Millennials now make up one of the largest generations in Australia and their influence will only grow, which could have a profound impact on the insurance industry, according to business leaders.
As part of a wide ranging panel discussion at the 2017
NIBA Convention some of the leaders of Australia’s biggest insurers debated the impact millennials could have on the industry both as clients and co-workers.
Hilary Bates, chief claims officer at
Zurich General Insurance, said that the generational shift in businesses will force the industry to change.
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“We need to adapt to the decision makers in the business, understand what the desires and needs are for their business, and be able to address them with far more agility than otherwise might have been expected from different generations,” Bates said.
While millennials may take the headlines, greater diversity among business leaders in terms of gender and background will also impact the industry, Bates said.
“For me it is broader than just the millennial but I think if we don’t think differently and be prepared to understand that customer base, we are going to lose a great opportunity,” she said.
David Hosking, chief general manager – broker & agency at
Allianz Australia, said that younger generations “are digitally enabled by default” and the industry will need to mirror this digital move to stay relevant.
“If you are not communicating to these people digitally, they are going to look at you like you are a dinosaur,” Hosking said. “They don’t want to come and have a long conversation face to face, they are comfortable doing that via SnapChat or Facetime. They are going to be incredibly comfortable with that so it is going to shape our traditional way of working.”
It is not just as clients that millennials will impact the industry, but as co-workers too.
Chris Colahan, president of
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), stressed that the main asset of the insurance industry is its people and attracting the best possible talent will see workplaces change.
“As millennials become more and more of the working population we are going to need to think about what kind of environment we need to create to accommodate and get the best out of them but also get the best out of a whole bunch of other different walks of life that we want to be attracting to our business,” Colahan said.
With several of the younger cohort already employed at BHSI, Colahan added that their contribution has been “sensational” but the business has had to adapt.
“We have learned from them and they make us a better company,” Colahan said, citing advancements made in technology, marketing and reaching customers in new ways.
“We do have to work a bit harder to create an environment. You read about millennials having a sense of entitlement and a higher level of impatience than other demographics might, and we can see some of that in the millennials we have in our business but they are worth it and it is worth figuring out a way to create a bit of flexibility to accommodate the things that we need in order to make millennials a key contributor in our business.”
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