Among the issues canvassed in the 2026 Insurance News Wellbeing Survey, none garnered a more passionate response than this question: if you could change one thing about the insurance industry, what would it be?

Communication, collaboration, compliance and compassion all attracted frequent mention among the 700 who replied.

So did burnout and overtime, leadership and culture, staffing, training and recognition.

Also discussed were AI, the industry’s public image and the tension between profits and the industry’s purpose.

A NSW broker replied that the “focus always seems to be on externals – client and new business revenue and retention. There are no metrics or KPIs related to internals – staff retention rates, absenteeism, wellbeing, career promotion and development, community engagement etc.

“What you don’t measure, you don’t treasure. We do not measure staff wellbeing in our industry whatsoever.”

She called for “an industry-wide effort to upskill and educate leaders to be empathetic, mature and accountable for their people’s career and skill development”.

Our annual magazine article detailing the findings of the survey, which was sponsored by Allianz, has been read by thousands. But much of the frank and important feedback did not make that article.

Below are more responses from insuranceNEWS.com.au readers on what they would change first.

Workloads

Too many people are juggling a ridiculous workload with significant additional hours and weekends, and management continue to pressure them for growth.

The culture is outdated and contributes to poor mental health by rewarding people for working out of hours and sacrificing their work-life balance.

Be honest about the real workloads of staff. If the truth is an employee has to work 45-plus hours just to keep their head above water but is only paid for 37.5 hours, then the company is getting an unfair benefit.

Get everyone to slow down – there seems to be so much going on all at once from every direction.

More acceptance that people are not machines and need to have some downtime.

I can never say it enough: reduce workloads. Most in the industry work regular overtime just to stay afloat. We feel like we’re drowning – this deters the juniors from considering insurance as a long-term career.

Stop assuming that because someone is capable, resilient and high-performing, they can simply keep absorbing more.

Talent

Have more champions of the industry. It is a hard sell to people but the wide variety of career paths available and relative ease to find employment is fantastic.

Foster natural progression – a lot of the older generation fell into the industry, but we don’t see that these days because those that would start out as receptionists or processors are all employed overseas.

Priorities

Stop ripping people off. Reward loyalty.

Reduce the “return on equity” mantra and focus on staff wellbeing rather than shareholder returns.

Get rid of the woke and DEI appointments and reduce the excessive salaries paid to executives.

We have seen a change in culture in our company for the worse. Not as much fun as it used to be, and cutting back on the things that offered recognition and team building.

Eradicate all insurance taxes. It is a public good, not cigarettes.

Stop making profits the only thing that matters.

Require every claim denial, exclusion application, or low-ball cash settlement to pass through a genuinely independent, appropriately qualified reviewer.

Leadership

Integrity and knowledge should be considered more highly than flashy suits.

Weed out poor leadership before damage is done to the staff that are doing their best in the front line.

Ensure leaders have more screening to ensure they are fit for purpose.

More empathetic leaders who don’t just care about the financials.

Give more people the authority or ability to make commercial decisions. So much of my time at work is spent negotiating with those who have no authority, and then time is wasted going up the management chain.

More investment in training and education for people managers and leaders to foster more inclusive workplaces that develop (and recognise) talent and succession.

Pressure

My workplace is very good but the state of the world, market pressures, constant competition make you feel like you’re always behind and never going to catch up. Perhaps scheduling time to switch off on a regular basis would help.

Proactive risk identification of psychosocial risk in workplace.

I have been on various forms of leave and had to work. The worst was my daughter in hospital and me sorting out claims, as there is a lack of support.

We need to be able to switch off, not receive emails all night about renewals being due.

Gender and diversity

Fix the gender pay gap.

There needs to be more support around women in leadership roles. In 2026, to have a board/C-suite that is entirely made up of men needs to be reviewed.

It still feels very much like a man’s world and there needs to be more female voices in this industry to survive.

More education on consent, violence and treatment of females.

Hold predatory management accountable for bad behaviour, career hampering, sexual harassment and misogyny without stigma for the person making the complaint.

Someone's off-hand comment is another person’s indication that they and people like them are not respected in that space, and respect is the basis of any kind of functioning relationship. 

Diverse nationalities in the industry. 

Regulation

My job used to be interesting and rewarding. It is now the biggest tick-a-box enterprise in history. I am done with the insurance industry.

Compliance and red tape is killing us. It has increased our workload considerably. There is no downtime or quiet periods any more.

The amount of compliance and regulation is over the top, and trying to abide by these practices without incurring breaches weighs heavily on brokers.

While tight compliance is essential, I feel that we are getting closer and closer to it becoming more of a burden on the consumer than it protects them.

Technology

More support staff like we used to have in the ’80s and ’90s. Time lost on administrative tasks can be significant and reduce time on underwriting and winning business.

We need to go back to more of a relationship focus. Embrace AI to a point, but we need to retain the humanity in our profession.

I don't want it to get to a stage where people are fired in place of an AI bot.

Stop focusing on data and start focusing on humans.

If I don’t want to use your portal, I should be able to interface in a controlled way with your systems directly via API.

Industry reputation

It would be nice if more of the positive stories are shared and communicated more widely. Much of the negativity about insurance is based on assumptions and not fact.

Run a positive marketing campaign telling how much the industry actually contributes and what would happen to the economy if there was no insurance.

The perception is that the industry is untrustworthy. It’s very hard to win over customers when the industry has such a bad reputation. The media never reports any positive insurance stories.

Respect and favouritism

Proper support to all staff, not just managers’ pets

Shift old-school mindsets – there is too much of the industry that are “lifers”.

Greater appreciation of the older and more experienced participants.

If empathy found its way back into our approaches, things might feel a little lighter, and every cog in this machine might feel a little more drive to get back to the core of why we’re in insurance; we’re here to help fellow Australians.