Your Workforce and The Great Resignation 2.0 - What you need to know in securing and/or finding employees in this week's ITB InsuRant

Keeping your workforce in place, or finding new employees, is harder than ever before. Learn the things you need to know to help your agency or business navigate the ins and outs of "The Great Resignation!"

Join Rick Fox for this brand new edition of Insurance The Brightway (ITB). ITB is a weekly podcast brought to you by Brightway Insurance, the insurance franchising leader coast-to-coast.

Transcript

Rick:

Welcome back to another episode of the ITB Insurance the Bright Way podcast. I'm the host, Rick Fox, and really, really bad news for all of you. We're going to do back to back insurance. We had a glitch in our scheduling. We've got a lot of great guests coming up, but just the way it worked out, you got to hear me again this week, so bummer. Anyway. So we're going to rant this week and I think I did this last week. Um, and I want, but I want to say it again, it's kind of like this, like I'm really into the feedback that I'm receiving through LinkedIn, through direct messages, most of it, I mean, literally almost all of it has been wildly, uh, complimentary and energy around just the passion that we're, we're trying to put into this and the education points that we try to bring up. Um, I'd love for you to keep that going. So if you, if you like this or you want to have a chat with me or. Tell us what else we should be talking about and make sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and make sure to send me a direct message. And if you think, if you think there's somebody that we should definitely have on as a guest, let me know and we'll, uh, we'll put them in the queue anyway. 

Okay. So this week, uh, again, what I've said in the past is a lot of my rants come from the conversations I'm having in industry. And one of the biggest points right now in industry is how do we either find or keep good talent. So I'm going to call this rant, the great resignation 2.0. I did a rant back in 21 when that was the thing, the great resignation. At that point, Gallup studies were saying 48% of people in the workforce were actively searching. for new opportunities. Half of the people in 2021 were looking for new opportunities. In Q2 of 2021, 11.5 million people quit their jobs. Quit. Just quit. Decided to make a change. That was a real thing in 2021. That was some, that's two years ago now, but that was real. So the reason I'm telling you those numbers and the reason we're talking about this is it is still a thing. the ripples or after effect of all of those things, the world's changed. Everything is different. I think about it like even in terms of where I work, Brightway, turnover is real. I think about my days at Vertifor. We went through a phase where one team, one entire team in a six month period was gone. And the problem with that is sometimes that's okay. And sometimes, and I don't mean this to sound disrespectful, but sometimes people leave and maybe they needed to leave for whatever reason, not a culture fit, not quite living up to expectations. You could just see that they were halfway out the door and looking at other opportunities anyway. And I do wanna say this, when we all put a lot of emphasis on folks that are what we call key to our success. And if so, You know, if Susan left or if Greg left, I don't know what we would do. I will say this, and I've been in business for a very, very long time. There are very few people that have that kind of power over a business. Of course, the short term that you're all like, yeah, right. If this person left, I'd be screwed. It's like, well, you might be for a few weeks or a month or maybe a few months. But I find that most of the times when we make changes, they're changes for the better. And we come out the other side with a new lens or a new perspective that can help. So I wanted to kind of float that at the top of this, you know, Suzy sunshine vibe I'm trying to give you on the fact that it really isn't that easy to find people out there, but sometimes it's okay for there to be changes. And we are always afraid of change. And especially when we've been doing something for a really long time and that something is done by a particular someone. And you're afraid if that someone leaves, things will change. Yes, they will. And it'll be painful for a bit, for a minute. And then it might be glorious on the other side. So keep that in mind as we kind of talk about what this means, what I think that the kind of the solves are for this. So I want to kind of go through it. Um, and this is, this is really from an insurance lens because most of our listeners are insurance folks. I know other, other industry folks are always listening. I appreciate you appreciate the notes. Um, but this applies anywhere, but I'm going to use it. I'm going to, I'm going to speak it through an insurance lens. So think about the, the day to day right now, I don't talk to people in industry that aren't saying we're struggling to find good young talent. It's real. So real. Maybe that's hit you, maybe it hasn't. If it hasn't buckle up, it's probably coming. So how do we solve these things? So let's look at that from, how do we, okay. So new talent. I wanna say, let's say, I wanna just say young talent, but let's say new talent. So into the insurance industry, the average age of an agency principal is over 60 years old. And 4% of college graduates are entertaining insurance as a career, as a move out of college. You know what I say to that? Yikes. That's nuts. How are we going to do this? How are we going to make it? I'm kidding. We are going to make it, but you're going to have to be a part of the solution because your business, and you keep hearing me say this. but it's up to you to choose what you want to do and you have the ability to attract new talent. So how do we do that? So here's the things that are important to young or new folks to industry as it relates to insurance, but this is kind of real for any industry. Number one, today's employee wants more remote or hybrid work options. So you're like, okay, yeah, my people already do that or yeah, okay, I'll be flexible. There's flexible and then there's a standard that's been set and a way to evangelize the greatness of it within your organization. Do you give remote options? Do you have hybrid options? Are those hybrid options flexible? People want flexibility. Think about the differences from where we were three years ago. I go into my office now. It's a three story building with hundreds of desks. because we have hundreds of employees and I might bump into eight people. But that's okay, work's getting done. The culture I think we have is pretty strong. So is your thinking about like, if someone is maybe interested or someone who knows somebody said you should talk to this person, they might wanna come work for you. Do you create an environment that is remote friendly, hybrid friendly? and gives the vibe that they can, and you've given them the ability to still work, which includes a strong, strong technology vibe to it. Is your technology up to snuff? I'll get there in a minute. Number two on this list, number one, remote hybrid options and a stance. Number two, have you done anything in your workplace? These are polls that were done and the top three things that people ask for. Number two, increase your diversity and inclusion practice. Everybody says it now because it's the right thing to say, and I'm, I'm pushing here because saying we are having conversations or we're trying to work on our diversity and inclusion practice isn't doing it. And if you, you have a, like go to your website and if you have a very one dimensional meet us page. It resonates out in the industry. Now I'm not saying we're perfect at it because we're not, but we have a practice and we're working toward it. If you're doing that and you can acknowledge it and show progress, it is important to young people more than anything else and new folks second to that. Okay, so we've got the first two. What's the third way to get people hyped, get them interested? What did we hear? Internships and apprenticeships. Do you have interns working in your office? Do you have a college in your town? Great way to get people into the mix, into insurance. Now the problem is if they get in the door and you got, you know, I'm going to over, I'm going to oversimplify this, but you've got the box monitor still on your desk and they've got to enter data for you in six different places for one customer. Um, no, you've just done yourself a disservice by doing that. But if you, like the two areas, or let's say the one area that you can impact that more than anything else. Number one, actually two. Number one is have a plan. Execute on that plan. brag about that plan and trickle down the way that works throughout your organization. So there's a culture in place that says, yes, we do have a cool remote hybrid environment. We are working on our diversity and inclusion. We are tech forward, which is my second bucket. You've got to give them like tech and like experience to their normal every day. They just came out of college. I mean, When I went to college, I didn't have a computer in my lap, in my, in my, uh, you know, in the, in the hall that I sat in for, for the lecture for psych 101 university of Washington, go dogs. Sorry, had to do that. Um, but today since they were five, they've had an iPad and when they get to college, they've got a laptop and they take notes on it. And you want them to sit in an environment where they're striking a, uh, a plugged in keyboard to a big, weird monitor. Tech is, is real. And tech is something you have to address to, to engage and attract young and new talent. So when I hear people say, I can't find anybody that will come work here. My first thought is. maybe that's not because they're not out there, but maybe that's because you're not doing the right things to attract them to you. And that's fair, and I'm challenging you, but go look in the mirror and answer the questions of what I just asked and see what your answers are. And if I walked into your office and I'm 24 years old and I, you know, I just, I come in and I'm like. Okay, wow, this is a kind of slow and sleepy or you need me to be here Monday, Tuesday, Thursday of every week and it's not flexible. And I see a lot of people that look, let's say seasoned and have one particular shade of color. Those are all things that they're looking at when they walk through the door or when they look at your website. And I'm not, I'm not shaming any of you in anything like But I'm also saying from the other side, if you want to attract new talent, this is your responsibility. So think about that in these. So I'm going to give you three kind of, yeah, let's say four ways. These are just four cheat codes. Now, the first one is, is employee experience. Again, I've already touched on the tech, your environment, your culture. Are there schools around you? How are you rec recruiting? Like, do you have like an intake form that gets them excited? Do you have people in industry or out of industry that can flip you names and get you people that could be interested? So first thing is employee experience. From the first day they apply to the day they sign and beyond, what is that experience? Number two, I need you to think bigger and think broader, broaden your net. Write that down. Broaden your net. You know, you looking for, I would love to bring somebody in who has 10 years experience and has already done PNC insurance at this level and knows commercial. Yeah, we all would. Everyone wants that person. The problem with that person is one, everybody wants them. Two, because they've been around for a long time, they might actually not be a good fit for what tomorrow looks like. And what you're doing is saying, I don't wanna have to train somebody up in this industry, which is very hard to learn. You're right, it is. It's super hard to learn. But if you get all the other parts, this is how we move fast, this is how we use technology, this is how we look at the world, this is how we bring young energy in, the offset might be too bad, train them. Bring them in, get them up to speed, and let that young, next-gen vibe become part of your culture. Again, I'm just giving you ideas. The third thing, and I'm going to give you this name, write it down, Gamma Iota Sigma. If you haven't heard of that, it's a fraternity, a national fraternity for insurance. And it's on like hundreds of campuses. Have you talked to them? Is there an opportunity there to maybe generate people that are already thinking about insurance of that 4%? It's probably more than that, they're involved in the fraternity, then decide not to go elsewhere. But are you giving them an opportunity to look at you as an option? And then the final thing is how do we go to market to drive, you know, same way we go to prospect for business. Are we doing the same thing as we prospect for employees? We need to be way more proactive PR marketing for your workplace. And I mean, not just like we have a position, look how cool we are, but does the, does the community know how much, how much people enjoy? culture at your office? Does the community know all the cool things you do and the givebacks that you have? They don't, they should anyway, because it'll help you with your business, and it will definitely help you in your hiring practices. Now, let me take it one step further. You've done all these things. Your employees are happy. They enjoy working together and for you, or if you're one of these employees, bring this up to your boss, the best reference is from one of your employees. My, uh, my mother-in-law runs a business and they just hired somebody. Two, two people. One was a referral from a family member. And one was a referral from somebody that worked there. And so far, knock on wood, both have turned out to be great employees. They came in, loved the culture, not an insurance business, but that's why this is pretty relevant for everyone. And then the other thing is user groups, networks, and community involvement. It could be your church, when I say community involvement, but user groups, like you're on some version of a tech platform. Are you in the user group with that tech platform? Do you go to the meetings? Do you meet other folks? Are you networking through other ways to generate the buzz, generate folks, generate people and excitement around what you do so people will want to come work there? So where I started this thing was great resignation. We're feeling those, those effects still. And I'm talking to every part of the industry about how hard it is to fill roles. And I've just given you a playbook of ways to look at this to be more proactive around finding that talent, finding young talent, finding new talent. And I say new because we can't get stuck with a skinny net thinking, they got to fit these five boxes. They got to know and they got to live insurance. It's like, gosh, that would be great. And so does the other nine agencies in a 20 mile radius or 10... 10 block radius of you, depending on where you live, they want that same person. You might get them, you might not. If you don't get them, what's your backup plan? So again, very much more proactive approach to this. I've always, I've always had, having coached for a long time in youth sports and knowing how crazy, I'm going to make an analogy here, just bear with me, how crazy parents can be about their kids in sports. The one thing. I've always heard from parents that just makes me giggle is, yeah, you know what? Little Johnny should be playing more, but it's super political. No, it's not. It's not political. Little Johnny's probably realistically not good enough to play. And you're just not, you just aren't seeing it through the right lens. Because I don't know a team anywhere where the top three guys or gals that are on that team don't play. Now, I'm not saying that that's that little Johnny has to go out and be the best player, but it's not political. My analogy is, if I hear you say, yeah, nobody, I can't find anybody to work here. Is that right? Or are you not offering a product? Are you not a top three player? And so you're not getting minutes with those people. Think about it like that. Again, just giving you ideas, it's rough. And hiring is, this is a real problem. So you've got to give yourself every tiebreaker. You got to win every jump ball. And I just listed out a bunch of things that hopefully help you think about your hiring practice, your culture, and the way that you're looked at, not only by your employees who could be great referral sources, by your community, which would be awesome generally, and then by those folks that might want to come work for you. Because if you've gotten people three, four, five interviews in and then they've chosen elsewhere, Why? Maybe it's just flat money. And then maybe that's something you have to address, but I promise you a great culture, a great, uh, like set in stone, evangelized work environment, meaning the hybrid remote scenario, uh, and increased diversity and inclusion practice and putting that into play and showing results, offering internships, apprenticeships, all the things we talked about. I guarantee you that gives you a better chance of getting minutes in that game. And by minutes in that game, I mean more employees that might want to come work for you, I'm just going to keep, I'm going to bury that analogy, get it out of there. I can't use it too much. All right. Uh, again, we, we rant here about things that hopefully help you and things that I'm hearing in market and that, that are super current event and relevant. Um, I hope that you found something out of that, that gives you an upper hand that you can go out and implement. and find the talent, grow the business, move forward, be successful. That's what we want. 

Thanks for tuning in. Uh, as always, let me just mention the housekeeping of make sure that you are subscribed wherever you get your podcasts, make sure that you are connected with me on LinkedIn. Um, and let me know if there's anybody you think would be a great guest or a great topic as we kind of run through some of these, uh, current topics that are facing our insurance industry. as well as pretty much every industry in the world. Thanks again for tuning in. Love to have you here. Appreciate all the support, and we'll see you next time.