The youngest generation in the insurance workforce brings with it new expectations, from culture and flexibility to structure and technology. For independent insurance agencies, adjusting long-standing practices to meet Gen Z’s expectations can be a complex process.
“I think the longer your agency has been around, the harder it can be to recognize when change is needed,” said Vonda Copeland (pictured), vice president of operations at Copeland Insurance Agency, a family-owned business based in Kansas.
Copeland joined the business, originally founded by her husband’s family, in the early 2000s. Today, she and her husband run the independent agency, which now has multiple locations across the state.
Over the years, Copeland’s career has expanded beyond the agency’s operations to industry leadership. She currently serves as a national director for the Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), a position she’s held since around 2021. Her early work with the Young Agents Task Force set the stage for deeper engagement with the challenges insurance agencies face around talent.
“It’s no secret that attracting younger talent is a critical issue,” Copeland told Insurance Business. “And it’s not just among independent insurance agencies.”
The Young Agents Task Force initially focused on providing state associations with a toolkit to help build out young agent programs. For its most recent project, it partnered with the PIA Partnership, a coalition of insurance carriers, to produce a resource aimed directly at agency owners: how to attract and retain the next generation of talent.
“We did a lot of research,” Copeland said. “We interviewed agency owners, sales force members, and service team members within the younger demographic to identify common themes and understand what they’re looking for.”
While their research didn't yield major surprises for Copeland, it did reinforce key insights. “Culture was top of the line,” she said. “Even if the participants didn’t use the word ‘culture,’ what they were describing was culture.”
For Copeland, culture is not a checkbox of descriptors, but an ongoing reflection of how agencies listen, adapt, and support their people.
Flexibility was another recurring theme, but not always in the way agency owners expect. “A lot of times, the fear is that flexibility is going to mean work from home,” Copeland said. “But flexibility can mean a lot of things.”
She described simple shifts, like allowing different start times or equipping employees with laptops to stay productive while caring for a sick child, that can send a big message.
Organizational structure also came up in the PIA’s research, particularly the need for visible paths to advancement. Independent agencies often lack layers of hierarchy, which can leave younger employees wondering how they’ll grow.
“You may need to create new opportunities within your agency to give them that clear path for growth,” Copeland said.
One idea that emerged from a casual happy hour brainstorm was creating a high-net-worth coordinator role in personal lines, an opportunity to develop niche expertise while progressing professionally.
“Sometimes, these opportunities already exist within the agency,” Copeland said. “You just need to ask the right questions and listen to your team. They know what’s happening in their day-to-day better than you do. These kinds of conversations benefit everyone: as an owner, you gain insight, and your team feels heard and valued.”
Copeland believes many independent agencies fail by waiting too long to plan for the future.
“I’ve seen agencies where they wait, and now all of a sudden, their entire base is getting ready to retire,” she said. “They haven’t been proactive. It’s so much harder to try to make up for lost time.”
She and her husband approached growth with the long game in mind. Their team now spans multiple generations, with experienced professionals mentoring recruits.
But hiring isn’t enough. “If you bring in a young person without knowing how you’ll support their growth, they’ll probably leave within six to 12 months,” Copeland said. “You need to ask yourself, from their perspective, what do they see when they look at your agency? Can they see themselves building a future there?”
She stressed the importance of evaluating staff and projecting potential retirements two, four, even six years out.
“You can never start too early. If you wait until someone says, ‘I’m ready to retire,’ it’s already too late. Great service people take one, two, even three years to fully grow into their role,” Copeland said.
“If you’re not identifying upcoming retirements and onboarding talent well in advance, you’ll find yourself scrambling.”
