Sponsored content: Lea Cheesbrough, chief executive at Movo Partnership, explores how to support talent initiatives in the insurance sector
1. What is the most concerning or biggest talent related challenge facing the industry?
It’s the same as it’s always been to some extent – and is focused around three major challenges.
The first issue is the image of the insurance industry. For many people under 21, insurance is something that seems boring and stuffy – Ive asked a number of students.
The industry isn’t portrayed in the press or visually as dynamic, exciting, interesting or lucrative. No sexy programmes, like Suits or ER, exist for the insurance industry like they do for other professions. Perhaps we should create one!
The second issue is that the pipeline of new talent isn’t keeping up. Fewer school leavers and graduates are actively choosing insurance as a career compared to more “exciting and pioneering” industries, such as tech or finance. Even within emerging areas of our industry, such as parametrics or risk management, many candidates are drawn to more high profile industries.
The third issue, in my view, is that a large portion of the industry’s experienced workforce is nearing retirement. Roles in underwriting, broking and claims rely heavily on institutional knowledge and that expertise isn’t easily or quickly replaced.
As senior professionals leave, we risk losing not just headcount, but decades of judgment and relationship-based know-how. The industry isn’t just short on people – it’s short on the right people. And it’s not currently the first choice for many of them.
2. What are the most impactful steps brokers can take to attract new talent into the industry?
We need to change the narrative from within. Insurance broking is still widely seen as conservative and sales-heavy. That undersells what the role actually is – advising businesses on risk, navigating complex global issues and increasingly using data and technology.
There has been a large focus on many corporates to focus on graduates and, whilst I understand the reasoning for this, we overlook school leavers and more mature individuals who are ready for a change and want to come into the industry in later life.
Put bluntly, attracting talent isn’t about convincing people insurance is “good enough.” It’s about showing that broking is intellectually engaging, commercially impactful, and evolving – and then backing that up with a tangible, modern employee experience.
3. What one factor would you call out as key to ensure UKGI talent pipelines are diverse?
In our market, diversity gaps don’t usually start at senior levels – they start with who gets in the door in the first place. If the new incumbents are all graduates from the same backgrounds with the same life experiences, everything downstream – promotion, leadership, representation – stays the same.
What makes the biggest difference is removing barriers when hiring. Many roles don’t truly require a specific university, a traditional degree or, to be fair, any degree at all if the candidate wants to learn.
Expanding routes into the sector, such as apprenticeships, school-leaver programs and career switcher pathways, immediately widens the pool.
The key idea is simple but often missed – you can’t develop diversity later if you didn’t admit it earlier. Fixing the top of the funnel is the highest-leverage move.
4. Could you tell us why it was important for Movo Partnership to show support and become sponsors and signatories of the Insurance Times Destination Insurance campaign?
For me, it’s about both personal and professional experience. I dropped out of university and felt like I had failed, but I picked myself up and ended up with what my family felt was a second-best option – a career in nursing.
When I left nursing I wanted to find somewhere where I didn’t just enjoy working, but where felt part of something bigger.
I fell into insurance – like everyone does – and didn’t have any experience at all, but I had drive, passion and a willingness to learn.
I look at what this industry has given to me and the many friends I have made and can’t understand why the image of the sector doesn’t reflect the reality of how wonderful a place this is.
