Retaining Insurance Industry Professionals: How to find and keep them.

Retaining insurance industry professionals can be challenging and calls for a significant dedication of time and resources. It requires employers to figure out what their best practices are—what works best within their company culture and what actions will ultimately lead to stronger teams.

It really comes down to making decisions that will benefit your company in the long term, focusing on professional development and having the patience for growth. 

Promote age and experience diversity

An age diverse professional environment comes with a number of benefits. A wide array of experience levels lends to many different perspectives being integrated into dialogues. 

An industry veteran can offer tested approaches they have had great success with, and an individual new to the industry might offer an approach that veers away from the standard and leans into innovation.

Knowledge equal preparation 

Retaining insurance industry professionals is about enabling them to feel confident when they’re doing their job. Give them the knowledge they need and make training and teachable moments part of their culture. Give them literature you have found useful or just interesting. 

The insurance industry is constantly evolving to meet consumer demands. Your teams need and want to be ready to meet the inevitable challenges that come with that. 

Millennials want mentors

… and in some cases, those mentors need millennial team members. Millennials, as a generation generalization, value the life-career balance, assigning as much or more value to the hours of the day when they are not working. It is important to younger team members that expectations are communicated clearly, that they are listened to and their opinions treated as valid, and that the corporate culture they are a part of is authentic and not contradictory.

The best way to accomplish all of these, while retaining insurance industry professionals and building relationships firmly rooted in trust, is by providing access to a mentor or sponsor—an experienced team member who can show by doing and pass practical wisdom on. 

In many cases, the exchange of information is a two-way street. While mentors provide valuable guidance to a new team member, the millennial has the opportunity to contribute, bringing in fresh perspectives on technology and collaboration. 

Provide incentives 

In the past, many companies’ incentives programs were based upon seniority. As millennials became more prevalent in the workforce, this method of incentivizing did more harm than good, leaving many new team members feeling like they were on the outside of many companies’ core cultures. 

Retaining insurance industry professionals at every level of experience should be about incentives that match merits with efforts, whether it be a team member’s first week or twentieth year. Competition between team members should always serve the greater good, encouraging the exchange of information and ideas in the process. 

At The James Allen Companies, we take great care to make sure every candidate we present will become a valued member of your business and that your business will be the best place for them to develop their career.