Some global insurance brokerages offer what’s called human capital strategies. These approaches help clients make the best use of their most costly and risky asset: employees. With economic and political instability, together with rising workplace issues around anxiety and depression, all adding to industry staffing challenges, brokers could find opportunities offering risk advice to SMEs that incorporate human capital strategies.
For example, Lockton incorporates cultural consulting, internal communication strategies and health initiatives all under the banner of its human capital “solutions.”
For global broker Marsh, one focus of its “people risk management” is supply chains. According to a recent article by Amy Barnes, the firm’s head of climate and sustainability, supply chain management has grown in the last five years: from US$15.58 billion to US$24.6 billion. An average car manufacturer, said the article, could have 18,000 suppliers. For these firms, people risks, said Barnes, are one important part of a “confluence of many types of risk.”
Employee wellbeing, particularly in recent years, is another strong focus of human capital strategies. WTW has a “holistic wellbeing strategy” as part of its human capital offering.
In a recent article, the brokerage listed four actions firms can take in this area:
Puneet Swani (pictured above), Aon’s head of talent solutions for the Asia Pacific, said a human capital strategy combines performance management, talent management, reward strategy and a recruitment strategy.
The Singapore-based specialist said he’s seeing five human talent trends in his firm’s research and through global clients. These trends are indicative of human talent challenges brokers could increase their understanding of.
Swani said that many organisations have recently experienced transformations because of the new technology, ways of working and business models prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But what that did from an employee's perspective is they became fatigued and burnt out with all the new technology, the changes and everything that came with it,” he said.
As a result, Swani said “top of mind” for many of his clients is how to manage this burnout and turn it around so that individual employees can be motivated.
“There’s a need to balance and manage this because we’re in a situation where change will continue to happen and at a much faster speed than earlier,” said the broker.
Swani said the second trend – also linked to COVID-19 – is the rise of remote working.
“A lot of companies went to totally remote working and were giving up office spaces because this was the new normal,” he said.
However, Swani said many of his clients have realised that working from home raises big challenges around maintaining important work practices that used to be easy when everyone worked in an office.
“In the last couple of years, a lot of organisations have realized the importance of networking, teamwork and people coming together,” he said.
Swani said many firms are currently trying to work out the right balance between hybrid, remote working versus on site, working.
“You can't just ignore the importance of people meeting face to face, networking with each other and brainstorming ideas,” he said.
However, he said that businesses are coming up with a wide range of different work models in efforts to find a suitable balance.
Swani said a third key area currently in a process of transformation is the whole definition of rewards.
“Organisations have started looking at rewards more holistically and as more than just compensation and benefits,” he said.
Swani said this can involve treating rewards as more of a value proposition. This can include career development and growth, skills development, job redesigning, financial education and health and other benefits, including employee wellness.
The Aon broker said a lot of his client discussions concern trying to work out what types of work skills will be needed in the future.
“The skills required in the future might be very different from the skills required currently,” said Swani. “So how are you rewarding people who are acquiring these future skills?”
This comes back to the redefinition of work rewards.
“So it becomes a skill-based rewards discussions where rewards are moving from not only based on position and performance but also based on skill,” he said. “The other element is how are employees acquiring future skills? And how are firms rewarding for those future skills?”
“AI, especially from a human resources perspective is being used to automate processes and get more efficiencies,” he said.
However, ethical concerns, he said, present “a very thin line.”
“So, if you're using AI from a recruitment perspective, how are you making sure that there are no biases happening in that technology?” Swani said.
Do you see human capital strategies as an area where brokers could find opportunities? Please tell us below.
