Paul Carroll
The insurance industry has been operating under projections that approximately 400,000 professionals will retire soon, meaning that an awful lot of knowledge as well as an awful lot of people will be walking out the door. What can we do?
Sharon Emek
The insurance industry is challenged because we don't have enough young people still coming into the industry. There's now become sort of a bias by companies against young people. I hear it from my clients all the time. Young people don't have the same work ethic. They're nine to five. They don't put in the extra effort. Within a year, they want a promotion and a raise. Then they move on.
On the other hand, with the older generation, first of all, we're living longer. People have to work beyond 65. So retirement is a conversation the industry needs to have.
If somebody is turning 65 and they say "I'm done with all the stress," it's not that they really retire and do nothing. A lot of people retire and end up being a greeter at Walmart. I see them at retail stores, see them at grocery stores because they still want to work. They just don't want the kind of stress and travel time required for a full-time job. They want to be near home.
So the industry needs to think about this looming huge Boomer population that is going to retire—they don't really want to retire fully from work.
Some will because they have medical issues, but many of them want to do something less challenging while still being productive. Because people cost more medically as they age, the industry sort of lets them go instead, but we need to figure out ways to keep them in a different capacity, maybe with lower salary.
Young people can teach older workers about technology while gaining insights from them. One group is technologically savvy while the other has all that institutional knowledge, wisdom, and work ethic.
Paul Carroll
Where do you think holding on to older talent could have the most benefit?
Sharon Emek
Brokers are probably being affected more than any other sector, because a lot of the people in brokers' offices are Boomers—especially women who never went to college and went to work when they were 18 or 19 years old at a local agency.
And brokers don't have HR people helping with all this stuff.
Paul Carroll
The move these days is to get people back in the office. How does that trend fit with what you’re describing?
Sharon Emek
Well, I've been doing this for 15 years and have placed thousands of people at brokers, carriers, reinsurers, MGAs, MGUs. While a young person may need to be in an office—they're on a career path, they need relationships, they need to be mentored—a highly experienced older person does not. And everyone is familiar enough with the technology these days to work remotely.
Older workers have an amazing work ethic. They're happy to feel that they're still engaged. They're happy that you're allowing them to have a flexible life. They can work from home and save all that commuting time. They’re no longer on a career path, so they’re not stressing themselves or my clients about promotions and raises and all that stuff.
Instead of offshoring, having a retiree is such a better option because they could do double the work because they know what they're doing. And they're less expensive because they're retired; they know they're not going to get the same money as before.
I call them the "pre-tired." They’re in their "pre-tirement."
Paul Carroll
I love the concept in theory but am curious about the details. How do you structure employment for your workers?
Sharon Emek
You can't do part-time less than 20 hours a week. It's not enough time. So the minimum is typically 20 hours. Nobody wants to just work 10 hours.
60% of our people are working roughly 25 hours, and 40% work 35 to 40 hours a week. Some people feel like 35 to 40 hours is nothing compared with what they were doing. They say, "Oh, I live outside of Atlanta and was commuting an hour and a half each way in the car. That's three hours a day."
We pay them by the hour, but this isn’t like a consulting gig. We tell clients they need to treat our people just like they would any full-time employees. Our people have to become part of the team to do the work they need to do.
We give people the option of having benefits if they need them. They're not independent contractors.
Paul Carroll
How long do people keep working?
Sharon Emek
Our average age right now is 64, but I have people in their eighties who are still working, as well as people who are in their late sixties or seventies. So it depends.
One of my managers is in her mid-eighties. She's terrific, and she's not ready to retire yet. She still goes to rock concerts. Another woman who's almost 80 is a roller skate champion and still competes.
Paul Carroll
My mother was still playing tennis three times a week at age 87 and, at 92, was getting answers that all the contestants in a round of the Jeopardy! Champions tournament didn’t know, so I hear you.
Any final thoughts?
Sharon Emek
The industry is still going to need young people, and we need to have a multigenerational workforce. Many companies are having some challenging experiences with young people, but they have to move on from that and figure out how to attract the right young people with the right culture.
Getting them mentored the right way is critical because companies need to bring them up through the ranks. Eventually, our retiring population will fully retire, and the next generation isn't as big a cohort. We simply don't have enough young people coming into the workforce.
And AI is not going to replace everything. There will always be roles that require human judgment and expertise.
But the “pre-tired” can help a lot as part of the mix.
Paul Carroll
This is great, Sharon. Thanks so much.
About Sharon Emek
 | Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC, is chairman and CEO at WAHVE, a talent agency founded with a vision to address the approaching Baby Boomer retirement and growing need for experienced talent in the insurance industry. She is a frequent speaker on the challenges that employers and “vintage” professionals are facing today. |
