Coming To You From….

Do you know where I am writing this article from? I could be writing it from my office at IIABNY. Maybe I’m doing it from my home office. I like to spend time at Starbucks drinking coffee and writing, so maybe it was written there. I love visiting Vermont, so for all you know I’m writing it in my hotel room late at night after a day of visiting my favorite places and doing a little shopping.

Do you really care where it was written? Would it be any better or more important to you if I had written it in my office? The important thing is it’s written and you can read it and hopefully get something out of reading it.

So what’s the point? The point is the same thing applies to work you do for your insurance clients. They don’t care where it’s done and when. They just want what they need, when they need it and they don’t care where it was done and by whom.

Independent agents currently have a significant need for qualified staff to handle their work. Unfortunately you are finding it harder than ever to find interested and qualified candidates. The current incoming workforce that everyone likes to identify as millennials really doesn’t show much interest in working in an insurance agency. Even when you do find someone, you are looking at 18 months of training before they can be a fully functional employee.

This shortage is everywhere but even more pronounced in small town and rural areas where the labor pool is limited. A recent article cautioned the workforce crisis will be even more pronounced in smaller agencies with aging staff in their 50s. Agencies that haven’t embraced technology and social media will find themselves struggling to compete for talent. I don’t really think how big you are or where you are located matters—everyone is struggling to find quality help.

The solution to the problem is experienced remote staffing. That’s right—remote staffing. Remember what we said previously. Clients don’t care where their work is done and by whom. They just want what they need, when they need it and done correctly.

If you need experienced full or part time staff to handle back office tasks, processes or customer service, Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE) has the answer. They can provide experts with decades of experience ready to fill your needs. Their candidates go through a thorough interviewing and skills assessment process ensuring they possess the right skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the job.

Being presented with a qualified candidate is great, but there’s more. You only pay a fixed hourly rate based on your full time or part time staffing needs. No need to deal with taxes, employee benefits and other payroll issues. The benefits are even sweeter if you’re an IIABNY member. Your membership entitles you to have the $2500 setup fee waived.

Although the industry is working on bringing more candidates in, the solution is down the road. Even if you are lucky enough to hire an entry level employee, they need to be trained. The person training them will need support for their workload, which is going to just make your problem larger.

The independent agency business is evolving rapidly. Finding, hiring and training new staff is going to be an issue for some time into the future. Technology has made it possible to fill your staffing needs using remote staffing. WAHVE has the qualified candidates to meet your immediate workflow and service needs. Don’t wait! Give me a call and I’ll help you get the ball rolling.