The talent gap – A new peak peril for insurers?

To meet customers’ evolving needs: think beyond the sale. Attracting and retaining talent is key to successful outcomes, say Aon’s Lambros Lambrou, head of human capital, and Joe Peiser, head of commercial risk.

How important is talent to achieving profitable growth?

Lambros Lambrou: In our Global Risk Management Survey, attracting and retaining talent was the number two issue globally for the insurance and reinsurance industry, which shows that talent is very much top of mind for C-level executives. For Aon, talent is equally important to unlocking growth and innovation, but having the right platform that encourages and embraces leadership behaviours and attributes is also key. For instance, at Aon we have made conscious strategic decisions to remove silos and barriers across our organisation. This enables our 60,000-strong team of colleagues to deliver the breadth and scale of our firm to clients, while being laser-focused and responsive to client needs.

Is the insurance sector attractive to the next generation of employees?

LL: The insurance industry has traditionally lagged other financial sectors in terms of investing in future workforce readiness, but moves are being made to address this situation. (Re)insurance requires an incredibly diverse and evolving skillset, and firms are acutely aware that employees of the future will need to be well versed in specific areas such as cyber and AI, in order for us to remain relevant. When people realise the wide range of expertise and competencies that exist within our sector, it quickly becomes an attractive proposition for career development.

What does next-gen talent require from its employer?

Joe Peiser: They are looking for organisations that align with their personal values. Many have a great interest in the ESG approach of companies and their sectors, so insurance resonates well with them. In terms of the environmental side, climate is central to our industry, because it not only affects the ultimate losses, but also how companies interact with their own employees as well as with shareholders. We are developing tools and academic collaborations that place climate risk at the heart of our innovation and thinking, and this is something that is likely to be attractive to potential employees.

LL: CEOs of insurers and reinsurers are focused on enhancing their value proposition with more diverse perspectives, to create a stronger pipeline of talent particularly around skills of the future. They are doing this to enhance workforce resilience, mobility and strategic workforce planning at an individual and corporate level. This in turn is creating demand for Aon to support them around benefits design, benchmarking and human sustainability issues like rewards and benefits, work-life balance and wellbeing in order to attract and retain their best talent with competitive employee value propositions.

Cyber risk is clearly an evolving and growing risk. Has this significantly impacted the insurance industry?

JP: Although we've seen a dramatic uptick in cyber events, they haven't yet caused a commensurate increase in insured cyber losses. In terms of our own industry, the sheer amount of data being held by insurers makes them a prime target for cyber criminals. And like other industries, the increasing reliance on technology means attacks or IT failures can result in significant disruption to operations. To help the industry address these issues, Aon has scaled its cyber capabilities and is helping insurers to understand and mitigate their own risk level through assessment and cybersecurity testing tools, while also developing customised insurance programs to protect their business and transfer cyber risk. This approach is not only designed to help them navigate volatility and build resilience, but also shape better future decisions.