Skills for the insurance workforce of the future

The constant evolution and adoption of technology across the insurance industry is having a profound impact in how data is utilized and the skillsets required to keep carriers on par with other technology-based firms. While insurance has traditionally not been viewed as being on the cutting edge of technology, today's insurers are competing against companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta for the talent needed to focus on every aspect of the industry.

A new study from Digital Insurance examines the skillsets insurers are looking for in new hires, as well as how they are upskilling and reskilling current employees. The survey respondents included brokers (56%), P&C carriers (15%), health insurance carriers (10%), life insurance carriers (8%), multi-line carriers (2%) and workers' compensation insurers (1%). The companies had anywhere from one to more than 50,000 employees.

The study found that full-time remote work is no longer the norm with only 13% of the respondents indicating that they were still fully remote with no one coming into an office. Hybrid work opportunities – a blend of some days in the office and some remote – were the most common with 44% of respondents saying their companies were fully hybrid. For 31% of the companies there was some variation depending on the roles and departments involved, and only 8% said they were fully onsite in an office with no remote work options.

Skills needed to succeed in insurance

Interestingly, when it comes to the skills needed to be successful in their current roles, professionals indicated that problem solving and critical thinking (78%) were far more important than industry or role-specific knowledge (36%). Having strong communication skills and collaboration skills were just as important as problem solving and critical thinking, followed by attention to detail (63%), project management and organizational skills (60%), leadership and people management (57%), timeliness (52%), emotional intelligence (49%), data analysis (48%) and basic computer skills (41%).

The study also examined how respondents acquired the skills needed to be successful in their current jobs and found that 66% learned their skills at previous employers compared to only 36% who said they gained their knowledge from their current company. Other sources of training included college or graduate schools (43%), independent study or research (37%), training at another company (30%), and previous roles at their current company (27%). The research also indicated that employees newer to their roles were more likely to say they had acquired their skills through a role at a different company rather than from their current company.

The good news is that nearly 6 in 10 respondents (57%) said that the overall skill level of most employees in their team or department has improved over the last several years, while 19% said that skills have remained the same. "Their skill sets are pretty steady," said one respondent. "My colleagues are all at the tail end of their careers, so they've accumulated their skills over the past two to three decades." However, 17% of respondents said that skills have worsened, with one senior executive saying that the development of emerging talent in the industry has gone backwards over the past decade or more.