Transformation & Change – UK Insurance Labour Market Trends, May 2024
Insurance Firms Struggle with Digital Shift, Drop in Change Role Recruitment
Key findings:
- The amount of Change vacancies has fallen by 17.6%
- IT project management roles have increased by 33.3%, in London
- Transformation & Change vacancies regionally see a drop of nearly 80%.
- Legal & General have been the busiest in the market so far in 2024
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Insurance companies are facing a myriad of challenges at a time when there is deep uncertainty in the industry and the global economy. Similarly, transformation projects have changed and now require a far greater focus on data and analytics capabilities. The trend toward digitalisation has resulted in companies embracing the cloud, and with each wave of transformation, the level of cost and complexity has increased. This has resulted in an average of 5 percent of insurance companies’ revenues being spent on change programs.
For context, in 2022, there were 431 change vacancies published, this then dropped to 153 last year, whereas in terms of this year, so far, there have been 42. As a result, change vacancies as a % of total have fallen from 1.4% in 2022 to 0.5% so far this year. This is according to the latest UK Insurance Labour Market Trends report by Harrison Holgate and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
The increase of IT project management roles in London
When looking at the trends emerging in London specifically, what becomes clear is the divergence between what is happening in the capital and the rest of the country. Hence when looking at change vacancies in the capital, this calendar year is set to see an uplift of 33% compared to 2023. This is after there was a fall of 64% in 2023 compared to 2022. Nonetheless, in many ways, 2022 can be understood as an anomaly, and on that basis, it can be seen that activity in 2024, is up in recent years.
In contrast, there has been a marked pick up in more broad IT project management roles. With those volumes have increased by 33%.
Transformation & Change vacancies regionally see a drop of nearly 80%
Whilst the general trend up to this year has been the same across the country, since January the divergence is noticeable. With that, we see that vacancies are on track to be 53% lower in 2024 than last year. Such is the drop regionally, that after a high of 256 transformation & change vacancies in 2022 regionally, we are forecasting a total of 42 in 2024, which would be a drop of nearly 80%.
Analysed by skills, Project Management is the largest grouping, equally due to volumes falling by over 60% this year compared to last, it has shrunk relative to the total, dropping to 57.1% compared to 2023, when it made up 67.8%.
Legal & General have been the busiest in the market so far in 2024
Legal & General have been the busiest in the market so far this year, with six vacancies between January and May. When one compares this to the four they had in all of 2023, this is the biggest surge out of any of the major insurers. Pacific Life Re is also worth spotlighting, in that they have doubled the number of vacancies they have had this year compared to last, within five months.
Finally, Gallagher is worth mentioning, given the appointment of Michael Rea as UK CEO. With an increase in vacancies seen for transformation and change professionals since his appointment, could that be linked to a wider business strategy?
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