Insurer Executives Say More Can be Done to Attract New Talent

By | May 19, 2008

Encompass, The Hartford execs note that agents stand on solid ground in their role as trusted advisors


Young agents today face a number of challenges, including the soft market, a downturn in the economy, and learning the skills to become a successful agent. In the meantime, the insurance industry struggles to attract more young talent to a career in the business.

Neal Wolin, president and chief operating officer for the property and casualty operations of The Hartford, says carriers play an important role in helping to replenish and recruit new industry talent, including talent for the independent agency system.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time investing in our Hartford School of Insurance, so we can help attract and then train producers and CSRs for agents, and help them really learn about insurance, about the coverages, about distribution systems, about technology, and also about sales, so that they can be hugely productive in their agencies going forward,” Wolin said.

But Cynthia Young, president of Allstate’s independent agency insurer, Encompass Insurance, says the industry needs to do more to promote itself as a possible career choice to young people.

“If you talk to a lot of people in insurance companies, they’ll tell you that their career in insurance started by default, not by design,” Young said. She says more needs to be done to attract and retain young people. “It helps to be able to find people earlier and sooner, to bring them into insurance careers more by design as opposed to by default.”

Young believes an opportunity exists for the industry to ramp up its education efforts to help people understand that there are great and promising careers in insurance. “There are so many different things that you can do within the industry and really feel that you’ve got a fulfilling career over time,” Young said.

The Hartford’s Wolin says the good news might be that once young professionals enter the insurance industry, they generally stay.

“The insurance business is the lifeblood of our economy, and I think that critical role in the basic operations of the private enterprise system and markets make it incredibly clear to people how important what they do is,” Wolin said. Plus, it’s just an exciting time to work in insurance, he said.

“There’s just so much change and so much innovation, so much to be excited about, that engages folks in relationships and in new technologies and in new ways of doing business,” Wolin added. “I think we find on our side that people come in, they see the change, the amount of interesting work, the importance of that work, frankly how fun it is to be involved in some of these issues that are on the cutting edge and they get very, very excited, very passionate about it.”

Encompass’ Young added that every sector of the insurance industry — carriers, agents, brokers and intermediaries — need to really understand how important what they do is to the global economy. Insurance, after all, is “the oxygen of our economy … it is an essential part of a sustaining economy, the bedrock really of our economic system,” Young said.

Cutting Edge

Young agents and today’s tech-savvy customers demand improved efficiency when it comes to insurance.

“Young agents have grown up and exist in a world where technology is just much more deeply ingrained as part of their everyday existence,” Wolin said. “Customers are also starting to integrate technology more and more.”

Wolin says that both carriers and agencies need to really understand and embrace technological advances in the industry. The industry needs “to get ahead of it, and to make sure that we continue to strengthen how we and the independent agency system best position ourselves to make sure that we’re ahead of all of this change.”

Young says the Gen Xers and Gen Ys she sees entering the workforce do handle some things differently.

“Between e-mail and text messaging, instant messaging, social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, you name it, there is a whole different way of communicating,” she said. “At the heart of some of those is a predisposition to maybe not have face-to-face contact as much,” she added. “So technology then continues to be an enabler. We’ll be able to push out information, allow the experience to be interactive, and still allow agents to own the customer relationship component.”

Multiple Distribution Channels

Increasingly, insurers seeking to expand their market share have opened the door to a variety of distribution models. Despite this, young independent agents should remain confident about their valued role as trusted advisors, says Wolin.

“I think that at the end of the day, independent agents bring a core distinction, and distinct advantage that only they have, and that should form the basis of their solid position, and even their growing positions within the personal lines space, or, for that matter, straight across the property/casualty insurance business,” Wolin said.

Wolin says that while the Hartford provides direct sales online to customers, its commitment to the independent agency channel has never been stronger.

The Hartford, which just joined the Big “I’s” Trusted Choice campaign, invests “hugely in technology and service capabilities that allow our agency partners do business with us on an easier basis,” Wolin noted. “We continue to spend a lot of time investing in our relationships with our agency partners, to make sure that they’re as deep and as strong as they can be.”

Encompass’ Young, also a supporter of Trusted Choice, says that providing distribution options for consumers is simply fulfilling the need for products and services customers want to buy.

Even with increased competition in today’s soft market, independent agents are holding their own when it comes to market share, according to the Big “I’s” recent market share study.

“That really is a testament to customers wanting to be able to buy through this [independent agency] channel in a way that allows for interaction in the buying experience,” Young said. “So as agents live up to the promise of what they do in the independent agency channel, I think they will absolutely hold their own.”

The focus is on executing incredibly well, and partnering with the right companies, she said.

Both Wolin and Young were part of a panel on young agents at the Big “I’s” Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., April 2-4.

Watch the video interviews of Wolin and Young visit, www.insurancejournal.tv.

Topics Carriers Agencies Talent Tech Market Training Development

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