and prospects, cross-selling ancillary coverages and developing new product marketing campaigns – making insurance jobs more enticing.
In addition, automation technology is being utilized to quickly analyze customer data that can help insurance professionals gain insights into the products and services that their customers are more interested in buying. This not only frees up more time for individuals who are interested in selling, but can fast-track sales goals which in turn, can help increase earning potential – all of which are enticing attributes for someone interested in an insurance sales profession.
Conclusion
Many insurance entities are looking to scale, but are struggling with onboarding additional staff to help them grow. Automation technology may be just the ticket to entice and inspire a new generation of professionals to explore the variety of insurance jobs available. It is also helping insurance companies, wholesalers and MGAs better manage business processes while waiting for the right applicant for the job to come along.
About Surefyre Inc.
Surefyre is a highly configurable insurance automation platform and agency portal focused on digital distribution and automated workflows. Our codeless integration platform makes your life easier by automating the submission, rating, quoting and binding process for all property and casualty insurance products.
To learn more, contact Shawn Gonzales, adviser and account executive, at sgonzales@surefyre.co or 415-480-9283.
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