Report Highlights Talent Shifts Reshaping Insurance Workforce

A new report from Aon, Three Roles to Build Insurance's Next-Generation Workforce, examines how insurers must adapt talent strategies to remain competitive amid accelerating industry transformation. The report highlights automation, climate risk, and shifting workforce expectations as key forces reshaping talent needs across the sector, according to Aon.

The report identifies talent as a central strategic priority, noting that insurers are entering a period of rapid change driven by digital disruption and evolving risk landscapes. As a result, organizations must align talent strategies more closely with business objectives to sustain performance and respond effectively to changing market demands, per the report.

Automation is a major driver of this shift, with 43 percent of current tasks expected to be automated by 2030 and 97 percent of insurers already accelerating automation efforts, according to Aon. This trend is redefining workforce requirements, increasing the need for employees who can combine technical expertise with digital and analytical capabilities.

In response, the report outlines three emerging talent profiles that insurers must develop to navigate this transition. These include reimagined insurance practitioners, industry futurists, and change orchestrators, each representing a distinct set of skills required to support evolving business models, according to the report.

Reimagined practitioners—such as underwriters, claims professionals, and actuaries—are expected to integrate traditional expertise with digital fluency and artificial intelligence-enabled decision-making. Hybrid skillsets, including combinations of insurance knowledge with environmental, social, governance (ESG); cyber; or data capabilities, are becoming increasingly important, per Aon.

Industry futurists are described as professionals who translate emerging risks—such as climate change, cyber threats, and geopolitical developments—into actionable insights. These roles often draw from interdisciplinary backgrounds and play a key role in informing strategy, product development, and risk assessment, according to the report.

Change orchestrators, meanwhile, are responsible for enabling organizational transformation by driving digital adoption, fostering collaboration, and supporting workforce reskilling. These roles are critical as insurers shift toward more agile, project-based work environments and seek to embed new ways of working across the enterprise, per the report.

The report also highlights the growing importance of climate and ESG-related talent, noting that insurers are expanding capabilities in areas such as risk modeling, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder engagement. Demand for these hybrid skillsets continues to outpace supply, requiring more structured development and training approaches, according to Aon.

Finally, the report emphasizes the need for insurers to modernize their employee value proposition to attract and retain talent. With 65 percent of candidates withdrawing from hiring processes due to unattractive culture or employer value propositions, organizations must focus on purpose, flexibility, and career development to remain competitive, according to the report.