Gallagher at AIMA: Rethinking Benefits as a Talent Lever
By: Gallagher, Gallagher
Published: 2026-05-11 · Read time: 3 min · Category: Talent & Culture
Samuel Davis and Chris Andrew of Gallagher joined AIMA to discuss how employee benefits, communication and culture are shifting as alternative investment firms widen the talent pool.
Gallagher partnered with AIMA on a fund manager briefing exploring how employee benefits are evolving as alternative investment firms compete for a broader, more diverse talent pool. The session, titled Talent Evolution: Transforming Benefits for Tomorrow's Workforce, was led by Samuel Davis, Insights Leader for Specialist Markets at Gallagher, and Chris Andrew, Communication Consulting Lead at Gallagher, with Aniqah Rao of AIMA hosting.
The conversation drew on findings from Gallagher's National Benchmarking Survey, with a focus on how alternative investment compares to other industries on benefits design, and what that gap looks like as firms recruit from outside their traditional pipelines.
What the session covered
A few of the themes the speakers explored:
- How benefit benchmarking is changing, and where alternative investment sits relative to other sectors competing for the same skills.
- The role of benefits inside the wider Employee Value Proposition, rather than treated as a standalone HR line item.
- Why culture is doing more of the heavy lifting in retention than firms often acknowledge, and how communication of benefits often matters as much as the benefits themselves.
- Practical considerations for firms reviewing their benefits stack against a workforce that increasingly includes technologists, data specialists and operations talent alongside investment professionals.
Why it matters
For operations, HR and COO functions inside hedge funds, private equity, private credit and family offices, the talent conversation is no longer just about base and bonus. The skills firms now need sit further from the traditional alternatives talent pool, which puts pressure on the rest of the package, how it is communicated, and the culture it sits inside.
Gallagher's briefing is a useful prompt for firms thinking through their next benefits review, particularly those weighing how to position themselves against employers outside the industry for the same hires.
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_The full session recording is hosted on AIMA. Access requires AIMA membership._