The ‘silver tsunami’ in the Belgian insurance sector.

A sector that is ageing

The figures speak for themselves. According to the employment statistics published by Assuralia, the average age of an employee in a Belgian insurance company is well over 45, with an average length of service of almost 15 years.

Nearly four in ten employees (39%) are older than fifty, while barely one in five is 35 or younger.

This makes the sector one of the fastest ageing in the country. In joint committee 306, the share of employees over fifty was already considerably higher in 2020 than in the rest of the private sector. The cause is well known and, in a sense, obvious: the baby boom generation is gradually leaving the labour market, and the inflow of young talent is not always sufficient to absorb that departure straight away.

It is important to add some nuance here: this is not a story of one sudden wave at one particular moment. The rising statutory retirement age, 66 from 2025 and 67 from 2030, actually spreads the outflow across several years. And the sector does recruit young people, often highly qualified. So the real question is not “are we losing people?”, but “are we losing the right knowledge, and can we still pass it on?”

The real risk consists of knowledge that is not written down

What makes an experienced file handler so valuable is rarely found in a manual. It lies in the instinct to spot a file that “does not add up”, in knowing the exceptions, and in knowing which information is missing before the client even notices it themselves.

It is precisely this implicit knowledge that is hardest to transfer to a new generation, certainly when there is little time for onboarding and when younger recruits have different expectations of the job. Repetitive, manual administration also appeals to them less than analysis, advice and client contact.

That is where the tension arises that many insurers are wrestling with today. How do you absorb the outflow of experience without letting the workload of the remaining team spiral out of control?

Automation is a safety net. Not a replacement.

This is where intelligent document processing comes in. By automating routine steps in file handling, you not only compensate for the shortage of hands, you also capture the expertise that has been built up inside your processes.

In concrete terms, that means:

• Incoming documents and emails are automatically recognised and routed to the correct workflow.
• Claims are automatically checked, enriched and validated, with a standardised approach that no longer depends on who happens to be working that day.
• Complex or borderline cases are passed on to a human expert with a clear summary, so that their attention can go to what really matters.

In this way, the knowledge of your most experienced employees is no longer stored only in their heads, but anchored in rules, controls and workflows that keep running, even once they have retired.

People and machines, together

Automation does not replace human judgement, it strengthens it. The speed and consistency of automated processing, combined with the insight and the sense of responsibility of experienced people: for us, that is the right balance.

It allows the remaining file handlers to spend less time on repetitive administration and more on the files that genuinely need their expertise. At the same time, it makes the job more attractive to the new generation, who would rather analyse and advise than retype data by hand.

That way, the retirement wave does not become a threat, but a reason to organise processes in a future proof manner, while preserving the knowledge that makes your sector so valuable.

Curious how we can help you retain knowledge and prepare your file handling for the next generation? Get in touch with us and discover what intelligent document processing can mean for your organisation.