WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FOR ME LATELY ? by Cheryl L . Koch , Agency Management Resource Group & Mary Belka , Eisenhart Consulting
Years ago , we came up with what we thought was a witty retort to the age-old question put to us by so many agency owners when discussing professional development for agency employees :
Q . “ What if we train them , and they leave ?” A . “ What if you don ’ t , and they stay ?”
Well , perhaps it wasn ’ t so witty after all ; perhaps it was sadly true . We gathered data from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America ( IIABA ) Best Practices study . Over the last fourteen years , the average amount spent on employee training and development ( excluding technology training ) was less than $ 1,000 per person across every revenue category . In fact , it was far less : $ 651 to be exact , or about three and a half tenths of one percent of revenue . We don ’ t know that there is any magic number that should be spent , either as a percentage of revenue or a percentage of payroll , but less than 1 % of revenue seems to be on the low side , especially considering this must include mandatory continuing education ( CE ) training for nearly all agency employees who are licensed . To put it somewhat in perspective , spending on information technology ( IT ) was about ten times higher , across the board , coming in at right around 3 % of revenue over the years . At a time when our industry is only getting more complex , and demands on employees are ratcheting up , it seems we ’ re looking at training and education as an expense while considering technology as an investment .
If we want to have the best people , which we are quick to say we do , it ’ s likely going to take more than this anemic spending on training and professional development to get them where we need them to be to better serve our clients and where they will want to be in terms of their individual growth and development . Some important facts to consider :
• Younger people , Generations Y ( AKA : millennials ) and Z in particular , consider opportunities for advancement a key workplace motivator . According to a recent study , making more money was cited by only 28 % of Gen Z participants as a top motivator , while 34 % said advancement was most important .
• Learning and development is seen as the key to
20 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER