Many workplaces across the U.S. look vastly different today than they did 12 months ago. Remote work became the 'new normal', and businesses across sectors mobilized quickly to digitize operations. Yet, despite the changes, a lot also remained the same, especially in the insurance industry. Vertafore recently released findings from its annual Insurance Industry Workplace Survey that asked insurance-agency employees about the state of their careers to gather an industry outlook from employees' perspectives. Most respondents to this year's survey said that the aspect they enjoy most about working in insurance is the "ability to work directly with my community." "Compensation/financial stability" was the second-most popular answer. It follows that most respondents (41%) indicated that they plan to stay in their current role for more than 10 years. However, that percentage is lower than in 2019, when 49% of agency employees said they would stay in their career for more than a decade. "These numbers show that, although the ranking remained largely the same, there are fewer people who feel they would stay at a job longer than 10 years," said Vertafore in the report. "Why is not immediately clear, but this may have to do with a general sense of instability in the job market at large and the impact of COVID-19 on women's career tracks, as nearly three-quarters of our respondents were women.'

Source: Vertafore

Notwithstanding the many benefits an insurance career provides, agency employees still find reasons to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Employees' number-one reason for leaving the industry this year was compensation followed by work/life balance. Other reasons included retirement, burnout, mental health and family. Vertafore suggests these responses further illuminate the coronavirus pandemic's impact and the disruption it has caused on the professional and personal levels. To help insurance agencies support current and future employees better, Vertafore offers six simple steps outlined in the above slideshow. Click here to read more findings from Vertafore's "The insurance industry workforce" report. Related: |

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