NUPC explores risk management and rewards
This month, we bring you the results of the 2019 Risk Management Compensation Survey, conducted on behalf of NUPC by Readex Research.
We asked full-time risk managers (RMs) to tell us about their compensation and benefits, what their job responsibilities entail, who they report to in the organization, and how satisfied they are with their jobs. You can find the results in our feature on who makes what.
See also: Pains and gains: Our 2019 Risk Manager Compensation Survey
Overall, risk managers are quite content with their jobs and their profession. Of those who responded to the survey, 79% told us they were satisfied or very satisfied.
We also asked RMs to tell us the ways that their job responsibilities expanded over the past year, and we found some interesting responses. Several told us that they are dealing with cyber issues more than they ever have. In some cases the new responsibilities include overseeing the company’s IT department — whether they have a background in IT or not. One RM shared this note with us: “40% of cyber risk has shifted and continues to change almost daily, the strategies, policies and procedures have completely been revised.”
Other RMs told us that they’re now responsible for compliance in a variety of areas, including safety and workers’ compensation. This is in addition to the traditional role of mitigating risk and keeping workers safe on the job. They’re also becoming involved in more litigation and e-discovery. Most surprising to me was the number of survey respondents who noted that they’re taking on more human resource (HR) responsibility, for example, ensuring that workplaces are complying with requirements under the Americans With Disabilities Act. One mentioned that the duties now include working closely with other departments on return-to-work initiatives, which were once the domain of HR.
Several RMs mentioned dealing with business continuity and planning, primarily as a result of the natural catastrophes of the last two years. They’re also being brought in to higher level discussions about strategic risk management and enterprise risk management. And in a related strategic change, more RMs are dealing with insurance coverage and placement. Three mentioned that they are working with others in their organizations to explore the use of captive insurers. A few are looking into different ways to transfer risk. This indicates to me that companies are serious about mitigating risks before losses incur — something their insurance brokers and carriers have been urging for a long time.
Tell us more
We also asked RMs to give us their thoughts about their current jobs and the state of the risk management profession. One respondent captured the picture perfectly to my mind: “Compliance is harder to achieve. Not because the laws are harder to interpret or comply with, but rather because more is being asked of risk management professionals with no increase in staffing and no technology assistance.” As we see in many companies regardless of industry, staffing is lean and mean, and each employee is asked to do more with less. At some point, with this situation, employees burn out and stop caring. If they continue to care, the quality of what they do suffers, not through choice, but because you just can’t keep going at a non-stop pace.
In addition to burnout, risk management faces the prospect of fewer employees to replace the ones who are retiring or leaving, which several RMs highlighted as a concern. One RM told us, “I am educating the future risk managers and insurance professionals and the industry needs to educate high school students on the careers and professions available. A career in risk/insurance should appeal to the desires of the iGen coming into the workforce.” Another RM echoed these sentiments: “I am moving toward retirement. I am not seeing the RM youth movement. My employer is anxious about my retirement, but isn’t moving up RM staff so they can learn on the job.”
Here at NU we want to do all we can to encourage new entrants to the insurance industry, especially as risk management professionals. As one survey respondent said, “The job is never boring, never dull.” Another explained that “Risk management profession is expanding and showing more and more importance.”
We asked six risk managers under the age of 40 to tell us why they chose the profession, and their answers provide some additional insight for companies that are recruiting staff for the risk management department. You can read about these RMs in our feature, “Rising Risk Professionals.”
If you’re in a company that has a risk management department, what are you doing to ensure continuity within the team? Are you recruiting in nontraditional job markets or demographics? Are you enhancing training? I’d like to know your thoughts, and you can share them with me at rdonlon@alm.com.
As one RM said, “It’s a great industry that isn’t going away!”
And that’s what is top of mind for me this month.
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