Agency Employee Satisfaction Falls Despite Pay Raise

Insurance agency personnel on average made a little more money in 2019 but they were not as happy as they were in 2018.

Nearly all personnel — owners, producers and support staff — enjoyed a slight uptick in average pay.

However, satisfaction with compensation dipped across the board, according to the 2020 Agency Salary Survey, published annually by Insurance Journal. It was the first time in five years that average employee satisfaction with compensation fell.

The dip occurred despite the fact that total compensation and salary adjustments on average rose slightly in agencies for management/agency owners/agency principals and support staff/CSR/account executives. Satisfaction over compensation dipped slightly to 3.35 overall in 2019 from 3.47 overall in 2018, based on based on a scale of 1-to-5 where “5” equaled “most satisfied.”:

• Management/agency owners/agency principals reported a compensation satisfaction score of 3.63 in the 2020 survey, down slightly from 3.67 in the 2019 survey.
• Producers/sales reported satisfaction of 3.24 in the 2020 survey, down from 3.31 in the 2019 survey.
• And support staff/CSR/account executives reported a satisfaction score of 3.02 in the 2020 survey, down from 3.12 in the 2019 survey.

In keeping with survey results of previous years, the score for overall satisfaction was higher when agencies offered employee benefits, both hard benefits (such has group health, dental, profit sharing, pension plans, IRAs and flexible savings accounts and soft benefits (such as childcare/day care, education reimbursement and paid family leave).

Employee benefit satisfaction ranked highest in the survey when agencies offered added benefits such as an education reimbursement (3.82), profit sharing (3.77), Employee Stock Ownership Plans (3.67), and paid family leave (3.65). The survey found that in all employee benefit categories queried, employees showed more satisfaction with overall compensation when those benefits were offered.

The survey also revealed a slight upward trend in total compensation for most agency positions. Insurance agency management, owners, principals and support staff continued to show steady raises in total compensation in 2019 – a similar finding from the previous year.

According to the 2020 Agency Salary Survey, based on nearly 1,000 responses nationwide, total income changes, which includes salary plus additional compensation such as profit sharing, bonuses and other income, were:

• Agency owners, principals and management reported a small increase in total income for 2019, which revealed a 6.0% increase in total income, compared to a 5.5% increase in total income for 2018.
• Producers/sales total income revealed a 5.9% increase for 2019, compared to a 6.0% increase in 2018.
• Agency support staff total income rose the most in average to a 3.6% increase for 2019, compared to 2.9% percent increase in 2018. Salaries only (excluding bonus and incentive income), rose again in 2019 but no more than the previous year, according to the survey results:
• Salaries for agency owners, principals and management rose 3.8% in both 2019 and 2018.
• Producers/sales reported average increases in salary of 4.5% in 2019, compared to 4.2% in 2018.
• Salaries for agency support staff went up 3.0% on average in 2019, which was slightly lower than the 3.1% raise they got in 2018.

Insurance Journal’s official research partner, Demotech Inc., assisted with analysis of the 2020 Agency Salary Survey.