Level commissions get kudos as more “ethical”:Includes Chart

It will come as no surprise that top producers were happiest with their compensation. But other advisors complained about ever-changing commission structures, cuts to commission levels in recent years and higher costs of doing business. They are feeling the squeeze.

Advisors at Waterloo, Ont.-based Sun Life Financial (Canada) Inc. gave the insurer a score of 7.4, a 0.6-point improvement from last year, but still the lowest score among the insurers.

Some agents with Sun Life — formerly known as Clarica — complained that the costs of doing business are going up and that compensation isn’t what it should be.

“[Sun Life] is throwing more costs onto the agents,” says a Sun Life advisor in Atlantic Canada.

“It would be nice if it simply increased the compensation,” says a Sun Life advisor in Ontario.

Many Sun Life agents, however, praised the firm’s level commission structure as one of the best aspects of working for the firm. “Commission is more spread out, and that’s the most ethical thing,” says a Sun Life agent on the West Coast.

“We want the relationship with the client to be as important to the advisor in 10 years as it is on Day 1,” says Jack Garramone, vice president, career sales force, at Sun Life, explaining why the company prefers level commissions.

According to Gar-ramone, the average income of Sun Life’s agents in 2006 was $110,000; those with more than five years’ experience earned almost $140,000.

Advisors with London, Ont.-based Freedom 55 Financial gave their compensation a score of 8.0, the most improved mark year-over-year among the eight companies surveyed.

Freedom 55 advisors liked the support they get from their firm, but some felt compensation levels are lower than they should be. There were also grumbles that they aren’t receiving enough help from the company on costs such as office space and administrative assistance.

“The commission was rolled back a few years ago. It’s about time they looked at it again,” says a Freedom 55 advisor in Ontario.

High-performing advisors at Freedom 55 tended to be happier with the compensation levels, a noticeable trend throughout the survey.

Advisors at Guelph, Ont.-based the Co-operators Group Ltd. gave their firm a compensation score of 7.8, identical to the score it received last year.

At Co-operators, commissions are level for the property and casualty side of the business and heaped on the life side, although the latter are much more level than industry norms. Says Jim Wingrove, the insurer’s director of agency and sales support: “Our belief is that we want long-term service to the client, so it’s more of a ‘levellized’ approach.”

Echoing advisors at other firms, some Co-operators agents complained that compensation levels are not keeping up with expenses and workload levels.

“All the big companies are downloading costs, but we’re still getting the same as we were getting years ago. They need to realize times change, economies change, and so should compensation,” says a Co-operators agent in Alberta.

“It just seems our hours of work go up without the pay matching that,” says a colleague, also in the West.

Woodbridge, Ont.-based Hub Financial Inc. had the most improved score among the MGAs for compensation, rising 0.5 of a point from last year’s score to 8.4.

At Hub Financial, advisors’ override depends on the amount of the business the advisor does through the company, says president Terri DiFlorio. She acknowledges that her firm doesn’t pay out the highest commissions in the industry.

“We have a lot of services that we offer the advisors to enhance their businesses,” DiFlorio says. “If they see value in that, then we will certainly be their MGA of choice. If they are interested in just making the most money and not interested in all the additional value-added services, then we’re not going to be their choice.”

For the most part, Hub Financial advisors in the survey said they are pleased with the firm’s compensation levels, a sentiment heard most strongly from higher producers.

@page_break@”I tend to work with large cases, so they take care of me pretty well,” says a Hub Financial advisor on the West Coast.

Toronto, Ont.-based World Fi-nancial Group Inc. scored 9.0, the highest mark in the survey, up a slight 0.1 of a point from last year.

World Financial pays out compensation based on an advisor’s level within the firm, says president Richard Williams. “As you grow your business with us, then your compensation would begin to increase a little bit,” he says.

Overall, World Financial’s advisors were happy with their mandate to serve middle-income Canadians; it appears to account for their lack of griping about their compensation.

“I believe in what we’re doing and how we are doing it,” says a World Financial advisor in Alberta. IE