NAILBA Perspectives Virtual Symposium Special Edition | Page 18
AGENT SURVEY
Working from home from page 16
Feedback from the field
This survey featured a qualitative aspect too, in addition to
the data collected. The researchers asked for comments and
opinions about working from home. Here is some of the feedback
they received:
“I had changed to a work-at-home status several years ago.
We are able to perform all of our duties via phone, email,
video conference or, meeting at their home/office just as
well as in our own office.”
“We have learned a lot — will come through this with
new skills.”
“Working from home has been a dream! I have no desire
to return to the office. I would prefer to continue working in
the privacy and safety of my own home.”
“My agency embraces technology and supports their
employees. We were very proactively sent home with
our computers and phones, to start working at home.
It was seamless.”
“I’ve been working from home full-time since our state
stay-at-home order. We now have the possibility to work
from home full time and our company can look for a smaller
space when the lease is up. I have felt less stressed and my
quality of life has improved. I miss my work family but we
stay in touch and continue to keep our culture.”
On the flip side, some respondents state they’re eager to return
to their offices:
“It has been hard to stay out of the office and not personally
see our clients. We have a relationship with most of them
and feel not being there personally is not right. We have
two staff members who have been going into the office and
only using the lobby for contact. No one is going back to the
offices. We are a very friendly group and this has been a real
change for us.”
“Now that we are back in the office partially, we are seeing a
better flow. People are happier now.”
Any way you look at it, this experience has been a challenge.
And as with all challenges, the smart producer or agency will take
what worked from the experience and integrate that into the
business moving forward.
Charles K. Hirsch, CLU
Chuck Hirsch, CLU, is the former editor and publisher
of Life Insurance Selling magazine. He continues to
contribute to insurance industry publications, in
addition to providing consulting and marketing services
through his firm, Hirsch Communications Consulting,
LLC. He can be reached at [email protected]
18 Perspectives Q3 Special Edition 2020