With the shifting business landscape and the relentless pace of automation, insurers need to evolve and develop talent at all levels to better position themselves and remain competitive in the digital age.
TThe Middle East insurance industry is going through a period of unprecedented change, driven by regulatory changes, digital revolution, evolving customer expectations and continuing economic diversification.
Other factors – including regional political upheaval, global trade tensions and the lifting of US sanctions against Iran – are also putting pressure on the business environment.
To keep up with these market trends and challenges, it is essential for the insurance industry to adapt and change the way it works, as well as to rethink approaches to attract and develop its talent.
However, the industry faces big hurdles – one of which is an image problem – when it comes to attracting talent, especially from the millennial pool. There is a general perception that the industry is boring and unsexy compared to sectors that are perceived as more cutting edge, such as banking and technology.
The challenges faced by insurers
In MENA, the main challenge in making the insurance profession attractive to talent is the limited awareness of the sector within the region, said Ms Despo Michaelides, chief human resources & diversity officer, AXA Insurance (Gulf). “Compared to the other industries within the financial sector, such as commercial banking, ours is perceived as much less attractive. Additionally, cultural beliefs incompatible with the traditional concept of insurance have resulted in the Middle East being one of the most underpenetrated markets for insurance globally,” she said.
Another challenge to attract and retain talent in the fast-paced and multi-cultural Gulf market is that talent from all generations, and especially millennials, have high expectations in terms of climbing the career ladder and growing within an organisation at a rapid pace, said Ms Michaelides. “This means that the turnover in this market is high compared to some others, and expectations are also much higher due to the demand. Moreover, the insurance sector in the Middle East is not known for offering much in terms of flexible working hours, nor the highest salaries in the market, and consequently is often seen as having a very traditional approach to work. Today, employees are looking for better work-life balance and agility in the way they approach projects and work responsibilities.”
Young talent such as millennials are highly active on social media, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt together making up more than 60m users of Facebook alone. While social media continues to change the environment in many ways, and social media marketing has grown to become an essential part of every organisation’s strategy, Ms Michaelides said the insurance profession across the MENA region is still new to many of the platforms and, as a result, is missing out on opportunities to engage with potential future talent.
“We know from research that talent, especially millennial talent, value learning opportunities and work/life balance over traditional rewards such as cash bonuses, and millennials in particular have a strong desire for personal growth and purpose-driven work,” said Mr Rabih Haber, head of HR, EMEA, MetLife.
The insurance industry is transforming, becoming more agile and digital, prioritising diversity, and focusing on the positive societal purpose of insurance, said Mr Haber, pointing out the challenge is how the industry re-brands itself and markets the exciting growth opportunities it can offer the talent of the Middle East.
“There is a developing pool of talent in the Middle East insurance industry for employers to call on. Some of this talent will be sourced externally, for example, from Europe, India or the Levant. Other talent will be in the region already,” said Ms Emma Higham, partner – employment, Clyde & Co. The challenges employers face will be ensuring that quality, training and appropriate skillsets are deployed in the market, and “that roles can be adequately remunerated and career paths progressed to maintain talent in an industry that is incredibly competitive and cost-sensitive”, she said.
Dealing with nationalisation issues
An inherent challenge for the Middle East insurance industry, in terms of retaining talent, is the transient nature of the predominantly expatriate workforce. The legislative position across the Middle East adds to the challenges in this regard. While there have been a number of recent legislative changes across the Middle East aimed at increasing labour mobility in some jurisdictions – for example, the labour-ban rules in the UAE were relaxed in 2016, some countries like Oman continue to make it increasingly difficult for expatriates to enter the country and work due to Omanisation, said Ms Higham.
Legislation – which also aimed at increasing the GCC nationalisation of the insurance industry, particularly in the region’s two biggest markets, the UAE and Saudi Arabia – also presents a challenge to employers to identify and attract nationals who are interested in forging a career in the industry, she said.
In order to attract nationals into the industry, Ms Higham said “companies must ensure that they raise awareness of what the industry does (for example, that insurance is more than simply providing health and car insurance) and indeed, it is increasingly at the forefront of current global challenges, such as climate change. In addition, companies need to consider what they can do to break down cultural barriers in the GCC to encourage nationals, and to offer suitable training programmes and flexible working models and packages”.
Develop a learning culture
Given the changing shape of the talent landscape and the risks and opportunities associated with human capital issues, insurers need to look at developing a learning culture and nurturing the next generation of leaders to handle changes and stay competitive in the current world.
Traditionally much learning in the insurance profession originated from compliance needs, but “this is changing as the new generation of employees who enter the market are more curious by nature”, said Ms Michaelides. In the UAE, the Insurance Authority (IA) heavily supports the culture of learning by offering public courses that are open to all insurance employees.
“We have moved away from the traditional approach to learning to one of self-learning. We believe in investing, preparing and encouraging our people for self-directed learning. It’s one of our many strategies to meet the contemporary needs of the changing workplace. It can provide lifelong learning skills, contribute to building a learning culture and empower our people,” she said.
In terms of change, insurers can learn much from other industries and need to also be open to benchmarking across industries and to be not purely insurance-focused. For instance, “our employees have access to a very large learning pool which caters to different learning styles by offering online and off-line options for both technical and leadership development at anytime, anywhere. The learning that we offer includes mentoring and sponsorship programmes for up-and-coming leaders to gain exposure and learn from some of the best leaders in the Middle East”, said Ms Michaelides.
At MetLife, the commitment to learning is paramount to developing a pipeline of transformational, motivational leaders, said Mr Haber. “We invest heavily in a learning culture. For example, we recently had a dedicated ‘learning month’ where all associates were invited to make commitments to their personal learning goals, as well as launching a region-wide mentoring programme. We also hold many learning events throughout the year, developing female and male talent from early leadership roles through to senior levels.”
Without this culture of learning and leadership, he said that “we will not be able to transform our culture and exceed our business goals. What needs to change is the attitude toward what learning is. Gone are the days of formal classroom learning. Now, learning is something we do every day, in bite-sized chunks, through blended programmes, stretch opportunities, and by working with diverse colleagues on exciting projects. We need to re-frame the concept and accessibility of learning, and make it part of the everyday life of the insurance industry”.
Ms Rebecca Ford, partner - employment, Clyde & Co said there is limited access for the insurance industry to local training opportunities, and therefore the industry relies to a great degree on training qualifications from outside the region. In addition, there has not been a concerted industry effort to set up training programmes and facilities in the region. There are a number of ad hoc secondment programmes to London and Europe run by international insurers and brokers, “but no significant grassroots training facilities”, she said.
Impact of automation
The adoption of automation technologies in the business sphere is another element that is rapidly influencing the nature of future work. Companies around the world have expectations for and are using automation and digital workforce to meet their corporate objectives, and the insurance industry is no exception.
There is no doubt that automation and digitalisation will have transforming effects on the GCC markets in years to come, said Mr Wayne Jones, partner – insurance at Clyde & Co. However, he expects these changes to be a few years behind other more developed markets, while local regulators create the regulatory environment in which such automation and digitalisation can occur.
Inevitably, “this will necessitate a shift in the workforce with the creation of new roles (supporting the technological developments) and the removal / evolution of others”, Mr Jones said. As the reliance on automation and digitalisation technology increases, he said employees will need to adapt and learn to work with the relevant technology.
Mr Haber noted positively there is appetite and development towards this trend in the Middle East. It is a big shift and a transformational way of work, embracing the digital and innovative direction of the future. For example, “at MetLife, we launched a robust ‘Digital Foundations’ learning programme to prepare associates for a new way of working in the future”, he added.
“We are also digitising and simplifying everything we do, with dedicated projects and a diverse project team focused on making certain business functions – like payment– more digital. These steps will get the industry ready for the global digital future ahead,” Mr Haber said.
For Middle East insurers, Ms Michaelides said new competitive threats, on-going cost pressures, ageing technology and increasing regulatory requirements are some of the aspects that require significant change and new business models. According to her, digital transformation and disruptive innovation have gone from being futuristic concepts to current action items on senior leaders’ strategic agendas in the region.
She also pointed out that customers are no longer looking for traditional insurance product solutions. They want access to online digital platforms that offer bespoke solutions for their ever-changing needs and the insurance profession has no option but to change in order to meet these needs and demands.
“With many customers using digital and remote contact channels (web chat, mobile, apps, social media platforms, etc), insurers have already taken the necessary steps to invest in core digital transformation programmes using digital communication tools, data lakes and various partnerships outside the traditional insurance methodology to shape the future of insurance. These investments aim to help insurers make an indelible footprint in the digital age, yet it is only a foundation to build upon,” said Ms Michaelides. “For many insurers, core transformation programmes are still underway, linking digital transformation programmes to agile methodology, robotics, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to support insurers in using resources more effectively and strengthen the business case to drive customer service.”
Forward-looking talent strategy
In the current dynamic and highly competitive environment, attracting, engaging and retaining key talent is imperative for the industry, which has long been bogged down by outdated practices and poor reputation. However, the combination of a new wave of thinking and newer technologies has the potential to completely change roles and tasks as people start to work more collaboratively with intelligent machines.
Mr Haber listed three items – digital, data and diversity – to be on the checklist of today’s talent management strategy. He said, “Firstly, we need to have talent that can embrace, champion and develop digital strategies and innovative ideas. Secondly, we need to have great data on our talent – who we should invest in, what talent we need to bring into the organisation, how we are developing people and with what results.
“Finally, we need to ensure we are diverse in all aspects which will, in turn, ensure we are an organisation of idea engineers that can take the business from strength to strength. We are in the business of transformation, and digital, data and diversity commitments will help us realise that change.”
A forward-looking talent strategy must allow for agility, flexibility and innovation, said Ms Michaelides. High-performing companies no longer rely on checklists but rather focus on acquiring people with the ability to think outside the box. In order to drive optimal levels of success, business leaders need engaged and high-performing employees, and this is key. She said, “This, in turn, will allow organisations to become ‘proactive’ rather than ‘reactive’ when driving their talent management strategy.”
At the end of the day, it is important to remember that engaging employees is not a one-time event, it is a way of doing business. Insurers should focus on innovative thinking and allow employees to develop their skills to be trendsetters rather than followers in an ever-changing and fast-paced environment. M