The cool new insurers: How to attract and retain millennials

1. Transform the employee experience.

Identify innovative ways to engage with and retain current talent. Just as consumers expect seamless transactions, so do employees when it comes to the products and services they need, such as options for managing tasks across multiple devices or physical locations. Gamification tools effectively motivate and engage employees at work, but money and promotions are still the most effective rewards.

2. Re-invent on-the-job learning.

Insurers must provide training and development opportunities in order to help their employees perform at high levels in a fast-paced world. Look to digital options that offer short, digestible learning content that will not only tap into the young workforce's desire for increased knowledge, but also help reskill existing workers.

3. Re-shape the talent supply chain.

Partner with colleges and universities to target students who will soon enter the job market. This will allow insurers to position themselves in a broader talent ecosystem while looking for talent in atypical places such as technology start-ups, trade organizations, skills platforms and crowdsourcing platforms.

The cool new insurers

On the digital frontier, insurers are going to have to be creative to attract the best talent. One of the most significant changes involves rethinking their approach to engaging and enabling their workforces to keep up with digital advancements and the demands of digital savvy customers.

Insurance employers also need to position their field as an attractive place to work by promoting the new cutting-edge and high demand skillsets employees must possess. For example, promote the breadth of knowledge required, based on expertise in STEM subjects, and digital skills needed in employees to aggregate big data and provide real-time analytics. Or highlight the creativity and flexibility needed to maneuver through fast-changing policies and regulations and soft skills required such as problem-solving and communication to boost sales and offer personalized customer experiences.

Only those insurance companies that redefine how they identify, source and develop their talent will be recognized as leaders in an industry transformed. Insurers will need to make drastic changes to their workforce strategies to remain relevant and maintain a competitive edge.

By doing so, they will also have the most highly-trained and happiest employees who are using their unique skillsets to innovate the insurance industry.