The insurance industry, like many sectors, is grappling with a talent shortage made more challenging by generational differences and rapidly changing technology. The industry’s generational workforce trends was one focus of the latest STRIVE report by CGU, the intermediary-focused insurer that’s part of Insurance Australia Group (IAG).
“It's probably the first time in history that we've got four generations working alongside one another within the same organisations,” said Natalie May (pictured above), CGU’s executive manager for people, capability and communication.
May said Baby Boomers – the generation famous for driving some of the modern world’s big social and cultural changes during the 1960s – are still many of the tenured people at insurance firms.
Although at the traditional age of retirement, large numbers of Boomers still work and, she suggested, are a major insurance industry force. If they’re not running their own companies, they often occupy many of a firm’s top spots.
From these positions of power, Boomers, often more than Generation X, influence work culture, recruitment and education.
May suggested that they need to be part of industry conversations about dealing with the challenges and opportunities of having multiple generations in the workplace.
She gave brokerages as an industry example.
May said that senior brokers have their own staff to deal with but also a range of diverse customers through the different business they provide covers for. They need to think carefully, she said, about how to incorporate the views and needs of different generations.
May said the challenges can include multiple generations in the same work teams holding very different points of view – generally speaking – on issues across politics, culture and technology, that can impact how the firm does business.
“The most important thing for organisations to think about is: How are we going to get the best out of teamwork and collaboration?” May said. “And make sure workplaces are respectful and inclusive?”
This can include having rules that promote flexible working policies, mentorships, rewards and recognition. In the same way that insurance coverages are personalised, May suggested it’s possible for a workplace to reach a stage where its own staff policies and offerings are personalised and “based on what your people want.”
From the perspective of customers, May said brokers should think about how to communicate in ways that take into account different preferences that tend to be generational.
“Think about how your customer wants to be spoken to?” she said. “Do they want a personal phone call? Do they want to get everything via email? Is text better? Is WhatsApp? How quickly do they want a response?”
She also argued against the view, held by some Boomers, particularly those on the cusp of retiring, that their ideas are no longer relevant.
“To connect with a multi-generational workforce, brokers should really be thinking about, ‘how do we get the best out of out of all the generations?’” May said. “Nobody's casting anybody aside.”
From what she’s seen across the industry, May said there’s no longer the feeling that once you reach a certain age you need to retire because you are no use to the company.
“Our younger generations really respect the experience that people bring to the table and long for that to be shared with them,” she said.
She also suggested that Boomers in positions of authority don’t need to feel that radical changes to the rules is necessary in order to keep younger generations happy.
“I think it’s tweaking,” she said. “How do we understand what's important to people, and then tweak things, and then maybe cut out things that aren't fit for purpose as we go along?”
May said the tone set by a firm’s leadership is important.
“We try and think about getting the best out of every generation,” she said. “I think the more intentional we are about it, the more we will break down any stereotypes.”
Mentorships, she said, can play an important role at insurance firms interested in improving inter-generational relations. May said they often end up teaching as much to the mentor as the mentee.
“I think it would be arrogant for any of the generations to think they've got nothing to learn from either the generation that comes before them or the generation that is to follow.”
May invoked a quote by George Orwell to illustrate her point:
She said insurance firms should be wary of falling into this trap and proposed that mentorships are a good way to avert it.
CGU also has other educational and training programs that aim to improve intergenerational “cross-pollination.”
There’s a program called the CEO Challenge.
“We replicate problems that the CEO and his leadership team are focused on and we ask our junior staff to take on those problems and think about how they would come at it,” she said. “We've been blown away by the ingenuity.”
However, one challenge can be breaking down the social barriers between the different generations.
“Am I seeing enough cross pollination of the generations? No,” said May.
One cause of this, she suggested, could be the isolationist tendencies that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s noticed that people don’t lunch together or informally collaborate as often as they used to.
Sometimes, she said, people’s perceptions of each other play into this. May said countering this entails resisting generalisations. For example, she was surprised by one of her Gen Z team members who said they enjoyed coming into the office to see people and learn.
“I thought, wow! I probably would have pigeonholed them as somebody who wants to work from home,” said May.
She said, her team also has Boomers and Gen Xers who defy the stereotype and are their first adopters of new technology – ahead of younger colleagues.
“The CGU STRIVE Podcast is the next iteration in our journey to simplify the complex, providing easily accessible and digestible content around topics of importance for Australian small business operators,” said CGU’s executive general manager, Damien Gallagher.
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