The United Kingdom is facing a concerning compounding of post-COVID-19 impacts with supply chain disruption, material shortages and low labour participation rates.
Insurers are particularly impacted by these three factors, and we have a challenging winter ahead of us for those who don’t take action now to address this.
Starting to address these challenging trends must start at home, and our team has shared key actions insurers can take that we’re also implementing across our business at GB:
1. Expand and test your provider and vendor suite
The recent fuel crisis and intense supply chain disruption we’ve seen across the UK has only compounded the challenges we’re seeing in sourcing materials and resolving claims. The flow on effect to the quality and efficiency of an insurer’s provider and vendor suite is becoming very apparent, with increased costs and challenges to customer delivery. To ensure your organisation is ready to address these inevitable delays, now is the time to start sourcing alternate providers/vendors and communicating the impact of this nation-wide issues to your policy holders. Through clear communication and transparency with policy holders, you’ll be able to set considered and reasonable expectations.
2. Reimagine recruiting
The demand for talent has been ever-increasing this year and we all need to think outside-the-box when it comes to our recruitment and hiring processes to ensure we’re reaching a broader, more diverse group of potential talent. This will not only reap rewards in the type of skills in your team, but bringing people of diverse backgrounds and experiences will help your organisation build the adjusting force of the future.
At GB, we have tripled the size of our recruitment team and introduced double referral bonuses for our teams. This has also dovetailed with a dramatic increase in our “GB University” program which will welcome 20 new people per quarter to ramp up our support in Casualty, Motor and Property. Our program helps develop the next generation of claims professionals and instils them with the skills, values and drive to propel our industry forward.
It’s likely your recruitment team is feeling the same sense of burnout, poor wellbeing and fatigue from the past 18 months, so make sure you consider how you can incentivise and reinvigorate them to perform.
3. Develop compelling value
Pulling workers back into the workforce takes more than a competitive paycheck. We know public sentiment now has turned from who pays the most, to who will take care of the employee the most.
Of course, competitive packages are still important, but it’s even more critical that your organisation is presented as a place where employees are valued, empowered and supported to achieve their career goals. Whether it’s enabling flexible work where appropriate, to culture and engagement mechanisms that support your team members to bring their whole selves, and their whole energy, to their role — you need to build a strong and compelling foundation that will attract and retain talent.
At GB, we have enabled flexible work in our workforce for decades to better support parents and caregivers who wanted to maintain their careers while caring for children – as they should be entitled to do. The pandemic showed us, and everyone else in our industry, that this flexibility should be extended to more people to ensure we can find the best talent — no matter where they are or what their needs are.
4. Build engaging processes
Once you have addressed your recruitment and employee value proposition challenges, it’s important to also review and refine their management practices and procedures to ensure productivity and accountability.
As we all shift into managing hybrid teams, these processes and your training programs must be tailored for remote workers to ensure they don’t fall behind or become disengaged. The right tools and technology will be critical to achieving this, with likely benefits to your quality and customer service as a result of your team not being impaired by slow, inadequate or dysfunctional technology.
Through building a strong foundation and implementing transparent management, you can help take your organisation through the challenging times ahead. As partners to insurers across the world, GB is taking the lessons we have learned and applying them to deliver positive outcomes and results across a variety of sectors.
To find out how we can help you address these challenges, connect with our team of experts today.
