Could virtual reality mentors help train recruits in the property and casualty insurance industry? It may sound futuristic, but early iterations of virtual reality and AI-based learning are already being used to help onboard new hires in the industry, panellists…
Workplace flexibility, one feature of a hybrid workplace, has proven to be a selling point to attract younger brokers. But the hybrid office makes it difficult to supervise newly recruited brokers to make sure they’re doing things correctly, broker E&O…
Senior broker retirements, a labour shortage that’s spurring firms to bring new, inexperienced employees into brokerages, and a hybrid office may be combining to increase a broker’s errors and omissions (E&O) exposure. “It’s very difficult to track [broker E&O] claims…
While the hard market’s still a huge challenge for Canada’s broker distribution channel in 2023, finding qualified workers was also top concern for brokers. So said more than 150 nationwide respondents to Canadian Underwriter’s 2023 National Broker Survey. The survey,…
A high percentage of today’s pool of risk managers has been working in the industry a long time, and the next largest group are fairly new to the business. Those in the younger group “are excited about what they’ve done…
Canadian property and casualty insurance industry leaders have often talked about the importance of managing with empathy during the pandemic, but empathic managers will become even more valuable in the hybrid workplaces that are expected to emerge after the pandemic…
Proper manager onboarding and development can have high payback for any sales force, noted the blog Why New Sales Managers Need More Training, published late last week in Harvard Business Review. Onboarding is the process of integrating a newly hired…
Brokerage owners in some regions are struggling to find staff who know commercial lines. “There are very few people (in Saskatchewan) who understand commercial insurance deeply,” said David Reidy, president and CEO of Regina-based commercial brokerage Henderson Insurance Inc. To…
When Canada experiences back-to-back catastrophes, it can be a challenge to pull together all the required resources in a timely fashion. Part of the puzzle is ensuring that claims adjusters and other parties are properly trained for the files they…
There’s a new training ground in Canada for insurance professionals interested in fast-tracking themselves into entry-level management positions at insurance companies, adjusting firms and brokerages. Humber College in Toronto is halfway through its inaugural, two-semester P&C Insurance Management Postgraduate Program,…
Cybercriminals will navigate away from their focus on data and start to target or threaten human life in the near future, cybersecurity expert Kevvie Fowler suggested in an interview with Canadian Underwriter. “Moving forward the next five or ten years,…
Getting younger people to choose the broker channel as a career remains a challenge, the incoming president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) told Canadian Underwriter in a recent interview. “In the high schools is where it really…