Agency Operations

Is the customer service representative (CSR) position in an insurance agency considered to be “exempt” or “nonexempt” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? This was a question recently posed…

Owners of insurance agencies often ask questions about how to properly pay their insurance agents and other employees working within their business. Because of increased litigation in this area, you…

Unfortunately, there is no magic to setting up producer compensation programs for commercial lines. As many agencies as exist is just about how many different types of compensation plans are…

It is unfortunate that the majority of agencies still do not have Non-Compete and Non-Piracy Agreements with producers and other key employees. Three things can happen without these agreements…and two…

An Employment Agreement protects both the employee and the agency. Owners would be wise to re-negotiate Employment Agreements with existing and/or new employees, with a legitimate form of consideration to…

This question comes up frequently with respect to payroll taxes, to benefits programs and to workers compensation rules. This is obviously an important issue, the results of which can cause state…

Many people think restrictive covenants are used primarily to restrict producers from stealing agency information. I feel it is imperative for you to have some sort of written confidentiality agreements…

During the soft market, most agents continued to grant salary increases and permitted their profits and personal incomes to erode each year. However, prudent agents implemented Incentive Compensation Programs (ICP)…

Does your agency have a formal compensation and reward system in place? Is it working the way it should? Is there a way to tie productivity and compensation together so…

Some agency owners attempt to maximize profits by minimizing producer commissions. What they don’t realize is that “sharing the wealth” with the producers who can grow the agency actually enriches…