Blogs
8th April 2025
The war for younger talent in the insurance industry is an ongoing issue that many employers in the market are grappling with. Whether it’s the current number of younger ones working in insurance or ways to attract them into the industry, it’s a shared burden that many recruitment agencies and businesses are working very hard to overcome.
As of 2023, approximately 50% of people working in the London Market are over 40, and 26% of employees working in the UK insurance market in general are older than 50 according to RSA Insurance. Moreover, Zippa found that only 11% of insurance agents are aged 20-30 and 23% are aged between 30 and 40 years old. What’s even more concerning is that only 4% of young people want to follow a career in insurance according to CII.
Many of the sector’s current workers will have to retire sooner or later, with around 25% retiring in the next 10 years. So, what are young people’s sentiment around insurance as a career, what are insurance leaders doing to attract younger talent? And what is the current state of employment levels for young people in the market?
Younger generations tend to view the insurance sector as old-fashioned and lagging behind in both technology and opportunities when compared to other industries such as finance, engineering, or other tech-heavy sectors. Most of the time, younger people end up working in insurance by pure chance or through a family member rather than by choice as they don’t necessarily regard this route as rewarding.
Due to COVID-19 and other economic and political upheavals, the majority of workers’ views on the workplace have shifted. Today, employees value time with family, work and life balance, and flexible hours – but the most important one that has become a must in many job seekers’ requirements is Hybrid working. Deloitte has discovered that 61% and 55% of Gen Zers and Millennials respectively have hybrid or remote work patterns as of 2023, compared to 36% and 32% before COVID-19. Also, a whopping 59% of millennials and 54% of Gen Zers believe hybrid working has a positive impact on their mental health.
Insurance is regarded as strict and inflexible, while in reality, many insurance firms are adapting to these changing demands and are introducing a variety of flexible perks. This means that it is up to the industry leaders to clarify the opportunities and the flexibility that come with working at the heart of the insurance market. Insurance’s company culture is also believed to be stricter with a focus on a “suit and tie” dress code which discourages younger generations that prefer a more relaxed environment.
Many millennials and Gen Zers have a strong belief that the insurance sector is dull and uninspiring. This belief is so engraved in younger generations’ minds that word of mouth circulates fast. According to research carried out by The Institutes, 44% of Millennials find insurance boring and only 5% are familiar with the sector. Another survey carried out by the CII found that 60% of participants agree that the industry is boring with only 30% thinking to consider it as a career. However, is the issue related to younger ones’ perception of the market or how recruiters and employers brand and advertise insurance as a career? In that sense, the industry’s leaders must step up and educate the younger generations so they can develop a more positive attitude towards insurance, but to also combat fear of joining the market.
According to the CII, only 7% of young people aged 16 to 18 in the UK consider insurance a viable career option. Moreover, many students and younger generations strongly believe that the insurance market has limited career paths that only revolve around underwriting and broking which steers them away from insurance. While in reality, there are many different routes and programs young people can try. The insurance market is starting to provide career paths that enable growth and self-development, including mentorship schemes to help the younger ones develop both their hard and soft skills. For instance, the MGAA offers a mentorship scheme where professionals aged 18-35 can register and be paired with more experienced mentors to strengthen their skills.
While there is still a lot to do in terms of attracting younger talent to join the insurance sector, there is some noticeable progress according to London Market Group (LMG) chief executive Caroline Wagstaff when speaking to Insurance Times. She said: “The London Market has been discussing the war for talent since I first joined it more than 20 years ago. The latest edition of the LMG’s London Matters data, published in May 2024, [showed] that there are as many people aged over 50 as there are under 30 [working in insurance].”
Among the initiatives the LMG has put forward in 2023 are two early career talent programmes which are aimed at students in sixth form: The Future Academy and the Apprenticeship Discovery programme. These two programmes are designed to expose students to insurance so they can have a closer hands-on experience in the market before they decide whether they want to follow this path.
Both brokers and insurers are working to engage young talent earlier in their career paths, moving beyond the traditional focus on university graduates. Amanda Browne, regional director of people services at Marsh McLennan, highlighted the company’s efforts, which include work placements, apprenticeships, and paid work experience. Marsh is also partnering with autism organisations to create more inclusive career opportunities and encourage autistic young people to consider a career in insurance. Browne noted that, while graduates remain important, the company is adapting to support diverse talent by offering schemes that allow young employees to complete degrees while working.
Gen Zers and the new Alfa generations are considered to be “connected generations” as in they’re always on social media looking for opportunities, networking or just browsing their feeds. One particular channel that’s very popular among Gen Zers is TikTok and could potentially be a gold mine for finding and attracting young talent to insurance. In March 2024, 76% of online users aged between 15-24 years old in the UK engaged with TikTok, followed by 63% for people aged 25-34 years old, according to Statista. A recent CII report found that newcomers consider social media presence crucial for attracting Gen Z talent, particularly on TikTok. In fact, a young trainee underwriting working at AXA Insurance confirmed that a TikTok video inspired them to join the industry and said: “Funnily enough. A TikTok. It was about insurance in London and how they said you can have the big banking lifestyle and wages but not have those working hours and stresses.” Moreover, leveraging TikTok also enables insurance firms to spread positive and educational information about the sector, helping change engraved negative perceptions among Gen Zers. Additionally, the platform also helps reach a wider audience rather than a specific one that already know what they wants such as LinkedIn.
The way the insurance sector markets and positions itself in the minds of younger generations is vital. When CII interviewed current market practitioners, they advised that the sector needs to do more to showcase what people are doing and how hard they’re working. They’ve also mentioned the importance of “making the industry more ‘real’ and ‘relevant’ to the everyday person”. Moreover, as much as Gen Zers are always connected on social media, they still value face-to-face interactions when it comes to career opportunities. CII found that 37% of students aged 14-25 would rather speak with potential employers in person at industry events or career fairs. Gen Zers take environmental issues and other ESG matters very seriously when considering which sector, role, and company they’ll join. They want employers to be aligned with their values which signifies that insurers need to do more to prove their environmental and social initiatives.
Bridging the talent gap affects all subsectors within insurance, but some fields might be more popular than others among younger professionals. Therefore, we thought it would be helpful to break down even further employment levels by field rather than only by the insurance sector as a whole. This can clarify where resources must be refocused and how to ensure younger generations are equally interested in working as managing general agents, underwriters, and brokers.
As a non-for-profit organisation, the MGAA (Managing General Agents Associations) is the main representative of MGAs, but it also contributes to supporting the younger professionals in the market through its Next Gen committee and helps attract younger talent into the sector. Kaj Pankhania, former chair of the MGAA Next Gen committee and director at DA strategy, played a crucial role in mentoring and supporting younger professionals who want to join the MGA market. She told Insurance Business Mag: “When I was starting out at an MGA, the guidance from external mentors was invaluable.” Additionally, she emphasises the need to teach and support the next generation of younger underwriters as the majority of workers in the market are believed to retire in the next five years.
The insurance industry is working hard to become more diverse and inclusive, especially as it’s trying to attract more Gen Zers. Moreover, carriers recognise the importance of inclusivity and are partnering with schools and universities to educate young generations about the market and develop work experience programs, internships and graduate schemes that allow them to gain first-hand experience. According to Carrie Martinelli, Vice President of Talent Selective: “By engaging with the early career [individuals] and most certainly by hiring interns and trainees, and giving them opportunities to engage with those individuals that are more experienced will benefit us and anyone in the insurance space.” Importantly, Talent Selective’s 11-week internship scheme for university students and Northwestern Mutual’s $50k donation to Coppin State University to create an insurance learning lab will help insurers and carriers attract younger talent.
According to Instant Offices, the number of young people aged 18-25 years old starting their brokers and other insurance businesses increased from 3 to 20 between 2021 and 2022. The data shows that of 511 new insurance and broker businesses launched in 2022, young entrepreneurs are leading 4%. This surge, driven by the pandemic, aligns with wider trends showing a sharp rise in young start-up founders since 2020. John Williams, CMO at Instant Offices, noted that young business owners bring fresh energy and innovation to the insurance industry.
The talent shortage crisis is serious and could heavily slow down the insurance’s success and eventually drive it to stagnation if there isn’t enough new talent. The consequences could be even more damaging in the long run as most of the insurance workforce is aging and will retire in 10-20 years. According to AXA, the issue arises mostly before attracting younger generations to insurance as once they’re hired, they tend to enjoy working in the sector and therefore stay longer. In fact, 70% of Millennials are willing to work in insurance for as long as possible, and 87% would recommend the sector to their family and friends.
A stagnating insurance market will affect every single one of us, in the sense that insurance is crucial to the functioning of our economy, and without new talent, everyone will be impacted. According to Lorraine Jeckells, Managing Partner of Free Partners: “Insurance is an essential invisible thread that runs through every aspect of our lives, both personally and commercially. The reason we’re able to create life-saving vaccines, put astronauts into space and simply go to a concert, is because insurance provides the protection to enable these things to happen. If the talent well runs dry, the insurance industry will become stagnant, without innovation and creation to meet all the emerging and future risks that we face.”
Moving forward, insurance leaders must communicate better with younger talent to combat the insurance talent shortage. Communication in this sense can be engaging with younger people on social media, particularly TikTok to holding regional career fairs, events, and specialised conferences. If the market fails to communicate properly, Gen Zers and millennials will keep believing that an insurance career is boring, strict, inflexible, and limited, while the truth is that this market is exciting and full of opportunities that many young people are missing out on.
Moreover, the CII recommends that each of its local institutes gets Talent Attraction Ambassadors (TAA), which focuses on exposing the market more to younger generations and attracting talent. The CII has also proposed creating a web portal with a ‘Get to know function” to support TAAs and local institutes in spreading information about current employees in the insurance market and what their typical day at their job is like. The role of these schemes is to essentially engage with local schools, job centres and universities to make insurance attractive again and spread positive information about working in the industry.
In a world where AI and machine learning are taking over administrative tasks, the industry must capitalise on “the human touch” of working in insurance and teach new entrants the art of networking because, at the end of the day, insurance is a people business. As much as AI is crucial, it will never replace humans, it’ll only enhance their functions and allow them to focus on what’s most important: Bringing new business.
Speak to one of our experts to learn how REG Technologies can help you.
In today's challenging job market, still in the midst of the Great Resignation, every industry is facing recruitment challenges and struggling to attract young talent. But for the insurance sector, these challenges are more acute than most, and they're nothing new. But why are the younger generations not being attracted to the insurance sector? There are a number of reasons for this...
In an age where we are leaning more and more towards technology and AI, have we lost the essential human touch needed for business relationships and what can we do to maintain them?
Sustainability has emerged as a paramount concern for insurance and financial services companies. Beyond mere corporate responsibility, sustainability now holds the key to mitigating risks and satisfying the ever-heightening expectations of stakeholders. At the heart of this commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles lies the practice of sustainability reporting—an essential tool for modern businesses seeking to make their mark in a responsible, ethical, and transparent manner...
The pressure to address climate and social issues is greater than ever. Companies are now scrutinised by watchdogs, employees, investors, and customers, all demanding thorough documentation and assessment of their strategies for tackling these crises. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues have become integral to a business's overall strategy, and stakeholders are increasingly unwilling to trade with companies that fail to take these pillars seriously...
