The Great Resignation will cause a rush in hiring decisions and may lead to disappointment in selecting the right talent for your business goals and your culture.
Written by George Falcon, Vice President, Client Services
With all the talk about the “Great Resignation” in the insurance industry, and nearly every other industry, it has made me wonder: is there an opportunity for us to look at this differently and instead focus on the opportunity this climate presents? I believe the answer to that question is yes.
The Great Resignation presents the group insurance industry – our niche sector of the giant, multi-line behemoth insurance marketplace – with a fantastic opportunity to refresh the talent that is managing its risk. It is an opportunity to reassess how, and from whom, we are recruiting claim management talent and to take a fresh look at how we are training, mentoring, and otherwise developing winning teams.
Just as none of us want to be part of the “Great Resignation,” we do not want to also partake in the coming “Great Disappointment.” Should employers continue to hire from a place of panic, in a collective haste to find warm bodies for empty seats – and caseloads – a more complex and somewhat dangerous problem will be created; one that may have negative implications for the policyholder and on the client experience. After all, the time needed to manage the performance of a claim manager who is not a good fit for the role is time that could and should be spent managing the development and effectiveness of the claim managers who are.
Is the “Great Resignation” an opportunity for the “Great Refreshment” instead?
At Brown & Brown Absence Services Group, we have been answering the call for help for the better part of two years by playing a role in locating resources that help carriers fill gaps in their workforce. Whether these gaps were created by the competitive job market inside and outside of our group claim eco-system, or by the organic demands of the ever-expanding claim volume from COVID-19, we have been working hard to deliver what I would consider “episodic” talent.
It is a role we know is necessary in some circumstances, but this real-time deployment of our network’s contracted claim resources is only part of what we think is a broader need in our industry: seizing the opportunity to thoughtfully refresh claim operations with talent that is well-aligned to the requirements of the roles they are being hired to fill.
We must take the steps necessary to maintain the pace of production and deliver good claim service – we all know this is non-negotiable. It is equally important that claim operations take the time to assess the trajectory of their claim staff in a longer-term view. In other words, pay attention to the things that contribute to a solid foundation for any claim operation – well-trained people professionally matched to this type of work.
While Brown & Brown Absence will absolutely continue to be a source for shorter-term solutions in staffing technical claim roles, we also feel strongly about thoughtfully injecting new energy into claim teams that decrease the risk of unwanted attrition and positions the team well for sustained success. If you have a claim operation feeling the strain associated with adequate and proficient staffing, whatever the cause, rest assured that you have solutions available for recruiting, training, and mentoring fresh talent in a way that positions them and you for long term sustainable success. We would welcome partnering with you on turning the “Great Resignation” into the “Great Refreshment.”
