Introduction. The urgent task of modern corporate governance is to use innovative tools to develop the knowledge economy, where the primary source of wealth is human capital. A critical factor in the development of human capital in the new pandemic environment is to ensure the efficiency of staff to achieve commercial goals under any conditions of a sharp change in quarantine restrictions. The search for new tools for human capital development in insurance companies is an urgent and objective need. It will strengthen the competitive advantages of insurance companies in the face of such global challenges and threats as a pandemic. Aim and tasks. The article aims to determine the role and importance of tools for human capital development, to find new ways to improve them, taking into account the trends of pandemic waves. The following main tasks are 1) to explore the essence of existing tools for human capital development; 2) to establish the relationship between the use of appropriate tools for human capital development in the context of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; 3) propose approaches to the use of human capital development tools to qualitatively and quantitatively increase the competitiveness of insurance companies. Results. The article examines the essence of existing tools for human capital development at the macro and micro levels. The essence of outsourcing, outstaffing, personnel leasing, crowdsourcing, coworking, freelancing is analyzed. The relationship between the use of appropriate tools for human capital development in the context of the spread of new waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of insurance companies is established. Approaches to using human capital development tools to qualitatively and quantitatively increase insurance companies' competitiveness are proposed. Conclusions. The paper defines the role and importance of such tools for human capital development as outsourcing, outstaffing, staff leasing, crowdsourcing, coworking, freelancing. Ways to improve them, taking into account the trends of pandemic waves, are proposed. A direct relationship between applying the tools of human capital development in the new waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of insurance companies is established. It is proposed to use the analyzed tools to qualitatively and quantitatively increase the competitiveness of insurance companies.