Insurance industry needs to hire ‘skills for the future’ instead of focusing on the past

The insurance industry needs to start hiring “for the skills of the future and not the skills of the past” as technology continues to evolve, warned c-suite executives attending an Insurance Times roundtable, in association with global technology consultancy Thoughtworks, on 18 March 2025.

According to a survey released by insurance technology propositions provider RDT on 19 March 2025, 79% of insurance professionals consider digital transformation either “important” or “extremely important” in order to stay competitive.

This research polled 30 technology professionals from insurers and MGAs between 16 October and 8 November 2024.

During March’s exclusive roundtable, which was held under Chatham House rules, invited experts discussed how hiring future focused talent, instead of always homing in on those with lots of experience, was key to make the most of the digital transformation journey.

One attendee said: “I speak to the people team and I say ‘look where are we at, we’ve had 10 roles open for ages’.

“And then they show me the job description and they’re hiring for a NetSec Ops engineer with 10 years’ experience.

“What were network engineers doing 10 years ago – plugging cables into the back of boxes? That’s not what they are doing now, why do [they] need 10 years’ experience?

“The skills we need for the future are curiosity, adaptability and commercial. Everything else you can learn.

“The half life of tech [is] around two and a half to three years. So, the tech skills become less and less important in terms of what experience have you got. But, can you prove that you can learn engineering? Are you interested in learning new engineering?”

NetSec Ops refers to network engineers that concentrate on enhancing network security and operations.

Hiring market veterans

While roundtable guests agreed that hiring people of the future is vital as technology evolves, they additionally noted that insurance firms are struggling to recruit young talent.

For example, research by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical published on 20 January 2025 showed that 50% of the 250 UK brokers polled are struggling to bring in candidates under the age of 30.

A further 66% of broker respondents said there was a lack of applicants for jobs, while 51% felt young people do not have the experience needed for roles in the sector.

However, another senior underwriting leader at the roundtable said that part of the problem was that there is a cycle of insurance firms wanting to hire within the industry instead of looking externally at other sectors.

“I remember having an argument because one of my development managers was trying to hire some devs and he was struggling,” they said.

“Part of the requirement was that you had to have five years of insurance experience in the market. And I said ‘why are you trying to hire people who have insurance experience when we know there is no good technology experience in insurance?

“It’s the cycle that repeats because we kept hiring people within the market and [in] London, at least, I feel like we are still doing that. We still hold onto, to a large degree, this preciousness that there’s something unique about what happens at Lloyd’s or in the Square Mile.”

Despite this persistent perception, Ecclesiastical’s aforementioned research additionally found that 66% of broking firms are eager to hire younger employees, with many respondents taking proactive steps to attract younger talent. For example, 55% said they had training programmes in place to support the development of young talent.

An expert from Insurance Times and Thoughtworks’ roundtable said that investing time into nurturing future talent is essential if companies are to get the most out of new digital tools and processes.

They explained: “There is always change going on. As a result, when we look to nurture talent, you’ve got to make sure that you carve out the time to invest in it.

“We obviously see the cases where people haven’t – for example, they brought talent in, expected them to sit there and learn with artificial intelligence (AI) and online training.

“But there is an element of nurture – we should be spending time [with them] and don’t underestimate that.”

Hybrid working ’conundrum’

Roundtable attendees felt hybrid working – the combination of in-office and at home working days over the course of the week – was creating an “interesting conundrum” amid this talent challenge.

For example, a survey of over 2,000 UK employees published by workspace expert BizSpace on 11 November 2024 revealed that 65% of respondents believed flexible working enhanced productivity, with 45% attributing this uptick to reduced time spent commuting.

However, finding the opportunity to nurture talent successfully when they are working from home could be tricky, with a roundtable expert noting: “A lot of people are asking people to come in to the office more.

“[But] some people, some young talent as well, [do not want to].

“Fundamentally, the best way to nurture people is to get them together and if people are not willing to come in, I feel it’s quite a challenging setup.”

One way to overcome this challenge is setting up events that bring colleagues together and show the benefits of working in an office environment.

“We’re a culture club,” another attendee added.

“We invest a lot of time in trying to create events and [we try] to put forward this culture to create an environment where you can feel really supported.”