ALU SURVEY RESULTS
Lori Boucher, FALU, FLMI
Carla Martin, FALU, FLMI
Laura Wheeler
Kristine Amen
Last year, the ALU Survey Team dove into the current happenings in our underwriting industry. We focused on the prevalence of process and procedure changes and how those were impacting an underwriter’s time and energy. In 2023, we learned our underwriters feel engaged and inspired 85% of the time. The energy in our industry and the future potential is palpable. In 2024, we wanted to ride the energy and understand where underwriters desire to be, what they need to feel supported, and highlight areas to foster success for all. Every year we share the demographics of our survey respondents. This is important because it validates the findings are the voice of underwriters. Less than 5% of respondents are in a support role. Routinely most of the surveys are completed by individuals in a production underwriting role, followed by under- writing managers, trainers and auditors. Only 5% are spending time in research and development or innovations daily. Even with all the algorithms and automation in place, there continues to be a strong need in our industry for the knowledge and experi- ence production underwriters provide.
Maintaining the talent – we dove into the archives reviewing the 2015 ALU survey results to understand who intended on retiring in the next 5 years. Nine years ago, 23% of underwriters planned to retire in 5 years. We recall the discomfort around this! The industry reacted through in-house training programs, active recruiting at job/college fairs and cross train- ing. Now, in 2024, only 11% plan to retire in the next 5 years. Most of our industry (40%) plans to remain in the workforce for 16+ years. Interestingly, even with the low level of retirements planned in 5 years, nearly 50% of those surveyed have 16 or more years of experience. That is a LOT of underwriting knowledge/ expertise out there!
A noticeable trend is underwriters taking advantage of new opportunities within their organization and outside of it. As we’ve learned, almost 50% of under - writers have 16+ years of underwriting experience, but that doesn’t mean they’re sitting still with one employer. Approximately 45% of underwriters have 5 or fewer years with their current employer. This may surprise some, and possibly even cause some anxiety if you’re a people leader or underwriting trainer. Figure 1. How Long Have You Been an Underwriter or Been Involved With Supporting the Underwriting Function?
ON THE RISK vol.40 n.3 (2024)
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