BUSINESSES today face many challenges but chief among them is a manpower crunch.

The insurance industry in particular is facing a critical situation. The job vacancy rate for 2022 stood at 4.1 per cent, the highest average annual rate since at least 1998. Another survey by the Manpower Group showed that 80 per cent of employers in the finance industry could not find the talent they needed.

This manpower crunch is especially tough on the insurance industry because much of our interaction remains human-to-human. People want to see their financial advisers in the flesh and get advice from them in person.