Insurance firms in new push to hire, retain employees

Insurance companies poaching from each other are seeing 40% plus attrition on the sales side and this is pushing firms to come up with strategies to stem the tide.

- Devina Sengupta

Insurance firms are increasing their workforce by more than 200% and are coming up with three-month notice periods, higher incentive programmes, and referral policies where employees can earn a part of the incentives that their referred candidates earn—to attract and retain employees -- according to senior executives at two major private life insurance companies.

“We grew from 7,000 employees about five years ago to 23,000 now. We are recruiting from competition and the BFSI sector," Tarun Chugh, managing director and chief executive officer of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, said. The company aims to hire a net 3,000 employees this fiscal and raise campus recruits to 1,500 this year from 900 last year.