On retaining talent in the London Market: a conversation with PwC (353)

InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

InsTech

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.8 • 50 Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Attracting and retaining talent in the London Market is an evolving concern, with the PwC CEO Survey revealing that 93% of respondents either recognise the need to change or are already adapting their strategies to address it. Let’s discuss how! In this special podcast episode done in partnership with PwC, we invited Anna Craston, Senior Manager, to host a panel discussion to explore the critical trends shaping talent management in the London insurance market. She’s joined by fellow PwC colleague Simone Ritson, Phoebe Thomas from CFC, Jacinta Chiang from WTW and Alfie Holt from Marco Capital to share their firsthand experiences and insights. Together, they discuss how companies can build inclusive cultures, the shifting expectations of new talent and what organisations must do to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. This episode dives deep into why attracting diverse talent is just the beginning and why inclusion, development and purpose are the real keys to retention. Key talking points: Understand why changing employee expectations are reshaping the London insurance market. Learn how AI, automation, and technology are driving new workforce capabilities. Explore the historic challenges in attracting diverse talent to the London market — and how that's starting to change. Examine the impact of culture, career growth, and leadership development on employee retention. Discover the importance of outreach programs to schools and universities in broadening insurance career awareness. Hear why inclusion, not just diversity, is critical for long-term workforce engagement. See how mentorship, reverse mentoring, and visible career pathways can support retention. Get practical ideas for fostering inclusion, from flexible working to cultural days and accessible networking events. For more information, you can read PwC’s Transforming the London Market report. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning. Continuing Professional Development This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme. By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives: Describe the current challenges and evolving expectations around attracting and retaining talent in the London market. Explain how diversity and inclusion initiatives can move from hiring strategies to meaningful cultural change that fosters retention. Identify the most effective strategies companies can use to make the London insurance market more appealing to diverse, next-generation talent. If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 351 page of the InsTech website or email [email protected] to let us know you have listened to this podcast. To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	My name is Anna Krastan and I'm a senior manager at PWC,
0:09.0	and I work within our insurance sector, supporting our clients on their transformation agendas.
0:14.0	Businesses and leaders across industries are facing key questions and concerns about their future workforce. The PWC CEO survey further highlights this concern.
0:24.6	93% of responders say they recognise the need to make a change or already
0:29.6	changing their strategy for attracting and retaining talent.
0:33.6	I'll talk a little on attraction and retention separately.
0:36.6	Later, we'll hear first hand from colleagues
0:39.5	across the London market and hear their experiences. We're seeing some key trends such as the
0:44.6	proliferation of AI automation, which are exacerbating the need to review the workforce, skills and
0:51.0	capabilities needed for the future, and changing expectation of employees, meaning that
0:56.3	employers need to offer employees something meaningful beyond the nine to five to retain them.
1:01.7	If we look historically at the London market, it has struggled with the attraction of diverse
1:06.2	talent due to people either not knowing about or their preconceptions towards the London market and what it does.
1:13.0	It has, in the past, had a fairly stereotypical image being a little dull.
1:18.3	Unless you've lived in London or had friends, family working there, it's unlikely that you would have heard about it.
1:24.0	Lots of work has been done to raise the profile of the London market by the London Market Group,
1:28.4	and in particularly working with schools across London boroughs to educate the next generation
1:32.8	of talent into the London market.
1:35.3	What we have seen is the power of these companies supported by organisations such as the
1:39.7	LMG, CII and LMA to provide the scale to be able to host schemes. We are also supporting these
1:46.7	organisations providing learnings from our own schemes. Annually, we run a number of different
1:51.8	surveys, such as a London market survey, which provide insights into organisations and the challenges
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 20 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from InsTech, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of InsTech and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.