The Global insurance industry continues to offer fast paced and well-rewarded career opportunities across wide ranging business functions in diverse and inclusive businesses. Here, Hays use the data from their Salary & Recruiting Trends 2020 guide to explain the current salaries and benefits in insurance.

Salaries rising but employees skeptical

85% of insurance employers increased salaries last year, higher than the UK average of 76%. The overall average salary increase over the past 12 months for insurance was 1.1%, with underwriting (2.1%) and claims (1.8%) seeing particularly significant hikes.

Skills shortages impacting employee morale

Skills shortages remain an issue for employers, with 87% saying they have experienced them in some form last year. This is a slight increase on 84% the previous year. Employers are feeling the effects of these shortages, with 55% claiming they are impacting employee morale, higher than the UK average of 44%, and 49% saying that productivity is also affected.

The specialist skills in highest demand are operations (40%), followed by managerial and leadership skills (32%). When it comes to soft skills, those most needed by employers are communication (74%) and problem-solving (64%).

Career progression a key driver of employee movement

The most significant driver of employee movement is lack of career progression – over a quarter (26%) say they want to leave their current role due to a lack of future opportunity, which is much higher than last year’s figure of 12%. A lack of salary satisfaction remains a key reason for employees to move roles too, with a quarter (24%) saying they want to leave their current role due to salary.

Work-life balance an increased priority

Work-life balance is also taking increasing precedence as an area that employers need to address, as 41% rate their work-life balance as average or poor. Insurance employers can meet employee expectations in this area with the provision of flexible working, however currently only 67% of professionals say they are aware of the flexible working options available at their organisation (lower than last year’s figure of 71%). Insurance employers should promote the programmes they have in place to improve work-life balance both throughout the recruitment process and to existing employees.

Earning Potential in Insurance

 

Business Function	Entry Level*	Senior roles*	Career Potential*
Underwriting	£20,000	£162,000	£230,000
Claims	£36,000	£133,000	£178,000
Broking	£35,500	£151,000	£201,000
Risk and Compliance	£23,000	£78,000	£142,000
Audit	£36,000	£102,000	£132,000
Projects, Change and Operations	£35,000	£101,000	£201,000
Actuarial	£33,000	£232,000	£305,000

*Salaries based on London

Hays is the leading global specialist recruitment group, and the market leader in places such as the UK, Germany and Australia. They are the experts in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of specialised industries and professions. The results reported here come from their Hays UK salary & Recruiting Trends 2020 Guide.