Industry Keeps Pace As America Gets Older, Wider

Critics have for years complained that the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry’s employment picture does not reflect the diversity of America.

A new report from the Employment Equality Office (EEO) confirms this. Only 2.6 percent of employees are African American and only 4.3 percent are Hispanic or Latino. The industry does a bit better with women; 38 percent of its employees are female.

Those numbers are overall a poor reflection of the diversity of America.

But the report also has some good news for insurance industry diversity watchers. While the P/C insurance industry lags in the hiring and advancement of ethnic minorities and women, the industry has a very strong track record with two other groups that often face discrimination: older Americans and heavyset Americans.

While P/C employees and senior executives are overwhelmingly male and white, they are also increasingly old and heavyset. In fact, the P/C insurance industry ranks as one the oldest and heaviest.

Also, while during the recession other industries have cut back on their diversity efforts, the P/C industry has continued to get older and wider along with the country.

“We have always argued that corporate American should look like America looks,” says Mindy Wickles, chair of the Diversity in Business Initiative in Washington, D.C. “The property/casualty industry has found its own way of accomplishing this worthy goal.”

As baby boomers grow older, so does the U.S. workforce. The EEO report confirms that the insurance industry is getting older along with the nation, with an average age of agency principals, 58, and an average age of carrier managers, 64. Of the 1.2 million workers in the P/C insurance industry, more than 15 percent are 65 years and older – which beats the country’s population percentage of seniors of 12.9 percent.

The P/C industry ranks high among corporate entities in the average age of employees, behind only the U.S. Senate, the funeral industry and public parks department workers. The average age in the U.S. Senate is 72 while in the funeral industry, it’s 66.

“The insurance industry doesn’t get enough credit for all it does for older Americans,” said Mary Sprint, 62, an insurance recruiter in Maine. “Hiring all of these elderly and keeping them busy contributes enormously to our economy. It also keeps the libraries and bingo halls from being overcrowded.”

Eighty-eight year old Harrison Buford has been CEO of Middle American Insurance Co. in St. Louis since 1949. He said that whenever his senior managers meet, there is nobody in the room under age 68, not counting the nurses. He believes there are clear advantages to having older, wiser leaders at the helm. “Take that predictive modeling craze of a few years ago,” Buford said. “I know a passing fad when I see one.”

Gerry Attrick, an agency owner from New York, started a networking group of young people, aged 65 and under, who want someday to work in the P/C industry. “The group is growing because they know it’s either this or bagging groceries at Safeway or Piggly Wiggly,” she said. “Insurers pay them a little bit more because there is no tipping.”

The P/C insurance industry is not just older than other industries, it’s also bigger around the waist. In the EEO ranking of industries by median weight, the P/C insurance industry came in fourth, behind trial lawyers, donut shop owners and bankers, but above professional football players.

The P/C industry weighs in at 238 pounds. A healthy 28 percent of employees are heavyset, which is just a tad shy of the figure for the entire U.S. population, which is ballooning.

“These P/C jobs are among the most sedentary jobs in America,” said Marty Zuck, researcher and author of the EEO report. “So if they aren’t heavy when they are first hired, there is a good chance they will be within a few years.”

Some other industries force out heavyset employees, according to Zuck, but not insurance.

Tommy Matson used to work in the adult entertainment industry. He was let go when he reached 200 pounds. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Matson, who now works for a surplus lines broker in Rhode Island and loves it. “I work all day in air conditioning with my clothes on. It’s great.”

Overweight Americans are an easy target for discrimination, not just in employment. However in the P/C industry they know that a few extra pounds won’t get in the way of career advancement.

At the recent Independent Brokers of the U.S. meeting, a panel of executives assigned to discuss diversity was perfectly cast for the occasion. The five, 65-year old white, balding, heavyset male CEOs all agreed: the industry must increase its diversity to survive.

“If we as an industry don’t strive to look and think like our customers, they are likely to go elsewhere,” said 67 year-old Mack Jackson, CEO, Jackson Brokerage.