Author:
Matthew Waters
Date:
28th February 2023
The insurance industry protects the world’s people, homes and businesses. Those who buy insurance do not have much more exposure to the industry until an event that requires a claim. It is only then they encounter the experienced professionals who are responsible for advising, guiding and negotiating to return the policyholder or third party to their pre-loss position as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Post pandemic, 2022 saw an increasing return towards “normal life activity”. For General Insurance as the wider world woke from a period of suppressed activity this inevitably impacted claims and work-load volumes. There have been developments in technology with emerging solutions for reporting claims, handling and managing and processing data, all aimed at influencing speed and efficiency - and of course there has been a shifting pattern to incorporate more remote and hybrid working solutions.
If an insurer cannot quickly and efficiently guide a claim to settlement the cost for that claim swells and in aggregation this may well impact the insurer’s ability to make a profit. What is not clear yet from the hiring volumes seen in 2022 is the degree to which insurers are either adapting to changes in claims volume, reshaping for technology, or whether there is a deeper productivity challenge.
Resource wise, with covid’s early retirements and “downshifting” of mid-senior employees this has again however highlighted the talent shortage. The need to balance capability and resource in such a time sensitive technical role remains critical. A pipeline of highly knowledgeable, capable, technical claims professionals is vital. There is no immediate sign that hiring volumes in the claims sector will slow, 2023 looks set to remain a busy year for hiring in the claims sector.