Insurance HR pros ‘battle’ familiar challenges
Survey: Talent retention concerns many HR professionals the most in 2024. They also worry about the impact of AI.
Human resource leaders say they’ve battled many of the same old problems since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The post-pandemic workplace hasn’t been a smooth transition back to the old normal by any means,” according to a survey conducted by People Managing People, “but some key challenges that people operations and HR professionals have been battling for years continue to present the biggest challenges.”
Talent retention concerns 44% of HR professionals most in 2024, the survey showed. The impact of AI and automation concerns 19% of respondents; skills shortage worries 16% of them; and talent market volatility and return to office mandates are top of mind for 8% of survey respondents. Concerns over the aging workforce and changing labor laws rounded out the study.
One workplace worry begets another
Meanwhile, the aging workforce also heightens concerns for workplace injuries and time away from the job.
“Injury frequency increased from 2016 through 2019 for workers aged 65 and older, even as injury frequency’s long-run decline continued overall, especially for workers between 25 and 44,” Patrick Coate, senior economist at the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), told PropertyCasualty360.com.
“Older workers tend to have more days away from work given an injury, both within and across injury types,” he added. “The biggest reason that more Americans aged 65 and older are still in the labor force is simply that there are many more of them, and in part because of their increasing numbers, older Americans are an important demographic for work and workers compensation.”
Additional insights from People Managing People survey include:
- 11% of HR leaders mentioned the potential of AI as a positive for the coming year;
- 7% of HR leaders mentioned more focus on learning and development as a positive for the coming year;
- 7% of HR leaders mentioned remote and flexible work as a positive for the coming year.
At the same time, 39% of surveyed HR leaders said AI and technology would become the largest industry disruptor over the next 10 years, while 30% said economic uncertainly would dominate. Other key answers include talent scarcity at 10%, changing demographics at 9%, political instability at 6%, and office versus remote and environmental crisis accounting for 5% and 3%, respectively.
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