With so much discussion around ‘the war for talent’ facing the insurance industry, it’s understandable that the topic of attracting great people is top of the agenda for so many HR officials.
But as highlighted by Marcella McLean, chief human resources officer at Arch Insurance International, in a recent interview with IBTV, knowing what to do with this talent once you’ve attracted it is just as critical. Discussing how Arch preserves its hard-won talent as one of IB’s Top Insurance Employers 2023, she noted that the financial rewards of a career do have an important role to play.
See the full list of winners by reading the Best Insurance Companies to Work For in United Kingdom | Top Insurance Employers 2023 in IB's special report.
“We want to make sure that we're following the market and that we're paying people well,” she said. “[But] at every function that we've been hiring in, [it’s clear] that people are interested in much more than the financial benefits of a company, or of their particular roles. They are interested in their career progression, they want to know what their next opportunity is within the company. They want to know what kind of learning and development opportunities are available.
“And over the past 12 to 18 months, learning and development has been a key area for us. And we've now got a learning and development specialist within our business for the very first time, we've got Arch University, which is an internal resource of 1000s of courses. We have a partnership with LinkedIn Learning, and we’re really trying to pull together all of those development resources that we know are so critical when people are thinking about the company they want to work for.”
Also interesting to note, McLean said, is that the team is hearing a lot more about Arch’s ESG strategy and its CSR policies. People are actually interested in hearing about what the firm is doing within its communities and from a social perspective. Linked in with that, is Arch’s charity committee, and the interest this is generating across the business.
“So I would say that it's not just the financial element,” she said, “and people are becoming very, very interested in what the business has to offer holistically.
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