How American Modern is attracting the next generation of insurance

By 2026, the insurance labor force could lose around 400,000 workers according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Attracting and retaining new talent to the industry has become a top priority for carriers, and many are centering digital innovation and offering educational opportunities in their talent acquisition efforts.

American Modern Insurance Group, a Munich Re subsidiary that provides specialty property and casualty coverage, has gone through a multi-million-dollar digital transformation. Its updated tech systems and digital tools are now integrated across product lines, and its claims department incorporates insurtech solutions that streamline its processes. 

American Modern is also boosting its talent development program, American Modern University. The program, conducted at a real training campus,  prepares workers for the industry by improving data literacy and also enables adjusters to conduct real-world simulations.

Digital Insurance conducted an email interview with Mike Williams, global HR learning and development expert at Munich Re, who oversees American Modern University, to learn more about the program.

How does your talent development program prepare your workforce for the insurance industry? What can participants expect from the program?
The goal of our talent development program – which we’ve named American Modern University – is to provide every employee, regardless of their role, access to best-in-class functional training that supports their career growth while also aligning with organizational strategic workforce plans. All training within AMU focuses on the necessary skills we’ve identified as key drivers for organizational growth and success. Participants can expect a robust and wide array of curricula: from in-house certificate programs and learning journeys for employees new to the insurance industry, to leadership development coursework, formal mentorship programs, and much more. Additionally, we recognize and reward all employees who earn a certification through AMU in an annual Authentic Expert celebration.

How is talent prepared for the industry’s evolving digital landscape?
You hear it all the time – data analytics is becoming more and more important for our industry. Providing relevant coursework for everyone, regardless of their role, has been a key focus of AMU. Our data-literacy programs, which we developed in-house, enable our workforce to dive into data and analytics topics that are relevant to every role in the organization and focus on key competencies such as storytelling with data, arranging dashboards, and understanding the pitfalls of relying on subjective feelings over objective data points. We follow that up with a data-literacy assessment that helps identify skill gaps in data concepts at both the team and business unit level. This allows us to identify which data-driven competencies could be enhanced through the development of additional educational programs.  

What role does technology play in attracting or retaining talent?
For us, this is a bit of an indirect play – meaning, tech isn’t a big part of our recruiting process. However, technology enables our agent partners and policyholders to get the help they need quickly while freeing up our professional workforce from repetitive or manual tasks in favor of more value-added work. So, from that perspective, technology is very important. We attract and retain great talent because technology allows us to offer challenging roles that people enjoy.

Our internal innovation team is a key partner in helping the company implement technology into our workflows that make sense for our business. AMU then partners with the innovation team and the business to create appropriate training from a development and change management perspective that enables our workforce to explore, embrace and transition to these new technologies – which is definitely an important retention driver.

Do you use technology as a tool in your teaching?
Yes, we provide a blend of interactive eLearning content, instructional videos, virtual instructor-led training workshops and blended-learning programs. These programs are developed in-house and then are supplemented and supported by digital learning platforms like LinkedIn Learning for additional access to relevant skill development.

Any news or plans to share looking forward?
As part of Munich Re, American Modern is already working collaboratively with our global talent development teams on a new, global learning development platform. The goal of this tool is to provide every single employee with access to the same professional development curricula and coursework to support their careers and upskilling needs, no matter their geographical location.