As the longest day of the year, the summer solstice has long been thought to represent new beginnings and a time for reflection and contemplation. This being 2021, the frustratingly identical twin brother of 2020, any excuse for new beginnings is acceptable as the world collectively struggles to shake off the malaise of COVID-19 as restrictions continue to taper.
So it feels fitting to break this year in two and take the summer solstice as the New Year for the second half of 2021, and to reflect on the challenges that lie ahead for the insurance sector. Several key topics have governed H1 2021 – from cyber security concerns as ransomware and other cyber threats dominate headlines, to the uncertain future of the Aon-Willis mega-merger, to the swiftly evolving regulatory landscape.
In the right doses, that spirit of looking forward can be intoxicating, as the question of how the challenges facing the sector can become opportunities starts to make itself heard. This is running in parallel, of course, with all the tech-led, data-driven prospects arising across the space from NFT’s in the fine art and specie markets to new AI-driven services changing the claims process for clients and insurance businesses alike.
For insurance employers, however, this aura of possibility is one to encourage and to arbitrate in near equal measure. Every January is the same after all, with an array of employees looking to strike out for new opportunities, bolstered by the promise of the New Year. With restrictions looking (extremely) tentatively poised to lift in mid-July, these next few months will be the equivalent of a mid-year new year, where any opportunity to inject vitality into a life that has stood still for too long will be gratefully seized.
HR departments up and down the UK will be aware of the pressure that comes with a nationwide pledge to make internal and external changes to a static way of life. The bad news is that for insurance businesses that have not looked after and cared for their people in enhanced ways during the COVID crisis, there will be little that can be done to stem this tide. The good news is that, if your business has put in the ground roots necessary to make its people feel supported and seen during COVID, then it will be an awful lot easier to retain talent even as the post-COVID itch for change runs rampant.
Part of this will be linked to finding ways to introduce variety and variability to people looking for something new. Asking your employees to come back to the office just to do what they’ve been doing for 16 months straight without contemplating that they may have taught themselves new skills or developed new aspirations is a recipe for disaster. Employers need to both anticipate and recognise the changes their people are likely to have undergone in the last year, and to make direct provisions for these going forward.
Linked to this, is the question of what the future of work might look like. In some regions, there will likely be significant demand to return to the heady delights of an office-based role while in others, the prospect of a lengthy commute and the return to a major city is one of dread rather than anticipation.
Offering flexible working is not just the right way ahead for employers, it is the only way ahead in light of a world that has utterly and, seemingly irrevocably, altered its working expectations.
It makes sense in the most elemental way that the question of how to retain insurance talent should come down to a matter of flexibility. While words and phrases such as ‘unprecedented’, ‘resilience’ and, the dreaded ‘new normal’ have reigned supreme, flexibility is the underlying principle that has come out of COVID. After all, it is the flexibility of operational procedure, strategic direction and people organisation that has been the make-or-break moment for insurance businesses.
Going forward, embedding this flexibility into the very heart of a business is realistically the only viable way to handle the challenges posed by yesterday, face up to the challenges impacting today and offset the challenges waiting for you tomorrow.
