Why Remote Work Works: Find Talent From Sea to Shining Sea

Remote work is a concept many insurance entities should embrace if they are having difficulty filling essential roles, but there has been some pushback. Why?

The insurance industry has been an aging one for some time now. However, boomers are retiring in record numbers and earlier than expected. Thirty million baby boomers left the workforce in 2020 alone, and among those surveyed in a recent Coventry survey, 75 percent said they planned on retiring early. 

The traditional lifeblood of this industry is leaving—perhaps because of conditions brought on by Covid or because they have dedicated their time to the industry and now have earned a well-deserved break. We have to look toward the future and younger generations to carry on and carry the load, and remote work can help in this Great Transition. 

Breaking traditions to establish best practices

Working within this industry as long as we have, we understand how valuable time in a common physical space can be to our work and our communities, but we also believe remote work should not be totally discounted considering the potential resource insurance organizations might gain.

Values

We understand that coming into the office at a certain time and leaving at the corresponding time, five days a week, excluding some holidays, has been the norm—but times change—and not just the times. Workforce values and priorities have shifted as Gen X, millennials and Gen Z have taken a larger stake of the active workforce. 

Mobility, schedule flexibility and a healthy work-life balance have taken center stage in many professionals’ lives. Career advancement is still of paramount importance, but not at the cost of highly-valued personal connections. Remote work offers professionals the opportunity to develop their career while still being able to maintain some agency over their time and geography. 

Tech

Even 10 years ago, we didn’t have the digital tools to do what we do today. The physical office was a vital point of contact to ensure productivity was maintained, projects stayed on schedule and a healthy company culture was being maintained. 

Now, while we believe there is still some merit to the physical office and the benefits it can offer—limiting your business’ workforce flexibility to an office-only or even a hybrid work schedule that incorporates remote work and a limited office presence, is severely limiting the number of potential candidates the insurance industry has to choose from when replacing those boomers exiting their organizations. 

We now have the opportunity to secure talent from anywhere in the United States. Candidates will have to be supplied with the essential tools and equipment to most efficiently fill their role, and certain systems will have to be in place to monitor their work, give crucial feedback and ensure effective and constant communication is ongoing … but it is very doable.

Considering the drawbacks of remote work

Now, while remote work does offer a lot of potential gain, like any shift in resources, there are inherent limitations, risks and drawbacks. 

Positive working environments are of immense importance when building corporate cultures. The physical space of the office allows contributors to come together, form working relationships, discuss the obstacles they face and often come to unexpected conclusions by including other voices in the problem-solving process. 

While this may be achieved to a degree through digital tools like Zoom, we simply exchange data more efficiently and organically when the interaction is in person. Collaboration works better face to face—but that’s not to say a measure of ground can’t be covered digitally. 

There will be a period of adjustment and standards will have to be established, kinks worked out, etc. But the potential hiring markets a full acceptance of remote work could offer is staggering. 

Remote work isn’t the future—it’s now. At The James Allen Companies, we will help you find the right candidates across the country, ensuring they are representative of your mission within the office or a thousand miles away.