The chief client officer UK & Ireland at Crawford & Co says the market needs to look to how it can win the ongoing fight for talent.

Speaking at the annual BIBA conference in Manchester, Emma Parr told Emerging Risks that the industry has to ensure that it attracts young talented individuals across its sectors if it is to continue to deliver its services.

“Biba is a great event which allows us to talk to our broker and insurer partners,” she added. “We are all in one place and it creates the opportunity to discuss the issues that affect us all.

“Talent and how we attract it into insurance is a conversation we need to have. We all understand the difficulties we have faced to bring new people into the business and we are all aware of the aging workforce and the potential for gaps that may create in the years to come.”

Parr added that at Crawford they have been keen to look to how they can solve the issue and that some of the lessons learned could be assumed by brokers and underwriters as they look to enhance recruitment and retention.

“We set up the Crawford Academy three years ago, with the aim to upskill our staff and attract new people to the business,” she explained. “The results have been extremely positive and the academy is now being opened to our staff across Europe.

“What we need to do is create a system where people who enter in the industry  have career paths which are clearly explained and they are aware of the way in which they can progress.

“We are keen to work on professional development and we have just been accredited by the CII for CPD points for the Academy’s programmes.”

Parr continued: “We have to be asking ourselves how do we attract new talent  and people into the claims market. How do we tell them what is involved in the insurance industry, and the range of roles they can take. If you look at Crawford, you may be in regionsw across the world responding to catastrophe claims or you may be  working in forensic accounting. The opportunities are huge, but we need to be better at getting the message across.”

Parr said that Crawford will support staff in taking  qualifications and not just around loss adjusting.

“We want to allow them to achieve qualifications they can take with them and use in other area of our business. The debate around talent has been happening for many years but we need to look closely at what works and what we need to do to make a career in claims, underwriting or broking more appealing.”