Transformation of the Talent Model in Insurance Sector

By Praveen Menon

For years, insurance companies have been trying to reinvent their traditional talent model of acquiring, deploying, developing, and retaining employees to stay relevant in the modern workforce.

Fundamentals of the insurance industry continue to be impacted by factors such as dynamic global economic developments, frequent regulatory changes and changing workforce demographics but, 2020 altogether posed a different challenge.

When COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic and the lockdown was imminent, many companies scrambled to deal with its impact on the employee lifecycle. This unprecedented crisis forced Human Capital to think out of the box and look at its talent model in a much more innovative way where talent acquisition could no longer be an afterthought.

In the current environment, managing talent is undoubtedly complex. The pace and scale of technological disruptions also brought with them the risk of unemployment and growing income inequality. This undoubtedly becomes challenging for any business. Nonetheless, employers are best placed to be in the vanguard of change and make a positive impact. The insurance industry has been undergoing a paradigm shift by moving from a people-driven approach to being a digitally driven model. The pandemic has expedited the focus on digitisation and the need to transform the talent model.

Research by McKinsey shows that automation will accelerate the shift in required workforce skills in unprecedented ways: the need for technological skills will increase 55% from now through 2030. Whereas the need for basic cognitive skills (such as data input and processing) will decline by 15%. In addition, a greater need for social and emotional skills will develop. As machines automate more knowledge work, the workforce will require more creativity, critical thinking, and social intelligence to shape and steer them.

To assess the effect of automation in insurance, they profiled roles at leading insurance companies in Europe and the United States, including underwriting, actuarial, claims, finance, and operations roles and it was found that 10% to 55% of these functions could be automated over the next 10 years. The timing of the shift to automation will vary across companies and geographies depending on the cost, demand, feasibility, etc.

Research also found that 10% to 70% of tasks will experience a significant shift in scope. This development means new emphasis. For instance, a claims handler might be even more focused on providing great customer experiences. Underwriters or actuaries might work more with data science and advanced analytics. In addition to technical and function knowledge, there will be need of social skills, agility, and adaptability. Hence, talent strategy cannot be business as usual. It requires the same intensity and rigor than that of a core business strategy.

A successful transformation of the workforce involves three phases – Scout, Shape and Shift.

• Scouting: First comes an initial period of scouting. In this stage, the company quantifies the talent required. It also identifies the most important skill gaps—looking at future needs, not just extrapolating from the past. Then it assesses the organisation’s readiness to deliver.

• Shaping: Second, there is a period of shaping, to redesign work for the demands of a more digital future and to create upskilling programmes, often together with employees. This phase also involves developing the infrastructure of what we call a talent accelerator to facilitate the deployment of talent for important future roles.

• Shifting: The third phase requires shifting the organisation’s suite of talent-related activities onto a bigger scale. This work constitutes acknowledging that institutional capabilities to help employees adapt to the future of work are just as important as near-term (and seemingly more urgent) talent priorities.

We at IndiaFirst Life have transformed traditional strategy from acquiring, deploying, developing, and retaining employees to scouting, shaping, and shifting talent.

Scouting

Diagnosing existing capabilities of the workforce and comparing them with future needs are important parts of the scouting phase. Talent is limited; hence it becomes important to hire right at every levels.

• Interns / Management Trainee: Bright start summer internship programme focuses on internship projects. This gives the new generation exposure for few months to get associated with the organisation and complete a project, giving them an early start into the corporate world. Young Talent Management Programme focuses on hiring candidates from management schools, providing them an opportunity from campus to corporate. It is not restricted to hiring alone, but instead a year-long onboarding and developmental project is conducted for these trainees.

• Talent Scouting: Talent acquisition strategy focuses on a diversified approach to hiring. The strategy ensures talent is acquired through different channels like direct scouting, employee referrals, consultants, etc

• Subject Matter Experts / Gig Workforce: The ever-increasing need and demand for different skills and functional expertise inspires organisations to look at hiring subject matter experts and include hiring a Gig workforce.

Shaping

Accelerating the skilling engine is a part of shaping processes. We often look at integrating new capabilities in core business. It starts with training need identification process (TNI) based on Performance Managed System, Managerial feedback, employee need, etc.

The focus is on developing diversified competencies like functional, behavioural, managerial and leadership. These capability development interventions are instructor-led and are conducted virtually or physically. Employees are also extended Learning Management System (LMS) for self-paced learning journeys and to aid learning on-the-go. We also encourage our employees to build functional expertise by enrolling them in external institutes or learning organisations.

Shifting

Shifting is identifying talent through the internal marketplace i.e., within the organisation. To ascertain shifting process, we have launched the Career Kundli project. Career Kundli is a career map designed for all functions across all levels in the organisation. It provides a conceptual framework on the essential functional competencies relevant for each function, which is further categorised into different indicators. The same is benchmarked for proficiency levels. Another opportunity for employees is Internal Job Postings (IJPs). Employees can pursue their career path and can apply for the opportunities available within the organisation.

These innovative measures have fast-tracked employee journeys and are a testament of the commitment to ensure employee development, growing business productivity and staying relevant in changing times.

The author, Praveen Menon, is Chief People Officer at IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHRWorld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHRWorld will not be responsible for any damage caused to any person or organisation directly or indirectly.