A Conversation with Next-Gen Insurance Talent
Q&A with Greco Group’s Jonathan Höh and Irma Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic, two of the 2024 Global Broker Smackdown champions.
Insurance companies in the United States have for years sought to recruit young professionals as their older employees move ever closer to retirement in large numbers.
Their counterparts in Europe face the same challenge, say Jonathan Höh and Irma Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic, both group market developers for Vienna-based Greco Group.
Speaking to Leader’s Edge shortly before their team won the Global Broker Smackdown at this year’s Insurance Leadership Forum, the two Europeans shared how they fell into the insurance business and industry approaches for recruiting and retaining their early career peers.
Q
You both are early in your careers. How did you end up working in insurance?
A
Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic: I am originally from Bosnia. I pursued my studies in law in Austria. Upon completing my education, I commenced my professional career in a law office. Subsequently, I made a transition to the insurance sector, where I worked for nearly nine years. Following this period, I moved on to a position at a brokerage firm.
Höh: I’m German, living now in Austria working for Greco. But I happened to fall into insurance because there is a company called Ecclesia, the leading insurance broker in Germany, that offers a program where they would pay my university [tuition] and allow me to work at their Munich office part-time. That was quite a compelling argument. So, I looked into this and Googled “What is insurance and corporate insurance?” and “Who is Ecclesia?” I liked the overall offering. And then I happened to be five years with Ecclesia Group working in the insurance sector. And after that, I had to decide between moving to Detmold, the headquarters of Ecclesia, or to Vienna. Vienna being a nicer city I decided to join Greco.
Q
Jonathan, you spent a semester in the United States as an exchange student studying economics and risk management at the University of Arizona. What were some of the educational similarities and differences you experienced when changing educational systems?
A
Höh: It was quite a good complement to the studies in Germany because in Germany it’s rather theoretical preparing you to become a researcher in economics or risk management. But in the U.S. at U of A it was quite hands-on. We did case studies basically all day. We did a business simulation, similar to the one we do at Broker Smackdown now. It was quite eye-opening.
Clients and risk will always be there, and we have to deal with it. It’s our job. But we can only do that if we have the right talent on board.
Jonathan Höh, group market developer, Greco Group
Q
Irma, you have a history of working in claims and underwriting. What are some global trends that have impacted you throughout your career?
A
Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic: Digitalization is one part that I think is growing. A lot of companies are concentrating on that. Because you’re not only helping the insurance industry by digitizing. It also helps the broker side and the client side. Besides digitalization, cybersecurity is a new global trend. It is now a top priority for businesses worldwide, with management integrating it into overall strategy. This involves investing in security technologies, training employees, and promoting a culture of security awareness.
When you have the whole risk on the table then you see the company completely from the other side. Risks are very dynamic. Position is important when comparing or contrasting the whole market. You need to know the country of your client really well because the insurance product may or may not be very important based on their location.
Q
For American brokers, talent is a hot-button issue. Many American firms are worried about their current workforce retiring prior to them hiring new talent to replace them. Do you find that European brokers also face the same talent shortage?
A
Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic: Of course, we are having a lot of problems finding exact people with a lot of insurance knowledge in Central and Eastern Europe. Salaries and expectations for people who don’t know much about insurance is a big topic. Our company is focusing on new talent via ongoing development and lifelong education. The second issue that we have is that there is a lot of exchange between the people who work at different companies. We are trying to focus on having good employees and giving them possibilities to grow.
Höh: I think this is a major issue. Clients and risk will always be there, and we have to deal with it. It’s our job. But we can only do that if we have the right talent on board. When we look into Central and Eastern Europe, the majority of the people in our industry joined 20 to 25 years ago when the industry basically started because of the fall of the Iron Curtain.
At the same time the image of insurance is still the guy with the suitcase selling you life insurance you shouldn’t have bought. So, it is really a challenge. And this makes me think it’s an awareness topic because being into the industry now for almost 10 years, it is pretty cool. The two of us now get to travel here, we get to travel around Europe a lot. We can basically shape our ideas and bring them into the organization. And at the same time, we see on a daily basis the ins and outs of companies from all industries. Insurance makes it possible for most of those companies to operate because insurance is always needed.
Q
I’m an American. My worldview comes from growing up here. However, when it comes to you two, you both come from different countries and work for the same business. How does that diversity of culture and language impact your company’s workflow?
A
Ibrahimpasic-Hadzic: I’m speaking on a daily basis always in three languages. Some days I start writing and communicating with coworkers in English and then I figure out I can actually use Croatian. Diversity in culture and language in an international broker workflow enhances communication, fosters cultural sensitivity, and ensures operational consistency. It also promotes flexibility, adaptability, and the emergence of microcultures, while addressing language and time differences effectively.
Höh: I fully agree with Irma. We are quite international. Our corporate language is English, so we tend to speak English most of the time. However, like Irma said, if you figure out we can actually have this conversation in German or in Croatian or in whatever other language we share…. I think we have probably 20 languages in the region we operate in. And in the international teams also we try to have people speaking the languages of the countries they advise clients in, so for example French or Spanish.
Q
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to shape the world. What was it like operating in those post-Soviet countries up until the invasion?
A
Höh: We were operating basically up until when the war started in both Ukraine and Russia. Weeks after the invasion, we made a decision to leave Russia and sold our subsidiary to the local management. Staying in Russia would probably have meant [losing] most of our clients in the neighboring countries because of the friction between Russia and, for example, Poland or the Czech Republic.
I was actually in Ukraine two weeks before the invasion started. But for us it used to be a two-hour flight to Kyiv. Now you cannot fly anymore and it’s a one-and-a-half-day bus or train ride. We still have Ukrainian colleagues regularly visiting us in Vienna. We still operate in Kyiv with 16 people. We even merged two operations because of the acquisition of [brokerage] MAI CEE prior to the time the war started. It’s still possible to conduct business. You cannot say business as usual, but under a new normal.
