Who's Worth What in the Independent Agency System?

January 23, 2009

It's that time again! Insurance Journal is polling insurance agents and brokers nationwide in its annual quest to find out who's worth what in the independent agency system.

More than 1,000 agencies nationwide have already responded to IJ's exclusive 2009 Agency Salary Survey. The survey results will be compiled for a special report in the Feb. 23, 2009, issue of Insurance Journal magazine.

The survey provides important information on insurance agency compensation trends, and takes only minutes to complete. All survey responses and information will remain strictly confidential.

In IJ's 2008 Agency Salary Survey, published in March 2008, fewer independent agencies reported giving salary increases to managers, sales producers and support personnel in 2007 compared to 2006, while half of all agencies said salaries stayed the same in 2007 compared to 2006. Of those agencies that did offer salary increases in 2007, pay raises were somewhat lower in 2007 than in 2006.

The decline in pay raises for agencies in 2007 was no surprise to industry veteran Madelyn Flannagan, Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America's vice president of education and research. "Bonuses, salary increases, and those little extra perks always tend to fall off when the market takes a turn," she said in response to IJ's 2008 Salary Survey. The good news, compensation goes back up as the market improves, Flannagan added.

While 70 percent of the 1,700 agencies reporting to IJ's 2008 Salary Survey said they felt an economic recession was coming, at that time, the majority (70 percent) also said they had no plans to make any changes to their hiring and compensation practices.

Given today's economy and continued soft market, could hiring and compensation trends change in 2009? Find out by participating in IJ's 2009 Agency Salary Survey today.

Don't miss out ... get your agency's salary information in now!

Deadline for the 2009 Agency Salary Survey is Wednesday, Feb. 4.

If you have any questions, contact, Andrea Wells at: awells@insurancejournal.com