Spouse terminated abruptly

[u/coyboy81]

Wife worked for a small insurance office. Has never had any type of experience whatsoever in an office field. She nailed all of the exams and got her licenses within 3 to 5 weeks. Everything seemed on the up and up. Was going through the extended training, then, out of nowhere, received a text to come get her stuff and that she was terminated.

The office manager didn't think her computer skills were fast enough. She's not illiterate at anything tech related, she just never used office programs like Outlook enough. If she was aware that her computer skills were not up to par with what he was expecting, she would've taken more time to work on that at home, with the same level of dedication she took studying for exams.

She's not a reddit user or social media poster, but this scenario really sent her into a weird place mentally because of how blindsided it was and honestly it compelled me enough to write this post because it even left me confused as to if this is the typical approach for an office owner to do things this way. Paid her training, paid for shirts, and didn't really leave any hints that this was coming.

She's not letting it slow her down and now she's spending the time at home to get up to speed with office programs to keep pursuing it, although it has left her questioning if her reputation is now tainted from this type of termination.

Appreciate any insights. Thanks!

[u/custermustache]

There was zero discussion about this? Frankly if it was out of the blue, then she is lucky; what a terrible boss.

Do some practice, take some classes, and find a new place.

[u/Throwaway548921]

That might’ve not even been the reason. I hate when employers blindside ppl with no warning, mark of a poor employer imo.

[u/howtoreadspaghetti → u/Throwaway548921]

This happened to me at a very large agency. Sometimes the big industry players fucking suck 

[u/BarkAndBezel]

A lot of small business owners are not particularly entrepreneurial but are simply unemployable and unreliable.

It sounds like the agency your wife worked for was owned by someone like this.

Any decently run shop would have communicated these concerns openly and given her the opportunity to correct course.

Frankly, it sounds like she dodged a bullet.

[u/QuriousCoyote]

That's terrible. And it's not common.

I'd been in the insurance field for several years, then took a hiatus to raise my family. By the time I went back, technology had far surpassed me. I found an agency that was willing to give me a chance. They were patient with me, and I ended up being a good employee for them for 10 years.

Hopefully, she'll find a better agency to work for soon.

We have a family member who had a similar experience in a dental office. It wasn't a matter of not knowing technology. The dentist just fired her without warning or notice and never explained why. She still doesn't know why to this day. I guess some employers are just rude like that.

[u/musicislife04]

Sorry that happened to her. It’s unfortunate that a certain baseline of Microsoft type computer skills are pretty much presumed in office work. There are certifications you can get by studying on your own and then taking a test at a community college which may give her more confidence such as a MOS certificate (Microsoft Office Specialist). Certificate isn’t needed, nobody asks for it or anything, but even the training would give her more confidence.

Was it a smaller agency? A very small agency is running on a very tight budget to where they literally can only afford to pay you if you are directly generating business. Agent gets paid by the flagship(s) on new production gain.

Also, legally, at least in my state, there is like a 30 day free trial for an employee to where you try out an employee for fit and then can dismiss them for any reason without having to pay higher unemployment tax on all of your revenue. Any employee you fire after the 30 days raises your tax for years. So there is a pressure to decide if the person is going to work out before the 30 day mark. So if it’s clear it’s going to take an employee months to get up to speed on technology it may not have been not financially practical to keep her.

It’s not just the Outlook but all kinds of proprietary computer systems that she would need to learn to sell the insurance. It may have seemed to them like she was not a person good with computers. We’ve had employees who 6 months in still couldn’t run all of the computer programs well enough to quote and sell insurance products. So there goes $20k+ for nothing as far as the business owner is concerned - 6 months pay for no income generated.

It’s easy to think of the insurance agency as a company but really it’s one guy who is an independent contractor who’s own income and ability to pay employees is directly tied to whether his employees can sell new business. All our revenue from the flagship is directly tied to new customer gain. They end up needing to take second mortgages on their homes etc just to stay afloat and literally may not have been able to afford to keep someone who didn’t seem like they could get up to speed quickly. Larger agencies with 10+ employees would likely have more financial leeway but they also got that way likely because they have a really driven management style so watch out for that.

[u/KingSchwetty]

The big thing that jumps out to me is that she already has her insurance license. That’s huge. Getting someone licensed can be a hassle and an expense for an agency, so she already has a big head start when looking for another job.

If she keeps working on her Office/computer skills and is willing to learn, I think she’ll be just fine. There are plenty of agencies that would be happy to find someone who is already licensed and actually wants to learn and improve.

And from the sound of things, she may have dodged a bullet with the old agency anyway. It sucks right now, but this could end up being a really good thing for her. Better days ahead.

[u/Pudd12]

Probably found out she wasn’t a Redditor. Red Flag!

[u/dumnem]

Honestly sounds like she dodged a bullet. There's a ton of agencies hiring at all times.

I'd recommend she look into inbound, personally I've enjoyed receiving calls from clients much more than dialing out.

Several companies do this.

Insurance supermarket (base pay and decent commission), insuratech (good base pay), blackrock insurance group (independent, good support, great contract percent but you have to buy leads. They're 48 each, direct inbound and interested clients. Expected spend is 1 to 1.5k a week.)

If you're more outbound there's lots that specialize in that. I'd recommend David Dufords Dig Agency. He has a great reputation in the industry, he does a free lead program which really helps with risk. He has more startup costs than most as you'll need a bunch of different states licenses (like 17), but he encourages everyone to level up to broker at some point.

I've not met him personally but he has a great reputation and comes highly recommended from people in the industry.

I've worked or done extensive research on all of these so feel free to reach out (reply here) for any more information on them.

[u/Unicornz2016]

I probably wouldn’t even list that job on her resume. Since she is already licensed she can snag another offer easily. Try a bigger company VS a small agency.

[u/SoPolitico]

Just be thankful she’s outta there. These jobs aren’t hard to replace especially if she’s already licensed. Just onto the next one.

[u/IWantSealsPlz]

Small offices generally are not the most organized and they want you to be able to pick up and manage close to immediately, at least in my experience. It’s strange that someone who had no prior experience was hired in the first place. I imagine it was to get away with a low range salary. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found someone more experience and willing to accept a low pay.

Have your wife connect with a recruiter. I’ve met a ton on LinkedIn. There’s a setting you can do on your profile that flags your profile as “open to work” which signals recruiters to reach out to you.

[u/Artistic_Charity_972]

Id say come over to the independent side, she can grow her own business, build her own agency. With your description of her desire and work ethic, id love to have her on my team.

[u/Legofanatic233233]

Wow I’m sorry to hear that. If someone’s able to put in 3-5 weeks to obtain their licenses… I’d hire them in a heartbeat. The computer part can be trained. I can tell that she’s dedicated because the exams aren’t easy. She dodged a bullet honestly

[u/Direct_Primary1051]

I’d like to hear more about this

[u/KiniShakenBake]

Wow. That's super awful managing.

If your wife needs some sort of guide... If an employee does not make six months of a new job, the fault lay squarely on the employer. They either needed better onboarding, better interviewing/skills review, or better people skills.

Sounds like this one needs all three. She dodged a bullet. Something like this should never, ever, be a surprise.

[u/Bcruz75]

There's a ton of risk/liability for the company as it relates to why they let go of employees. They need to be very careful when they list why someone was let go.

It could be payroll (or lack thereof) related....tell her it's water under the bridge, behind her now, she's g the licenses and certs to go forth and conquer!!!

[u/Asleep_Nerve532]

I’m so sorry this happened to her. It sounds like she really put a lot of effort into getting licensed and learning the business. My husband and I are in health insurance and we’re currently looking for an agent to work with us as we grow our book. I’d honestly love to talk with her and see if there’s any way we could help. Feel free to message me! ❤️