Out and About in Florida: Michele Linca and Lauren Woodard

On more than one occasion, Michele Linca and Lauren Woodard (left, in beads, and below, on the right in black; Michele Linca is to the left, in green) Mission Capital have been photographed together in the greater Jupiter, FL area.

The particulars of their relationship are not known, and it is also not known if this is just a personal relationship, or indicative of something bigger going on between Allstate and Mission.

George Ruebenson and Ken Lewis: Rats Leaving the Sinking Bailout Ship

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Oct 26, 2009 George E. Ruebenson, president of Allstate Protection, is retiring at the end of the year, said Allstate Corp. A striking parallel can be found in the departure of Ken Lewis from Bank of America.

Ruebenson, who has been with Allstate since 1970, will begin his retirement Dec. 31, Allstate said in a statement. He was appointed president of Allstate Protection in 2007 to succeed Thomas J. Wilson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Allstate.

A search for Ruebenson’s replacement is under way, the company said.

In 2000, Ruebenson was named vice president for the Property-Casualty Service Organization, the largest employee group in the company, then he became a member of the company’s senior management team as senior vice president.

The past several years has seen some shuffling among executives at the largest publicly traded personal lines insurer in the United States. Most recently, former vice chairman of American International Group Inc., Matthew Winter, was named president and CEO of Allstate Financial. Ruebenson had assumed the role as president of Allstate Financial when James E. Hohmann left the company. Don Civgin, former chief financial officer of OfficeMax Inc., was named CFO of Allstate last year.

Allstate Protection combines property/casualty offerings of Allstate, Encompass and Deerbrook Insurance, which are sold through Allstate and independent agents, respectively.

Allstate Pays $4.5 Million in Age Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement!

September 11, 2009: NORTHBROOK, Ill.—Allstate Insurance Co. has agreed to pay $4.5 million to about 90 former employees to settle an age discrimination class action lawsuit, said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday.

The litigation with the EEOC, which was filed in 2004, stems from the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer’s efforts in 2000 to convert its 15,000-member agent workforce to independent contractors from regular employees.

The EEOC said Allstate had adopted a hiring moratorium for a period of one year, or while severance benefits were being received, that had a disproportionate impact on workers over age 40 because more than 90% of the agents subjected to it were in that age group. Allstate has denied that its hiring moratorium violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

An Allstate spokesman said in a statement that “while confident that we acted appropriately,” the insurer decided to settle the dispute “to avoid the burden and considerable expense of continued litigation for everyone involved.”

The spokesman said Allstate believes “its position is correct and that it would have ultimately prevailed in this case. The court has indicated, and the EEOC acknowledges, that the dispute is centered on a point of law over which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion.”

Running Clock Rant: “It Has Come To Our Attention”

July 23, 2009

It has come to our attention that some mortgage companies have recently mailed letters to Castle Key (formerly Allstate Floridian) property customers concerning the company’s recent downgrade by A.M. Best. We are in the process of contacting the two mortgage companies from which we have copies of customer notices to explain that Castle Key maintains a sound capital position and extensive reinsurance. Our emphasis in these discussions is that, despite the A.M. Best downgrade, Castle Key was recently reaffirmed with an A´ (A Prime), Unsurpassed financial rating from Demotech, Inc.  Demotech is an independent financial and actuarial services firm.  Many property insurance companies in Florida operate with only a Demotech Financial Stability Rating®.

One of the customer letters, from Midland Mortgage Company, indicated that they will accept a Demotech financial rating.  As stated above, we are having discussions with this company to advise them of our Demotech rating and will request that they discontinue sending customer notices.  We hope to resolve this issue with little customer disruption.  In the meantime, you or the customer may contact Midland and provide them a copy of Castle Key’s rating. The website www.demotech.com contains the ratings for Castle Key and other Florida property insurance companies.

The other letter, from Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker Mortgage Company, indicated that their company will accept policies written only by insurers who earned high ratings from A.M. Best.  We will contact them and request that they accept Castle Key policies based on the companies’ Demotech rating.  If they do not agree to accept Demotech for Castle Key, you may want to consider calling the customer and offering to place them with one of the available expanded market carriers.  If this transpires, we will provide you with an audit of policies listing this mortgage company that are associated with your agency.

Your agency can affirm to customers that the Castle Key companies are financially strong and stable companies.  At the end of 2008, the Castle Key group held $162 million in surplus and $233 million in cash and invested assets.  Our reinsurance program for 2009 was developed using methodologies supported by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

We will provide you with additional details as they develop.  If you receive any additional customer calls involving mortgage companies other than those mentioned above, please contact your Product Management Consultant and if possible, provide a faxed copy of the mortgage company letter.

“Insurance Companies Would Face Millions of Dollars in Fines”

By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press Writer

July 13 2009, 5:37 PM CDT

ALAIEDON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Insurance companies would face millions of dollars in fines, damages and attorney fees for denying or delaying valid claims under legislation a state House committee is preparing to debate.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-insurancedenials,0,1635193.story

Visit chicagotribune.com at http://www.chicagotribune.com

Running Clock Rant: “Agency Relationship Survey”

Every year we get dozens of emails exhorting us to take the Agency Relationship Survey. Every year the participation drops a little more. Besides the fact that the survey interprets our frustration with the company as frustration with our managers (much the same way the ALI interprets customer frustration with the company as customer frustration with the Agency) – there is a more BASIC reason for the growing lack of participation.

This is what I hear on face to face, at conferences, at up-comm meetings, from agents: Although the company does occasionally address issues of processes, leadership and back office performance, they don’t actually want feedback on important issues of corporate decisions that go to the heart of agent/corporate relationships.  Corporate doesn’t really care what its’ 13,000 (?) agents think about decisions that truly affect our ability to do business or a lot of issues that NAPAA attempts to address would not be issues. The expense to the company of administering the NAB under pretense addressing agent issues would not be necessary. The model of management vs work-force would no longer exist.

As the saying goes “two heads are better than one”. There are 13,000 heads who want to succeed, who work from the ground up, who interface directly with “the street” and who have good ideas and something to say. A majority of agents know that there are better ways to do business, and only need to look to IA’s to see that model working. We would like Allstate’s blessing and backing, as well as their hands-off where they are straddling the line of employee vs contractor relationships

Many realize that nothing will change where change is truly needed.  Why waste time on the Agency Relationship Survey?

Running Clock Rant “This Guy Was Able to Move To A Small Town And Take Over My Life”

I live in a small town and had worked 1985-1999 years as a support staff for my dad.  In 1999 I was hired as an agent with the promise I would be able to purchase my dads book, much of what I helped grow.   Last May he was forced to retire and sell due to critical health issues.

Because I was not the top 25th agent in the country and did not have a 6/63.  I did not qualify to purchase it.   So a MDL  referred a guy with no insurance back ground from a much larger city to purchase it.   The following October my father died.  I was over whelmed by the number of customers (including my own family) upset that they were just sold with out a choice.  When they called 1-800-Allstate they were told, that they could easily change their agent.  However, My name was on over 200 policies which I was not being compensated for.

This past February I left TC (after 20 years of service)   and I could not find a buyer who wanted the headaches.  So I took the TPP.   My phone number was immediately rolled to the new agent within a day.  The customers were being told who knows what.   When I received my policy it had Allstate as the agent with the other agents address.   The irony of it all is I just found out that the new agent was moving to my previous office location next month.

So this guy was able to move to a small town and take over my life and I could not do a stinking thing.  I was afraid to contact my book of business and explain all this, due to my do not compete.  I was told they would stop paying the TPP if I did anything against them.  I have been offered several jobs with other insurers, but afraid to work until my 1 year in February is up.  I am afraid of what kind of conspiracy this guy and the Company have against me.  Now that I look back over the last few months I am wondering if I should have defended my honor with a note or just let them hang themselves.  I am still trying to decide whether to go back with the insurance market.  I have an offer from Farmers, but the contract looks a lot like the Allstate, just a little gun shy

Running Clock Rant “Dead Agent Walking”

I’ve received a secondhand report from an agency owner attending the recently completed ’Leader’s Conference’ in Arizona last week.

The report was there were about 700+ agents in attendance and in typical working vacation fashion, the day was divided up beginning with a company hosted breakfast, followed by a full member meeting, followed by breakout sessions in specialty areas with topics such as growth, technology, retention, financial products, etc., continuing with another full group lunch, more specialty breakouts and then a group dinner.

Nothing new with that kind of report, however, what struck me when I received the information was the topic of ‘us vs. them’ as delivered by at least one or two of the Allstate executives.  Now it’s easy to concede that Allstate would feel most comfortable with this kind of gathering…700+ agency owners who have demonstrated success with all of the company goals to be labeled as ‘leaders’.  And clearly, Allstate would be entitled to conclude that its future success was dependent on nurturing the relationship between the corporation and these agents.  But apparently there was an overt mention that is paraphrased as at least one executive speaking to the group to the effect of ‘…you people are the winners, and those who are not here are the LOSERS…and we would be well served to be rid of them…’.

In addition, the report that I received mentioned that corporate speakers were very clear that they are looking for agency measurements to show at least $3-4 million in book size in order to remain viable within the Allstate system.  Anything smaller than that is clearly targeted for removal either by financial attrition or by direct severing action.

I know that posting such information here on Runningclock is usually akin to preaching to the converted, but once again, I’ll pass along my unsolicited advice that readers here would be well advised to catch the drift that is being so clearly communicated by Allstate’s leaders…that first there is an established pattern of wanting to cleanse the agency ranks of those who won’t go along with goals and processes, and that the vision of Allstate’s future lies with fewer, much larger agencies, not the smaller $1-3 million books run by the agent and a spouse or one, maybe two support staffers.

And keep in mind that with fewer and larger agencies, Allstate will not only streamline its operation, but will be able to shed that middle and lower management layer that now interacts with the smaller shops.  Those in that category who are correctly reading the tea leaves are probably doing their best to remain relevant by interacting with agents, offering ‘help’ in attaining goals and using the cattle prod methods to get agents to make goals regardless of market conditions.

So please know that if you’re a reader with a smallish book in a market that just won’t grow with the Allstate product line and you’re out of cash to put into your own annuity to boost your financial numbers, you’re a dead agent walking and time is short.

Running Clock “RIP Dick Larkin”

When I read your communication yesterday morning about the tragic loss of Dick Larkin and his lovely wife, Myra, I broke down in tears.

I was a 20 year agent until I threw in the towel in 2004.  What had been the great company I was so proud to represent changed like day to night and was cemented with the Reorganization For The Future.

For years I sought, serviced and retained my customer base and my business brought me handsome earnings rewarded from hard and dedicated work by making customer service my top priority. My motto was always sell to the need and the rewards will follow.

I met customers at times convenient for them from late evenings to early mornings, weekends, even holidays.  I well remember writing a commercial auto for a existing customer by meeting him in my office on a Christmas Eve.  He’d been a loyal customer for a long number of years with multiple lines.  I felt I owed the effort to him and was not insulted when he apologetically asked me to help during a holiday.  Customers like this paid my earnings.

When we were all summoned to the mandatory meeting in the fall of 1999 and presented with our options, I could not believe the insulting choices we were given.  I would have left with the restructure had they offered me a decent package.  Instead, I was given only the choice to stay or take my highest earning year offered paid over 24 months.  I was insulted and felt like I was forced into slavery.

When July 1, 2000 arrived I’d made up my mind to go in with a positive attitude; after all, I thought, the company needed to restructure to accommodate the change in business trends.  Well, it continued to go down hill from there.  More work forced on the agency, more pressure for production, demands for availability, bank deposits, more company related bills, on and on.

When I got one of those “visits” from my immediate and upper manager about my financial production with upper management being rude and demeaning while my immediate manager (a genuinely nice person) just sat there knowing what was happening was wrong, I went berserk. I demanded that they leave after I told the upper manager exactly what was on my mind.

It was within a year or so that I woke up one morning and knew that I couldn’t take it anymore.   What I did not know until I’d sold and gone to my physician for a routine annual exam a month later was that my health was affected.  I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid and the doctor to this day is amazed that I was actually still walking around when I went in for the exam that day. The answer to that was that I’d begun taking a natural remedy known for its healing properties.

According to the tests he did and subsequent testing by an endocrinologist, I should have been very ill and bed ridden.  All I knew was that I’d lost a lot of weight (about 30 pounds) I assumed because of the stress I’d been under.  When I told the doctor that no one in my family had a history of thyroid problems, he asked me “Have you been under extreme stress recently?”  Allstate’s practices had made me literally sick.

When I left I never looked back.  Today, I read the Clock and see the same smoke and mirrors going on and I feel the pain of all the things that are still happening to agents across the country.  But when I read about Dick and Myra,  I was overwhelmed with grief and all the tears that poured out were for everything that has been perpetuated by the company.

I did not know Dick personally but knew that he was a champion of agent rights and fairness.  I couldn’t hold back all the emotions: for the tragic and senseless loss of Dick and Myra Larkin, for the agents who are yet enduring the company tatics, for the agents whose lives were cut short because of illnesses and stress brought upon them, for the demise of what we once knew as a great and honorable company.

My sincere condolence to the family and loved ones of Dick and Myra Larkin and to those who knew and/or shared a close bond with them.  I will keep them all in my continued prayers.

Running Clock Rant “Cessation of Some Agencies”

Another Running Clock Rant – More “jobs in jeopardy” due to Allstate’s poor management and greed?

“Friday I listened to the quarterly report..I do realize they are speaking to a group of investors..but I couldn’t get over the double speak…First of all, as they spoke of cessation of some agencies…this is a polite way of saying…we’re firing some agencies…there was no big support of the agency program,,outside of the fact that it is one of three distribution points,,,,nowhere did Mr Wilson indicate the % that comes from the agency force.

In addition, they are still trying to ‘crack the code’ on the loyalty index. However, it is tied to profit sharing, agency expectation etc…but they haven’t cracked the code yet…How about, treat your agents fairly…what dumb smuck will sign up with this outfit AND YET they are advertising in Texas and Florida.

All in all it was a numbers game, with Progressive losing some,,Geico gaining some and we’re at 11% penetration…with 25 mIllion policyholders..

Meanwhile, I listened to an agent who hadn’t made his numbers in 2 yrs and after 25 yrs is resigning the fact that he will be asked to leave next year…hope he can find a buyer…my response…NO ONE in the unit qualifies for a purchase…he said “oh, s,,t! that’s right..” The statement…”Asked to leave next year…and the C.L.I OR A.L.I. just doesn’t seem to fit those words..

If an agency is below 60% loss ratio…who gives a rat’s patoot….what they do….they are making money. I just heard of an manager going into the sales force and then after two years scrabbled to get back as a manager…The old saying “Them that do,,,sell. Them that don’t…go into management.” It holds true here as well….”