On The Side Of People

There is a growing resentment in the general populace of public employees. This stems from several reasons: lack of accountability for their job performance (a subject thoroughly examined in a recent New York Times article), generous wages (for example, more than one out of every three people employed by the city of San Francisco earned $100,000 or better last year), lavish benefits packages sucking state budgets dry and a growing anti-big government sentiment exemplified by the Tea Party movement.

Without disrespecting civil servants or taking sides politically, it must be said this resentment is tangible. How, then, can we as an insurance provider, whose primary market is public employees, along with our independent agent force respond to both this sentiment and the insurance needs of public employees?

The challenge is to be empathetic toward civil servants while maintaining a strict neutrality in matters of public policy. It's not an easy task. There is always the temptation to take sides, be it due to personal political convictions or professional concerns. But it's not an option.

What can/should/must be done is exemplified in this blog's title: the human touch. Insurance is a people business. Person A buys a policy from Company A, which is made up of its employees, through Agent A. Should Person A require the services being paid for in said policy, Company A and Agent A take care of Person A's needs. It is not important what name is on the upper left hand corner of Person A's paycheck. It's the one to whom the paycheck is addressed. That's all.

Yes, there are times being in this business feels like an exercise in tap-dancing your way through a minefield. Ultimately, however, the service provided trumps the threat of being labeled as a toadie for one side or the other. We're on the side of people. Period.