There is no doubt that Loss Control is an aging segment within most insurance companies in major markets around the world. As the baby boomers and generation Xers slowly inch towards retirement, a large hole is left in their stead where millennials must fill the gaps. Millennials, especially when it comes to their careers, are very different from their generational predecessors. With a predisposition towards technology, and a work ethic that values practical output above all else, millennials are capable of working at extremely productive rates when empowered by their employers.
A large emphasis of employers globally today is put into understanding what attracts and retains this new up-and-coming talent. The focus of this piece is how this all pertains to your efforts around attracting and retaining talent in your loss control organization.
3 Keys to Attracting and Retaining New Talent in Loss Control:
- Millennials Care About Technology
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world’s largest professional services company, interviewed 4,364 recent graduates across 75 countries in a study called “Millennials at Work; Reshaping the Workplace”. An interesting finding in this study was that 59% of recent graduates interviewed indicated that state-of-the-art technology is of significant importance to them when considering an employer. Beyond that, an even greater majority (78%) of the several thousand millennials interviewed said that when using technology that they actually like, they are much more productive (PwC 9). This is utterly profound from a Loss Control perspective. Loss Control is often identified as getting ‘the short end of the stick’ when it comes to budgetary IT resources compared to other departments within the insurance organization. This in itself can now be identified as one of the driving causes for the continuously aging workforce in risk control. There is a direct correlation between state-of-the-art technology and attractiveness to new talent, therefore this deficiency in loss control IT funding directly pushes that age average ever higher until eventually an entire field is on the cusp of retirement.
- A Flexible Workplace
Due to the nature of millennials being so practically focused, this generation has very little time for laborious repetition in their daily workflow. Besides eliminating many redundant administrative efforts, technology also allows employees to complete work from almost anywhere. The most superfluous effort of all, the daily commute, can now be minimized if not eliminated with no loss of productivity. Many loss prevention roles involve being in the field with insureds, rather than being in an office, and for this reason simple access to web-based and mobile technology removes the tether between the employee and the physical office. This allows the technologically savvy loss control consultant of the future more time and access to insureds, which in essence is a main function of their role. In technologically optimized operations, millennials should actually gravitate towards loss control as it is by nature remote and requires self-management. Without this proper technology in place, however, this role is much less attractive to a younger workforce.
- An Effective On-Boarding Strategy
It goes without saying that an effective loss control consultant must have expertise in the field of risk management and loss control. The catch-22 is that it takes time in the field to acquire. Unfortunately, millennials just fall short of having a USB port in their ear that links to an expertise drive, so this process can not be eliminated. With the assistance of technology, however, it can be expedited. The process of trying something, making an error, then assessing what to do differently next time can be transformed entirely. Using technology around the training of these new consultants opens up many opportunities such as:
- Help text for narrative entries so a newer consultant can fully grasp the data and perspective that their employer is looking to capture
- An online database of training material and resources (i.e. help videos, FAQs)
- Resources for reference to the ideal process in completing a task
- Easy access to historical loss control reports, data and trends
These advances seem minimal at first glance until they are fully realized in a start-to-finish onboarding experience. Technology gives the new staff autonomy in their ability to get up to speed on how they are expected to deliver their finished work. Beyond that, it allows for consistency through management reporting and quality reviews, which are instantly accessible by the new hire allowing for real time feedback.
Risk Control Technologies is the industry-leading provider of loss control software for the insurance market. For further information on making your company attractive to new millennial talent, connect with us.
Source:
PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2011). Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace. Retrieved March 4, 2016, from http://www.pwc.com/m1/en/services/consulting/documents/millennials-at-work.pdf
