In this article published by Insurance Thought Leadership, Megan Bock Zarnoch, COO at Federato discusses how the insurance industry must lean in to a human-centric approach to underwriting technology in order to attract, retain, and empower the next generation of talent.
Speaking to a standing-room-only audience at The Institutes CPCU Society In2Risk22 conference in San Francisco in November, Megan Bock Zarnoch kicked off her “Hot Topic” session by asking how many people intentionally chose insurance as a career. In a room full of ‘Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters’ – arguably the community most dedicated to the ongoing learning and impact of the underwriting craft – only a handful of people raised their hands. In Megan’s view, this is unacceptable and unsustainable:
“It’s become an overused, trite joke that the majority of people ‘fell into’ insurance rather than choosing it intentionally, but when we consider the talent shortage in underwriting today, it’s not so funny anymore.”
– Megan Bock Zarnoch, COO, Federato
The insurance talent gap is only growing, and insurers can no longer afford to be complacent about the fact that most people in our industry had no intention of being here, and the new talent we need for future growth is choosing other industries over ours.
Insurance is and will continue to be a people business, Bock Zarnoch argues: “Regardless of line of business or size of business, there still needs to be a human touch, and there is a requirement to think about the overall business strategy, the portfolio, and broker/agent relationships. It is not the right answer to assume that AI, machine learning, and other technologies will replace the underwriters we are losing. Instead, we must look to leverage new technologies to empower and enable the human side of underwriting, and create a work environment that people want to join.”
“A good culture can exponentially improve the underwriting experience, but it needs to start with the backbone of a productive and capable work environment. Technology, tooling, and workflow all have a huge impact on the underwriter’s day-to-day work environment and how they feel about their job at the end of the day.”
– Megan Bock Zarnoch, COO, Federato
Megan identifies three key areas where intelligent, next-gen underwriting technologies can make a huge impact on the underwriting experience and help attract new generations of talent to the profession:
To improve underwriting performance and attract and retain talent, insurers need to take an ‘underwriter-first’ approach to technology adoption. They need to focus on solving workflow problems by creating a beautiful underwriting experience that supports and empowers underwriters and staff.
“People who feel supported, informed, capable, and good at what they’re doing tend to stick around – and if we can help them feel that way quicker, we can ward off burnout and churn. Insurers who show a commitment to advanced technologies like AI and ML will be much more likely to attract the right talent. Empowering the next generation of underwriters is the way that we solve the ‘people problems’ that have plagued insurance for too long, and get new generations to seek out and choose our industry first above all others.”
– Megan Bock Zarnoch, COO, Federato
For more insights on the link between underwriting technology and talent, read the full Insurance Thought Leadership article here.
Watch the replay of Megan’s In2Risk Hot Topic presentation (running time: 43 min) here.
