Claims officers believe that the jobs most difficult for them to staff in the future are technical resource and middle management positions, a consulting firm survey has found.

The findings from an online poll of 59 claim officers were made by Stamford, Conn.-based Towers Perrin in a survey titled “Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent” taken in August and September prior to the global financial crisis.

Sixty four percent of poll respondents said frontline technical resource jobs will be among the most difficult to staff over the next three to five years, and 51 percent said middle management personnel will be the hardest slots to fill.

Towers Perrin said the majority of these roles are occupied by pre-retirees, and filling this potential personnel shortage has firms aggressively recruiting applicants with a wide range of skills–from customer service orientation and friendliness to problem-solving and analytical capabilities.

The survey, said Towers Perrin, underscores insurers' focus on strategic, growth-related actions–including the retention of key talent and expansion into new product or service lines–rather than making across-the-board staffing cuts.

Kathleen Cullen, Towers Perrin senior consultant said, “We can anticipate that the more highly skilled positions–especially those staffed by pre-retirees–will be most difficult to fill. Firms today recognize the connection between growth strategies and building and maintaining a strong, skilled workforce–even in this challenging economic environment.”

Fifty-eight percent of claim officers said problem solving is the top core claim operations skill for those conducting inside/outside adjusting operations, ahead of soft people skills listed by 53 percent and verbal communication skills (51 percent).

The top core skills sought for call center operators, according to respondents, are soft people skills (92 percent), basic computer skills (51 percent) and problem-solving/investigating skills (39 percent).

In order to retain current employees, survey respondents listed a mix of pay, work/life balance and career advancement/growth opportunities as factors that keep employees with a company.

But Towers Perrin said in its “Global Workforce Study,” surveying 90,000 employees from various industry segments, the insurance industry workforce cited satisfaction with the organization's people decisions, the belief that senior management acts to ensure the firm's long-term success, and the organization's reputation for social responsibility as the chief reasons that they stay.

Nearly 70 percent of claims officers said the most effective method for recruiting top-notch candidates is employee referrals.

Other best methods listed in order of preference were internal postings, promotions, Internet-based job boards and outside recruiters.

Ms. Cullen said in the future, “The winners in the securing and retaining talent sweepstakes will be those firms that can demonstrate the greatest flexibility in matching their recruiting and compensation efforts to meet market demand and a changing workforce dynamic.”

The poll found that 66 percent said the most challenging training gaps for personnel are in the areas of supervisory development. Thirty-seven percent mentioned both line-specific technical training and litigation management and 36 percent mentioned general business skills.

Towers Perrin said the survey included claim officers from small firms (those with less than $200 million in written premiums), midsize companies (those insurers writing between $200 million and $750 million in premiums) and large companies (firms whose premiums exceed $750 million a year).

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