However, recent surveys by agency management consultants indicate a radical change when it comes to CSR compensation. Agency principals are discovering a new respect for these frequently overlooked employees, treating them less like clerical help and more like producers, with performance-based bonuses, incentive compensation and more professional training. Recent surveys show that more agency principals are adopting this philosophy. In its 1997 annual survey of independent insurance agencies and brokerage firms throughout the U.S. and Canada, Business Management Group of Hartford, Connecticut, discovered that compensation for experienced commercial lines CSRs increased nationally more than for any other position. But it's a national trend that will continue.
Agencies are desperate for experienced insurance people.
BMG's findings were echoed in a 1996 agency survey conducted by Lisle, Illinois-based Middleton Group, which reported that the dearth of qualified employees was costing agencies in recruitment expenses, training time, neophyte errors, and lost productivity when experienced producers leave the firm. As a result, agencies are willing to pay more to get and keep qualified employees. Regions with the highest per capita incomes included the Eastern Seaboard, the West Coast, and some areas of the Midwest, according to the Middleton report. A sensible alternative to the upwardly ratcheting base salaries of experienced CSRs would be to hire seasoned CSRs from other industries and train them in insurance. A CSR's salary typically reflects his or her experience in the business.