Will Public Risk Managers Keep Their Jobs?

In honor of the upcoming Labor Day, and with so many Americans suffering job insecurity in these tough economic times, is it time to ask whether public risk managers are at risk, given the budget crunch facing state, county and city governments as tax revenue falls? That's the question posed today by NU Assistant Managing Editor Caroline McDonald, who has heard some disturbing talk in the market.

When she returned in June from the annual conference of the Public Risk Management Association in Anaheim, she noted that she came away “wondering about the job security of public risk management in this tough economic market,” following chats with attendees and exhibitors.

“They told me that belt-tightening in many jurisdictions has meant that public risk management jobs are being combined or eliminated altogether in some areas of the country,” she reported. “They also said that public risk managers are becoming 'victims of their own success,' because of the success of pooling in many jurisdictions, which they said has led to risk manager layoffs.”

She noted that “the other day I spoke to a public risk manager of a large jurisdiction and posed the question of job loss from successful pooling. What I got was a 'yes and no' answer. Yes, some risk managers are losing jobs because pools have become so proficient at overseeing their insurance needs. This is happening mostly in smaller jurisdictions that elect to use pooling methods, my source said. But the flip side is that many of these risk managers have remained in the slot of 'insurance buyer,' thereby limiting, or even cutting short their own careers.”

Caroline notes that “for several years, National Underwriter has been reporting that risk managers need to keep up with their industry and stay ahead of the curve by taking risk management or business courses, or getting an MBA degree. In other words, they need to carve out a niche for themselves that takes them beyond the role of insurance buyer.

Now, with the heat on, however, she added, “according to my source, these risk managers also need to go beyond their insurance buyer boundaries and create new roles and thereby, new respect for themselves from higher-ups in their organizations.”

How widespread is this threat to public risk management jobs? And what else can public risk managers do to rise to this career challenge?

We invite you to share your own observations or experiences.

Happy Labor Day!