WTW talent rebuild over, focus shifts to ‘strategic and opportunistic’ hiring
Global insurance brokerage has finished the rebuilding of staff lost in prior years while a hoped-from merger languished, and is now shifting into a more targeted hiring pattern while simultaneously continuing its offshoring and job relocation plans, CEO Carl Hess has indicated.
“We have replenished our talent base, so our investments going forward are more focused on strategic and opportunistic hiring,” Hess told his company’s Q1 earnings call of a rebuilding of staff levels lost after merger talks with Aon hit regulatory obstacles, lingered and then fell apart. “That rebuild job is over.”
But WTW’s programme for moving or offshoring jobs and investments in technology may continue to displace some workforce, Hess acknowledged. Those previously flagged efforts may stand behind some recent press report of would-be staff reductions, he suggested.
Q1 saw continued hiring, including to the group’s verticals and to the MGU Verita. Investments in Q1 in personnel and technology placed an unspecified burden on the brokering segment’s margins, top officials admitted in presenting Q1 results.
The rebuild has not left WTW with a workforce that is universally at cruising speed. Hess cites a 12-18 month ramp up period for production staff and notes that 2023 hires, at the least, may see further acceleration.
“We are very pleased with the progress these groups of hires have made, but there is still more room to go, especially with the more recent vintages,” Hess told his company’s Q1 earnings call.
Attrition, in turn, has come down to “levels within our normal range”.
New federal regulations that would ban non-compete clauses should not be a major threat to the business, Hess suggested.
“We see this as quite manageable for us,” he told analysts. WTW is more reliant on non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreements, he indicated. “We've managed quite well with these in the past and we'll mange quite well going forward.”
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