What came in like a lion is now going out like a lamb: The “baby boomer” generation.

Retirement is draining America’s workforce. The 78 million baby boomers (born 1946-64) will retire at an estimated pace of 10,000 per day over the next 20 years.

The average age of insurance industry professionals is 56, according to a research study (“The Looming Professional Gap: The Aging of the National Insurance and Risk Management Workforce”) just published by The National Alliance Research Academy and created in conjunction with WAHVE.

This retirement survey of 3,000 industry professionals (aged 46 and up) found that they expect to retire at age 66, on average. Noted the white paper: “A retirement expectation of 66 leaves a 10-year time window to prepare for the retirement of the largest age demographic in the insurance and risk management industry.” Industry professionals surveyed for this study also had an eye-opening perception: Only 33% think that their organization is prepared for their retirement. So the trend is obvious: Agencies and other employers in the insurance industry are facing a coming vacuum created by baby boomer retirements. The National Alliance calls it a “pending labor shortage in the insurance and risk management industry.” The good news for agencies in the U.S. is that the future workforce will be available in the coming decade: retirees. While today’s workers look forward to retirement, they also plan to continue working part-time. The National Alliance study found that 59% of pre-retirees plan to continue working on a part-time basis after retirement. The National Alliance study dubs this “phased retirement.” Retirees are here; they’re experienced and capable; and they’re ready to work. But they want a different work arrangement than they’ve ever had and that any agency has ever offered them. They want to work part- or full-time and from home. And they want to use technology to make it happen.

My opinion, based on this research as well as my own industry experience, is that today’s insurance workers, once they retire, will be a major source of labor for independent agencies around the country. Domestic outsourcing using retirees enables an agency to tap into a highly valuable workforce. The agency can use part-time and/or full-time remote workers to perform process work and supplement regular staff.

In just a couple of months since my company launched, I’m finding a strong response: More than 300 retired or retiring insurance agency workers have applied to WAHVE, and dozens of agencies have inquired.
The retirees have a broad range of experience and expertise, and some are already working for insurance agencies. For example, there is a “WAHVE” living in Texas who works remotely for an agency in Long Island doing high-level commercial lines policy checking. Another living in Washington State works remotely for an upstate New York agency to support the agency as it branches out to commercial lines.

The insurance industry has always been about people. The challenge (and opportunity) for agency principals is to find them in new ways.

Contact: Sharon.Emek@WAHVE.com / 646.807.4372 / www.WAHVE.com