Stress and Opportunity

The first quarter of 2025 has been a whirlwind. New presidential administration. Historic wildfires. Financial market volatility. Trade war and tariff talks. A looming recession. Higher costs at the grocery store. Higher car repair bills. Higher cost of wood products including paper (this is a big one for Insurance Journal) Oh my.

And yet through it all the insurance industry seems to be doing remarkably well. Many of the largest property and casualty insurers have set record incomes for 2024. But overall, I think it’s safe to say that stress is part of the picture for the industry and the clients it insures.

According to a recently released study by Sentry Insurance, more than two-thirds of polled executives reported feeling more stressed at the beginning of 2025 than they did at the start of 2024.

The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Sentry, found stress levels elevated in 67% of participants. At the same time, 74% of executives said they were not completely confident that their company’s current insurance coverage is adequate.

“Our research highlighted a recurring theme: managing risk is a big part of managing stress,” said David Dickinson, customer research director at Sentry. “Executives are experiencing worsening external challenges and putting strategies in place to protect the future of their businesses. This year, many are increasing safety measures, reassessing their insurance, and making adjustments to navigate external pressures.”

Wakefield Research polled 1,000 owners and C-suite leaders of U.S. companies for Sentry’s 2025 C-Suite Stress Index.

Nearly half (47%) of business leaders reported optimism that their companies will thrive this year. Of those optimists, 63% described the stress they face heading into 2025 as higher compared to this time last year.

Economic uncertainty (47%), supply chain challenges (44%), the cost of employee health care (41%), labor shortages (38%), and inflation (36%) ranked as the top five concerns among the survey participants.

In addition to economic and labor factors, 72% of surveyed execs expressed concerns about rising litigation and multi-million-dollar verdicts in their industry. Ninety percent said their business has been affected by severe weather in the past five years, with nearly two-thirds (63%) experiencing outages that left company, customer, or vendor systems temporarily inoperable.

Specifically on the insurance front, Sentry found that nearly all executives (97%) plan to re-evaluate their insurance policies this year.

Could this be an opportunity for agents and brokers to shine?

Yes, said Sentry, as some 43% of the respondents indicated they will re-evaluate their policies with an eye to adding insurance coverage to lower risks. Some 38% are looking to shore up areas where they are not currently covered but know they should be.

What are you doing to respond to your clients’ worries and stress today? What more could you do?