“Insurance’s innovation problem starts with its talent pipeline”
Anonymised interview with a corporate recruiter in insurance
The link between diversity and innovation is clearest in recruitment: if insurance wants different thinking, it must stop treating familiar experience as the only credible proof of talent.
To our anonymous interviewee – an experienced corporate recruiter now specialising in insurance who identifies as LGBTQ+ – insurance firms seem to acknowledge the value of diversity. But unless it is built into accountability with clear targets, it can easily start being seen as a nice-to-have rather than an essential contributing factor for success.
“Obviously, people are more aware nowadays of the benefits of having a diverse workforce,” he says, “but for people that are more senior, it’s probably less relevant compared with thinking about achieving their business targets.”
Only where D&I is pushed from the top, especially when linked to performance or bonus, does it become real.
A talent pipeline problem that’s actually getting worse
There are many talent imbalances within the insurance industry. One of the easiest to measure is gender, and gender imbalance at senior level is a long-term issue.
“You might have the same numbers of males and females joining… but what you notice is like a pyramid, where it’s more likely that the males will go to the top.”
However, this is not just an historical imbalance. According to the observations of our interviewee, there are fewer women than men being recruited into insurance again.
“Why are we going backwards? Why are we not looking into that?”
LGBTQ+ talent, role models and the cost of not being out
LGBTQ+ senior visibility is another generational issue that persists.
“LGBTQ I think is a difficult topic, because you can see this as a generational problem. People who are senior, they were not comfortable to be [out] maybe 20, 30 years ago. They’re still probably thinking, what if I’m out at work? How is that going to impact my career?”
That means younger people lose access to visible role models who can talk about career progression, leadership and navigating the industry: “If you can’t be yourself at work then you’re not going to be 100% productive.”
Small recruitment choices can change what “normal” looks like
Our interviewee gives the example of when he drew up a candidate shortlist for a role earlier in his career. He ended up putting forward candidates with non-traditional names and backgrounds, simply because they seemed the best people for the role. A senior leader noticed because it differed from the typical candidate lists they’d been used to.
“It was the first time ever that someone put forward names that are not the traditional Anglo-Saxon names. I never did it with that purpose. I just was trying to choose the best person for the role. But they were very grateful.”
This is a great example of where authentic behavioural changes can influence the assumptions and behaviour of others when it comes to what great talent looks like and how to attract it.
Recruitment is not neutral, in other words. Who gets put forward can shape which talent leaders see as credible.
“Eventually, when you start seeing the dynamics of the team changing, then the company will realise, okay, this is normal.”
That said, targets are probably needed too – not least because they prevent bad habits reasserting themselves over time.
Recruiters should go out to the market, not wait for CVs
Our interviewee also argues that talent acquisition should not be passive. Recruiters need to attend events, understand the market, see who is present and who is missing, and build relationships beyond inbound applications.
“I’m probably one of the few talent acquisition people attending these events. 99% are still in the office, but part of the job of talent acquisition is being there… talking, understanding what’s going on in the market, not just waiting for people to come to you.”
This lack of outreach is likely a key reason why insurance struggles to attract more diverse talent. It’s not just that recruiters may not know where to look; they seem in many cases unwilling to even try to look.
AI recruitment tools are reproducing old bias
On top of this apparent recruitment inertia is the potential compounding negative influence of AI recruitment tools which could intensify existing biases.
“I know a few companies that realise it’s not good for them to use AI for recruitment because it’s still biased, and that AI is not providing them with the best candidates.”
Insurance says it wants outsiders yet still overvalues insurance experience
The discussion turns to how willing insurance really is to open up to new talent. The industry often says it wants people from outside insurance, especially for innovation or transformation roles, yet still defaults to insurance experience.
Our interviewee points out that insurance is already extremely welcoming to some non-traditional groups, such as ex-army personnel. But it doesn’t always extend the same imagination to other backgrounds: “Why don’t we expand to all the other sectors?”
He accepts that some roles are technical and require insurance knowledge. But he challenges the assumption that sector experience is essential in domains like transformation, product, technology, operations, marketing, and change management.
“We do need to think outside the box more. For example, if you’ve worked for the civil service, you’ve been used to being in a regulated environment. So why can’t we hire someone that has worked in the public sector? Or for technology, digital transformation, or data, the UK is full of tech people from multiple backgrounds who could bring new and better thinking into the sector.”
As for the potential benefits of bringing in experienced talent from other industries, “they’re going to bring new ideas, they’re going to question, they’re going to challenge the status quo.”
Short-term hiring decisions are creating long-term skills gaps
If insurance wants innovation, it has to let in people who have seen different ways of doing things. So what’s the barrier? Why doesn’t the industry do this more?
For our interviewee, it’s because insurance is too often distracted by short-term talent considerations. Yes, there are widening skills gaps in key areas such as underwriting. Yet when the market is tough companies stop hiring “and then they wonder why there’s a skills gap five or ten years later. There’s not enough long-term thinking.”
On top of this, a lot of more diverse or more creative talent ends up leaving the industry because they find the work repetitive, with slow technology adoption and frustration when they find how far behind other sectors insurance really is.
“Diversity, skills and innovation are all future-facing. You can’t just switch them on when the shortage arrives.”
What companies should look for in innovative talent
If innovation is such a challenge, what should insurance companies look for in innovation or transformation hires?
“Certainly not just sector knowledge. Innovators need a commercial mindset, urgency, experience of similar challenges, the ability to learn quickly, and a readiness to understand the business.”
These are behavioural traits, not specific sector knowledge – something which the industry needs to move beyond if it’s serious about becoming truly diverse and innovative.
“Insurance doesn’t have to abandon rigour. But it should test for adaptability and commercial judgement rather than insisting on identical experience – otherwise it’s never going to change.”
Join the conversation
Click below to apply to take part in this diversity article series and be interviewed yourself…
Read our report:
Diversity & Innovation: Perspectives from insurance industry leaders at Insurtech Insights Europe, 2026
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining Link for more great insights and events from the LGBTQ+ community
