Industry insights on skills needs
The Financial Services IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast suggests the top priority skills for the Insurance and Superannuation sector include health and safety skills, teamwork and communication, and problem solving skills. This is in addition to sector specific technical and multi-disciplinary skills. The top three generic skills focus primarily on soft skills including customer service, critical thinking, and learning agility. Data analysis is rated as the fourth most important generic skill for the sector.
According to the job vacancy data, the top generic skills requested by employers were communication skills and building effective relationships. The most advertised occupations were Management and Organisation Analysts followed by Insurance Investigators, Loss Adjusters and Risk Surveyors. The top employers were IAG and AMP Limited.
According to the above Skills Forecast there are a number of FinTech innovations impacting insurance and superannuation services, including:
- Computer automated underwriting allows for the reduction of documentation and streamlines the approval process in risk modelling
- Self-investment applications, like Stockspot and Selfwealth, allow for the easy comparison of funds and management of funds.
The Skills Forecast also outlines the potential impacts of demographic changes, specifically the ageing population, for insurance and superannuation services. The number of Australians over 65, the core demographic demanding these services, is projected to increase to 21% of the population by 2066. The ageing population will drive strong growth for health and life insurance and superannuation services over the medium to long term. This continued demand will require a growing number of health insurance workers across the board, specialising in services for over 65s. The ageing population will continue to drive demand on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS therefore presents a significant growth opportunity for insurance assessors specialising in assessments for people with disability.
The Skills Forecast states that superannuation assets are forecast to hit $4.3 trillion by 2032, exceeding the value of the banking sector, as the system matures and wages increase. Demographic changes will shape the Superannuation sector by:
- Increasing the proportion of superannuation assets held in the retirement phase, which are forecast to increase from 30% of superannuation assets to 40% over the next decade. Given the typically conservative investment profile of retirees, this will increase the proportion of assets that are invested defensively (in products such as bonds) and bolster the use of derivatives and other defensive overlays to ensure a steady revenue stream. Understanding the needs of a client in retirement and communicating these risks will be vitally important to Financial Advisers in the sector.
- Driving demand for self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), with 85% of self-managed super fund members being over the age of 45 and over a third being over 65. SMSFs continue to grow, with the number of funds growing 13% over the last five years (from 521,510 to 587,100) and the number of members growing 12% (987,540 to 1,107,060). With this trend set to continue, financial services workers will play more of an advisory and transactional role in assisting SMSF members to manage their own funds, rather than managing the funds on the member's behalf.
The Deloitte Center for Financial Services report, 2019 Insurance Outlook: Growing Economy Bolsters Insurers, But Longer-term Trends May Require Transformation, states that robotic process automation and artificial intelligence that can automate manual tasks are rapidly infiltrating the Insurance sector, remaking or eliminating jobs that are labour intensive and even some with cognitive requirements. Insurers will be challenged to retrain and repurpose workers impacted by tech upgrades to make more productive use of their time and talent. To start, most insurers are decomposing jobs to analyse how work is currently performed, determine which capabilities can and should be automated, and establish what new skill sets may be required to maximize the value employees can bring in the wake of automation.
The Plan For Life Life Insurance Market Outlook Report, highlights the challenges for insurers which sell advice-based insurance. The inability of advisers to reboot their businesses and create new operating models, leading them to leave the industry (adviser numbers have halved between 2017 and 2020), represents a clear, ongoing risk to insurers’ future new sales. Similarly, the exiting of older advisers unwilling to meet the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) standards, adds to the problem. To meet this threat, the authors recommend providing existing and new advisers with training, not only in product and sales techniques, but also in how to analyse their own business costs, achieve efficiencies, restructure appropriate fees for service, automate and use technology.
Life insurers in Australia have collaborated with the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) to launch an industry-wide Professional Standards Framework to unify professional standards and enhance industry trust and confidence. The Framework formalises standards for professional excellence by implementing a consistent foundation requirement for all life insurance claims and underwriting professionals. The framework comprises four Certificate IV competencies, including ethics, sustainability, products and services, and law and regulation – with the life insurers committed to achieving a Certificate IV level for claims professionals by December 2023 and underwriting professionals by December 2024. The framework provides life insurance companies with a measurement tool for their own existing internal training, while professional development for employees will provide a roadmap for long-term consistency across the life insurance sector.
Based on recent conversations with employers about their recruitment plans, Hays has developed a list of The Most In-Demand Skills for 2021. Within Australia's insurance jobs market, the skills in greatest demand are:
- Brokers with a tier 1 qualification and at least five years of experience – the lack of entry-level roles over recent years has created today’s shortage of experienced professionals.
- Assistant Account Executives with solid experience who wish to remain in this role – most candidates advance to become Account Executives.
- Liability and Professional Indemnity Claims Handlers at the consultant and manager level with specialised experience in liability and professional indemnity.
- Dispute Resolution Officers with experience in specialist areas such as travel and life claims – such niche expertise is in short supply yet growing in demand as insurance companies move this function inhouse.
The National Skills Commission’s Skills Priority List: June 2021, lists the occupations of Insurance Agent as having ‘Strong’ future demand and Insurance Broker, Insurance Consultant, Insurance Investigator, Insurance Loss Adjuster, and Insurance Risk Surveyor as having ‘Moderate’ future demand. Research has not identified any significant difficulty filling vacancies for these occupations across Australia, except in New South Wales where there is a shortage of Insurance Agents.
