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Latest Insurance Talent Perspectives

Building and Maintaining a Strong Employer Brand

In today’s competitive labor market, a strong employer brand is a key differentiator in recruiting top talent, reducing costs, enhancing the candidate pool, and retaining high performers by instilling pride in their roles and company. 

View our latest white paper for tips to ensure your company represents itself as an employer of choice.

Q3 2024 Insurance Labor Market Study Results

The Jacobson Group and Aon conduct a Semi-Annual Insurance Labor Market Study to examine industry hiring and revenue trends and projections. The findings of our Q3 2024 iteration reflect a relatively stable labor market, with modest job growth.

Download the results to explore 2024’s staffing forecasts and hiring plans for the insurance industry.

Combatting the Finance and Accounting Talent Shortage

Faced with a shallowing pool of emerging talent and a workforce nearing retirement, finding qualified accounting and finance professionals has been an intensifying challenge for the industry. A comprehensive multi-prong approach is necessary to cultivate a workforce that can meet evolving demands and ensure operational continuity.

Read our blog post for insights on staying ahead of the growing finance and accounting talent crisis.

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Three Tips for Improving the Health Insurance Customer Experience

It is my pleasure to introduce a guest blogger for this latest post. Alicia Morris is assistant vice president with The Jacobson Group’s health temporary staffing and subject matter experts team. Her insights into the importance of the customer experience are worth a read. Enjoy... Customer experience—it’s a term that is making waves within the business world. This growing focus on the holistic customer journey is poised to be a key point of differentiation for today’s organizations. In fact, some experts are already pointing to customer experience as the single most important factor in achieving business success. For the insurance industry, standing out from the crowd is critical. Recent regulatory changes have made it easier for customers to research, compare and switch carriers when they are unsatisfied. As a result, many consumers now view insurance companies as easily replaceable. Further compounding the issue is the industry’s struggle with expanding customer expectations. According to Temkin’s Customer Experience Ratings, top insurers earned only a 75 percent rating—ranking them 52nd out of 293 companies. In fact, with an overall average of just 66 percent, the insurance industry is listed as one of 14 industries with declining ratings. Within the industry, health insurers fare the worst. A recent survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked health insurers as the least customer-centric of all insurance providers, and even less customer-centric than the beleaguered airline industry. Nearly 25 percent of survey respondents indicated a high likelihood of switching health insurers following a poor or disappointing customer experience. Providing a positive customer experience is critical to promoting loyalty and engaging new consumers. Amid today’s increasingly competitive business environment, health insurers must focus on building an enticing customer experience in order to ensure success. But what can organizations do? Here are three tips for developing a successful customer experience: Promote ease of access: We have entered into the digital age. As a result, today’s customer experience expectations are being influenced by the digital opportunities encountered across all industries—particularly retail and communications. Current consumers want to be able to research, compare and select health plans via digital platforms. They want to manage their plans online. They desire self-service features that allow them to easily schedule appointments, print ID cards, find treatment estimates and submit claims. Insurance organizations should embrace new digital offerings and the key features customers are looking for. Rethink the customer service journey: Traditionally, customer service has focused on a specific customer action—usually when the individual is reaching out to the company with an issue. While this has long been seen as a cornerstone of developing a successful customer relationship, it is only a single component of the overall customer experience. The true customer experience goes beyond service alone. It spans from the initial awareness of an organization up to the point of purchase and the use of the products and services. With this in mind, health insurers should focus on creating and delivering a holistic and enticing experience with each touchpoint—from start to finish. Improving customer service, personalizing marketing communications, encouraging continued interactions and facilitating productive encounters are critical to building a successful customer journey. Introduce transparency: Consumers want to be informed. They want to make informed and intelligent decisions. Within the healthcare sector, consumers want to choose the best provider for their care. As a result, health plans and members are pushing for increased transparency. In addition, this openness will encourage organizations to provide the same services at the same price and quality. In order to build a competitive edge, today’s insurers must invest their resources in developing a customer-centric experience. Improving the customer experience will help drive overall satisfaction, decrease membership turnover and promote renewals. As a result, those organizations that focus on building deeper relationships with their customers will continue to capture ever-larger shares of the market.

Make Your Talent Brand Work for You

Does your organization have a positive public persona, or does your company’s image fall short? In today’s increasingly competitive labor market, having a strong, public brand is critical to attracting young professionals. In fact, 75 percent of job seekers consider a company’s brand before they even submit an application. Conversely, 72 percent of recruiting leaders view branding as a critical driver of their ability to attract and hire top talent. There is a clear correlation between a strong talent brand and the successful recruitment and engagement of top talent. Unfortunately, the insurance industry’s public persona is filled with misconceptions. Seen as outdated, behind-the-times, old-fashioned and boring, insurance ranks 18th out of 30 sectors in terms of its popularity as a career choice. While recent industry efforts have begun to make headway in publicizing insurance as a great career choice—there is work to be done at the company level. In order to compete in today’s challenging labor market, insurance organizations must focus their attention on building and promoting their own unique employer brands. What can your organization do to cultivate a talent brand that can cut through the industry stereotypes to attract today’s young talent? Here are five tips to get your employment brand to work for you. Take Your Brand Temperature: Do you know how your organization is perceived in the public domain? What are your employees saying about you? What do job candidates think about your organizations as a place to work? The first step in developing a talent brand is to take stock of your current positioning. Your external position is a reflection of your organizational culture, which should support your mission and goals. Determine what your organizational values are and build a culture that supports and exemplifies these. Develop a Strategic Approach: While many organizations recognize that talent branding can provide a multitude of benefits, only 55 percent have a proactive branding strategy in place. If your company doesn’t currently have a talent brand strategy, now is the time to implement one. Maximize your public outreach by promoting across diverse channels—company website, word-of-mouth, social networks, job boards and more. Be engaged and ensure that your organizational profile on job boards and social networks is updated regularly. It is important that you don’t just set up a profile and move on. Engaging and interacting with followers and fans is critical to strategic branding. Take part in the dialogue and help build your online presence and reputation. Give Your Website a Makeover: Successful talent branding requires outreach across a variety of channels. At the top of the list, however, is your company website. Your website is often the first point of contact for potential employees, so make sure it is effectively promoting your company. Your About Us and Career sections are the perfect place to showcase your organization. Consider incorporating employee testimonials and company accomplishments throughout the site. Create opportunities to share employer branded content with your potential candidates. Incorporate photos into your web pages to increase engagement, liven things up and provide a visual definition of the organization and the workplace. Keep your content fresh and, whenever possible, interactive. In addition, optimize your career page for mobile. With most job candidates searching for their next opportunities during the working hours, being able to view your page on their mobile devices is a definite plus. Rethink Your Social Media: Don’t overlook the power of social media. Thirty-three percent of young professionals turn to social media to research prospective employers. Your organization’s active participation across social networks will go a long way in building your online presence and reputation. Update your company’s profilepublish posts regularly, and make an effort to engage and interact with your followers. Strike up conversations, respond to discussions and take part in ongoing dialogues. Promote company activities and share awards and successes. If it bolsters your organization’s image or highlights a key part of your culture, share it! Build Brand Ambassadors: No one is more influential in communicating your company personality than your current staff. In fact, they serve as representatives of your organization to those outside the company. Messaging provided by employees is considered credible and trustworthy, so make the most of it. They should be embraced as ambassadors and advocates for your organization. Make sure they are well versed in your organization’s activities and are able to provide a branded elevator pitch. Encourage them to publish content on thought leadership blogs, participate in industry organizations and communities, and post insights on discussion boards. Invite them to share their day-to-day experiences on your company blog or to add content to your publicly facing career page—including testimonials and videos. Encourage your employees to get involved with your social media pages, including adding photos, posting videos and sharing messages that showcase their involvement with your organization. Talent branding matters. With the industry expected to face a shortfall of talent, it is critical  insurers focus on attracting and engaging young professionals—including Millennials and Generation Z. Projected to account for more than 80 percent of the national workforce by the year 2020, these generations are sure to have a lasting and important impact on the industry. Properly engaging and attracting these next generations is key—and having a successful talent brand will be an important differentiator. Developing a multi-faceted, employee-focused brand will go a long way in promoting your company as an employer of choice. Only those organizations that take the time to cultivate a positive talent brand will be able to ensure future success.

The Perks Young Professionals Crave

We’ve heard it all—a slide to travel between floors, encouraging employees to use skates to move around the office and game rooms filled with arcade classics. Faced with an increasingly competitive labor market, businesses are going to extreme lengths to better attract and retain young talent. Your company is only as strong as its employees. For insurance organizations in particular, engaging the next generation is critical to ensuring future success. Before organizations can effectively recruit and retain these individuals, they must truly understand what motivates and drives them. Despite speculation and numerous reports, today’s young professionals are not all that different from the generations of individuals preceding them. So what exactly do today’s young professionals really want in an employer? How can insurers effectively engage this next generation? In our latest edition of Compass, we share unique insights into the perks and benefits today’s young professionals are looking for in an employer. For an insider’s look at what professionals want along with an update on the insurance industry's talent market, download Compass.

Compass 10.4: The Perks Young Professionals Crave

In today's increasingly competitive labor market, human capital is critical to business success. An organization is only as strong as their employees. With this in mind, businesses are going to extraordinary lengths to recruit and retain talented young professionals. These individuals are vital to business results and the bottom line. For insurers, engaging the next generation will be critical to ensuring future success. How can your organization recruit and retain talented young professionals?

Technology Revolutionizing How Insurers Do Business

For years, the insurance industry has stood as a virtual island amid a sea of growing technological changes. While innovations and advancements transformed industries from banking, commerce, travel and more, insurers maintained business as usual. But the industry can no longer silo itself against transformation. In fact, more than 80 percent of CEOs identify technological advancements as the top trend expected to transform the industry in the coming years. Today’s organizations are increasingly embracing the opportunities brought by technological advancements—driven by rising innovations, emerging disrupters and evolving business needs. What are the key advancements that are impacting the industry? Here are the top five technologies that are changing the way insurers do business. Mobile: While mobile technology has been around for years, the growing prevalence of mobile devices has revolutionized how individuals obtain and consume information. Smartphones are currently the fastest selling devices in history, anticipated to reach a global penetration rate of 75 percent by 2020. Consumers now expect to be able to access websites, perform transactions and more on their mobile devices. Insurers are taking note and utilizing mobile to assess and deliver on changing customer expectations. This includes the development of mobile websites and applications and the use of push notifications and other personalized communication. Others are utilizing mobile to capture data in order to provide more customized products and services to customers. It is clear that the advancements of mobile technology are becoming increasingly important in the company-consumer relationship. Artificial Intelligence (AI): The rise of AI is set to fundamentally change the way insurance organizations operate. The volume of data insurers need to gather, manage and analyze has grown exponentially thanks to the advent of sensors, wearables and more. Organizations now have more information about the lives and assets they insure than ever before. Managing this unprecedented amount of data requires tools and processes that embed real-time data analytics into the business process. Unfortunately, sifting through the mass of data to make decisions is beyond the capabilities of today’s human workforce. This is where AI comes in—bridging the gap and maximizing the strengths of technology and the workforce. By utilizing AI to do the data “heavy lifting,” organizations are able to free up their workforce to focus on the knowledge tasks and customer care that are critical to operations. This blending of automation and employees is transforming every area of the industry and enabling the shift toward more personalized and real-time coverage. Internet of Things (IoT): A network of devices that collect, monitor and share data through the internet, the IoT has expanded to include automobiles, health monitoring, transportation infrastructure, home monitoring and more. Already making waves in the business world, the growth of IoT is expected to skyrocket in the coming years—increasing from 4 billion connected devices in 2016 to 20.8 billion in 2020. The rise of sensors and other devices are allowing insurers to better monitor individuals, entities, behaviors, events and objects. This data is then being applied to new analytical, statistical and computational models. This real-time data is enabling insurance organizations to make more informed decisions on risk and provide policies accordingly. Analytics/Big Data: The rapid increase in the amount of data being consumed by insurance organizations has resulted in a push toward improved analytics. Much like AI, today’s analytic technologies are designed to work together with the workforce. These technologies are enabling insurers to leverage what computers do best, while opening up employees to analyze and report on gathered data. This rapid transition of data to insights is helping to drive better business decisions and actions that generate results. This includes improved risk management, advanced reporting, increased customer intelligence and enhanced insights into performance and processes. Predictive Modeling: Focused on creating a statistical model of future behavior, predictive modeling is concerned with forecasting probabilities and trends. It relies on capturing relationships between explanatory variables and the predicted variables from past occurrences and then using that data to predict future outcomes and behavior. These insights are critical to avoiding risks, understanding future customer behavior, projecting losses and improving profitability. Already, the implementation of predictive modeling within insurance has proven to be an industry game-changer—improving internal processes, optimizing resources and enabling companies to surpass their competitors. In fact, nearly half of insurers believe that predictive modeling is essential for risk selection and rating. Looking forward, its implementation is expected to grow by 33 percent in the next few years. Moreover, predictive modeling is expanding throughout insurance functions, including fraud identification, loss control, and even sales and marketing. It is clear that new technologies are opening up a world of possibilities for the insurance industry. Looking to the future, innovations and advancements will continue to impact the business world. In today’s rapidly changing world, insurers must continue to evolve.

Strong Industry Outlook Highlights the Need for Talent Solutions

The results from our latest Insurance Industry Labor Market Study are now available! Since its debut in 2009, this bi-annual study has become an accurate predictor of the industry’s staffing outlook. Read on for highlights from the most recent study or download the full results. Increased Revenue Projections Accelerate With 81 percent of insurers surveyed projecting growth, expectations to increase revenue are now 11 points higher than they were in January. This is the first time since July 2012 that expectations for revenue growth have increased between the January and July survey periods. Large and mid-sized companies reported the greatest optimism for revenue growth, at 84 percent and 85 percent, respectively.  Much of this optimism stems from a forecasted change in market share. Approximately two-thirds of companies stated that a change in market share will drive expected revenue changes, followed by 19 percent referencing economic expansion/contraction. Only six percent of companies surveyed anticipate a reduction in profits.  Historically, strong revenue projections have aligned with positive staffing forecasts—with intent to increase revenue outpacing staffing projections. This trend continued with the most recent survey. Staffing Growth Continues According to the results of our survey, 62 percent of companies plan to increase staff during the next 12 months. Although the projection is slightly lower than the 65 percent reported in January 2017, it is consistent with recent trends and represents a steadying market. If the industry follows through on these plans, we will see a 1.14 percent increase in insurance employment throughout the next year. This predicted rise is being driven by personal lines organizations—with 73 percent forecasting an increase in staff. Small companies, with fewer than 300 employees, are anticipating the most significant increase in employees, with 75 percent reporting a plan to grow their staffs in the next year. Insurance organizations are primarily motivated to hire as the result of currently understaffed functional areas. Nearly half of the companies surveyed listed this as their primary reason for adding new employees. An anticipated increase in revenue was the second most common driver, with 45 percent of companies listing it as a reason to hire. Much of this growth is being driven by demands for technology professionals—the area in which the industry reported the greatest talent need. Large companies reported analytics as the area in which they were most likely to increase staff, while medium-sized companies look to technology and small companies to claims. In light of these widespread forecasts for growth, it is unsurprising that only one in 10 organizations plans to decrease staff during the next year. One notable change from previous surveys is the number of companies citing automation as the primary reason for reductions in staff. Twenty-six percent of companies reported this as a potential factor—the highest percentage in the history of the survey. The Labor Market Tightens Continued staffing growth, the mounting rush of industry retirements, the current mid-level skills gap and a lack of incoming young professionals are all contributing to a tightening insurance labor market. Further compounding this shallowing talent pool is a growing demand for skilled professionals. Within the finance and insurance sector, the number of job openings is undoubtedly on the rise. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are currently 267,000 openings in finance and insurance. This is the highest amount reported since the inception of our study in 2009. This mounting number of open positions points to job growth and a lengthening time-to-fill. In fact, ten of the 12 functional categories included in our survey were rated moderate or difficult to fill. Five of those 12 saw recruiting difficulty increase slightly. Analytics, executive and actuarial positions continue to top the list of positions considered most difficult to fill. As many industry positions remain unfilled, insurance organizations must rethink their current recruitment and engagement strategies. They must shift their attention to training mid-level employees, recruiting strong Millennial and Gen Z talent and filling active gaps with interim workers. Temporary Staff as a Rising Solution Faced with pressing talent challenges, many companies are drawing upon temporary staff. In fact, the use of temporary employees has been on a rapid growth trajectory since the economic downturn. This accelerated use of interim professionals continues, as 90 percent of companies are planning to maintain or increase their use of contract employees. According to the BLS, temporary employment across all sectors has grown by 57,200 jobs since January. The temporary penetration rate for the overall labor market—the number of temporary jobs as a percentage of total employment— has reached 2.07 percent. This marks immense growth from the 1.34 percent reported in July 2009. The use of contract or interim talent may be key to the future of insurance industry staffing. Many organizations are utilizing a “run lean” staffing mentality, making interim employees a key talent resource. Simultaneously, many experienced professionals are now opting for contract work, enjoying the flexibility, specialization and diverse projects that this type of work has to offer. As the insurance industry maintains a strong pattern of revenue growth, continued staffing demands and a narrowing labor market are highlighting the need for new talent solutions. For further insights into the Insurance Industry Labor Market Study, download the full results.

Technology is Changing the Way We Enroll in Health Plans

The 2018 healthcare open enrollment period is on the horizon. Unlike previous years, this year’s enrollment season will last only 45 days—spanning from November 1 through December 15, 2017. This shortened period is concerning for healthcare providers who continue to face an increased demand and influx of new customers during open enrollment. In addition, recent years have seen the advent of public health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act and the growth of private health insurance exchange use by employers. This movement towards a business-to-consumer distribution approach is placing individuals in the deciding role in terms of open enrollment health plan selection. Faced with a shortened enrollment period and the movement towards a consumer-oriented health plan selection, how can healthcare providers ensure they are effectively and efficiently interacting with and engaging their customers? Fortunately, we stand amid an age of rapid technological evolution. Widespread advancements continue to revolutionize the way organizations do business and provide a unique solution to emerging open enrollment challenges. In today’s highly-connected world, individuals have become accustomed to accessing information anytime, anywhere and on any device. Healthcare providers need to embrace technology-driven lines of communication in order to more successfully interact with their customers. In preparation for the 2018 open enrollment period, health organizations are looking for solutions to assist in their customer interactions. Incorporating emerging technologies may be the key: Provide different channels for health plan purchasing: Evolving customer demands have led contact centers to support an average of nine channels—including social media, chat bots and live-agent phone discussions. In light of these changing needs, insurers need to integrate cross-channel customer engagement into their open enrollment plans. Organizations may want to consider adding in-person kiosks, easy-to-navigate websites and self-service phone menus. Develop personalized, multi-channel outreach: In order to appeal to a wide variety of consumers, health providers are introducing more personalized outreach. Understanding how your customers want to be engaged is critical. Some people favor traditional methods including postcards and phone calls. Others expect web-based and digital content that can be consumed on-the-go—including emails and social media notifications. Understanding the preferred method of communication is key to effective outreach. Make sure your organization is covering its bases with social media updates, text messages, electronic notifications, emails, and “snail mail” announcements and reminders. Implement digital tools: From text message checkups, remote care monitoring and wearable technology, digital advancements are impacting how consumers and healthcare providers and plans interact. Within the open enrollment period, insurers are looking at digital and mobile to increase engagement. This includes mobile apps that allow individuals to shop plans and upload documents, calculators that help consumers estimate plan costs and digital postcards that provide enrollment overviews and links to educational videos. These unique solutions are enabling healthcare providers to better engage with their customers. Embrace the customer experience: According to a recent survey, health insurers rank as the least customer-centric of all insurance providers—falling below the maligned airline industry. With this in mind, insurers must focus on transforming the customer experience as they move towards the upcoming open enrollment period. Some insurers are taking note from companies like Uber. They are connecting customers needing assistance with service agents and brokers who are able to provide support. Others are encouraging customers who are placed on hold to provide their contact information in order for a representative to call them rather than have to wait on the line. Regardless of the method, technology is playing an increasingly important role in ensuring success during open enrollment. Is your organization embracing the potential of technological advancements? What solutions is your company implementing in preparation for the 2018 open enrollment period?

Insurance Talent Shortage Hits Finance and Accounting

Insurance organizations are facing a perfect storm within their finance and accounting departments. Increased accounting-rule changes and regulations are driving insurers to grow their current finance and accounting departments. In fact, the accounting sector boasts faster than average job growth. Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 11 percent growth by 2024—representing the addition of 142,400 new jobs. Unfortunately, this growing demand is being met with an increasingly shallow talent pool of experienced professionals. Much like the overall insurance industry, the accounting and finance sector stands amid a growing labor crisis. Currently, 72 percent of recruiters report having difficulty filling open finance and accounting positions. A number of key factors are driving this talent shortage, including a rise in retirements, a fierce entry-level market, an increase in employee turnover and an emerging skills gap. According to the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), more than 75 percent of today’s professionals will retire by 2020. This ranks among the highest percentages of any field within the same timeframe. This mass exodus of tenured talent has led the sector to increase their young professional recruitment activities. Driven by recent efforts of schools and accounting firms to market accounting and finance as a career, undergraduate accounting programs are seeing a record level of students. Enrollment recently reached an all-time high, crossing the 250,000 threshold for the first time. Despite the record number of enrollments and graduates year-over-year, the competition for accounting grads is fierce. Currently, 82 percent of employers are looking to hire graduates with business/accounting degrees. The most recent AICPA statistics showcase a 7 percent increase in accounting graduate hirings, with a record 43,252 hires. In addition, 91 percent of firms are planning to hire at a similar or higher rate in the coming years. As a result of this growing demand, the majority of accounting students have jobs secured before they even reach graduation. Organizations are now looking at two-year accounting graduates and even expanding their outreach to high school students in order to secure talent. Unfortunately, these new entrants into the profession have a much higher turnover rate than their predecessors. In fact, the average young professional will change jobs four times before the age of 32. Within the accounting and finance sector, the estimated average turnover is 17.2 percent—compared to 12.8 percent in the overall economy. Further adding to the growing shortage is an emerging skills gap. While companies are able to replace open positions, they are struggling to replace experience. Nearly 80 percent of the workforce is filled by Millennials, many of whom have less than five years of experience. In addition, there is a growing mismatch between the skills students learn in school and the skills CFOs are looking for. According to a recent survey, 48 percent of employers report difficulty finding candidates with the necessary technical competencies and hard skills while 38 percent report a lack of workplace competencies and soft skills. This mismatch is adding to employers’ concerns about finding qualified professionals to meet increasing demands. In order to combat these growing talent challenges, insurers need to take a look at their current recruitment and development practices. Recruitment should be focused on addressing the key perks and benefits sought by emerging professionals. In a sector with the stereotype of long hours spent number crunching, promoting a culture of work-life balance, cross-department development and innovative project opportunities will help organizations compete for in-demand talent. Additional training and updated development opportunities should be implemented to provide these entry-level professionals with the background and skills necessary to fill the impending gap. But what if your organization has an accounting/finance position that needs to be filled right now? Many insurers are turning to contract subject matter experts to address immediate needs. Partnering with a staffing firm—particularly one with an insurance industry focus—provides organizations with access to a bench of highly-skilled professionals that can be called upon to provide a stop-gap while a permanent position is filled or to offer hands-on expertise for special projects and assignments. These highly-skilled individuals are a unique solution that allows organizations to bring on experienced accounting and finance professionals who can quickly jump in and get started. How is your organization addressing the growing shortage of accounting and finance talent?

The Remote Revolution: Benefits and Best Practices for Embracing a Telecommuting Culture

Quick—what does the typical telecommuter look like? Did your mind conjure up an image of a young professional set up in the corner of the local coffee shop with a large coffee and laptop? Or perhaps you pictured a busy mom juggling school drop offs with conference calls? Do these fit your idea of the typical work-at-home professional? If so, you’d be wrong. Once seen as a rare office perk, remote work has quickly become a business reality. Driven by the unique organizational benefits provided by telecommuting—lowered costs, extended labor pools and increased recruitment and engagement—more and more organizations are embracing flexible work. Within the past year, 43 percent of Americans spent at least some time working remotely, with 20 percent of professionals telecommuting full-time. In our latest edition of Compass, we share our unique insights into the benefits of remote work and strategies for implementing and managing an effective work-at-home program. For an insider’s look at telecommuting best practices along with an update on the insurance industry's talent market, download Compass.

Compass 10.3: The Remote Revolution: Benefits and Best Practices for Embracing a Telecommuting Culture

The work-at-home movement is taking off within the business world. This far-reaching trend has gained increased popularity in recent years as employees push companies to break down the structures and policies that traditionally influenced the workday. Find out how your organization can successfully implement a work-at-home program.

Combat the Summer Slump: Top 8 Tips for Keeping Your Employees Engaged as the Thermometer Rises

School’s out for summer! As summer vacation kicks into high gear, children around the nation are celebrating three long months of swimming, biking and playing. Unfortunately for adults, the daily office schedule doesn’t change as the temperature rises. In fact, the lazy days of summer have shown to have a significant impact on employee motivation and performance—20 percent of organizations report a drop in productivity. The summer slump is a real and pressing business concern, but how can today’s organizations combat this decreased workplace productivity? Here are eight easy-to-implement tips to keep your employees happy and engaged during the long summer season. Introduce relaxed dress codes: As the temperature rises, are your employees left trudging the steamy sidewalks in a full business suit? While businesses want to maintain a professional appearance, summer provides an opportunity to loosen up your dress code. Nearly three-quarters of employees claim to be less productive when they are overly warm or uncomfortable in the office. As long as employees don’t have important client meetings scheduled or aren’t in customer-facing roles, allowing them to dress in cooler, more relaxed clothing can go a long way. In fact, studies have shown that employees who are allowed to dress more informally at the office are less distracted, more comfortable and have increased morale. Provide a change of scenery: Take advantage of the beautiful weather outside of the office and soak up some sun while improving employee energy. Outdoor meetings have been proven to increase communication, heighten relaxation and improve overall mood. Thanks to modern technology, it’s easy to stay connected and productive outside the office. Embrace flexible schedules: Kids are home from school, vacations are on the books and family events are filling up the calendar. Summer can be an extremely challenging time for employees to find work-life balance. With flexible schedules considered the most influential workplace perk, allowing your workers to develop a flex-time schedule can go a long way toward increasing morale and avoiding burnout. The scheduling can come in a variety of forms, including four 10-hour days, early dismissal Fridays or work-at-home options. Celebrate happy hour: Despite the usual connotation, “happy hour” doesn’t need to be limited to after-hour drinks. Consider introducing a morning coffee break or an afternoon activity. Either way, giving employees permission to take a break can help them de-stress during the day. In addition, it provides employees with something to look forward to and brings a little bit of excitement to the workday. At Jacobson, we encourage employees to participate in organized “shake-it-out” events that span from coloring and crafting to charades and games. Engage in volunteer activities: As the weather heats up, the options for outdoor volunteer activities are endless. Neighborhood clean-ups, summer camps and restoration projects are great opportunities to get your employees out of the office and engaged with the local community. With corporate citizenship shown to increase employee engagement, volunteer opportunities can go a long way in re-energizing your staff. Plan a company outing: Whether it’s as simple as a potluck barbeque or an afternoon at a local rooftop restaurant, planning a company-wide summer outing is a great way to bring employees together, create a positive work environment and grow peer relationships. Having a fun activity to look forward to can be a great motivator and has actually been shown to increase workplace morale. For years, Jacobson has offered fun and creative summer activities including a lake cruise and an afternoon at the ballpark. Encourage vacation time: Workers in the U.S. use only 51 percent of their paid vacation time. Too often, employees feel they have to work or are uncomfortable asking for time off. Unfortunately, organizations aren’t doing enough to encourage their employees to take a break. Despite concerns over coverage or ongoing projects, nearly 40 percent of workers feel more productive upon returning from vacation. It’s important for organizational leaders to encourage their workers to take vacations to recharge. Summer is the perfect time to remind your employees to get away and unplug. Bring on the summer interns: An intern can be critical to alleviating stress during the summer months—providing extra support on projects, filling in during vacation time and offering fresh ideas. Make sure to train your intern to provide support across key areas of your department. This ensures they are best able to assist in the completion of high-priority projects and responsibilities.  The summer slump doesn’t have to be your organization’s reality. Make sure to implement employee engagement activities to re-energize and re-focus your workforce despite the rising temperatures.

Taking the PULSE of the Insurance Labor Market

The latest edition of PULSE, the monthly supplement to our quarterly Compass newsletter, is out! According to the latest BLS Employment Situation report, insurance unemployment is down. Following a slight increase at the beginning of the year, the unemployment rate for the industry was back down to 2.0 percent for the month of May. This decrease was aided by the addition of 1,800 jobs. This trend of low unemployment and job growth is expected to continue throughout 2017. For an insider’s look at this and other key industry labor statistics, download our latest issue of PULSE.