Happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing new COVID-19 updates, the security issue with Microsoft's Outlook Email Program and the results from Insurance Journal's annual Agency Salary Survey.

Before we jump into the headlines, don't forget to register for tomorrow's (March 11th) Agency Leadership Webinar. The webinar, titled Agency Financials: A Guide to Obtaining Bank Funding, will discuss: how your agency book of business is evaluated and whether you need an SBA guaranty, characteristics of a desirable agency from a bank's perspective and information the bank considers when granting agency loan requests. You won't want to miss this webinar, where our featured speakers from Security Financial Bank (SFB) will share the bank's side of this information to help you get a better picture of what lenders are looking for. 

To maintain your privacy, you will have the option to join the webinar anonymously. Additionally, all registered attendees will receive a recorded version of this webinar after the presentation has concluded. Register for the webinar here. 

CDC Says Fully Vaccinated Americans Can Spend Time Together Indoors and Unmasked

As of March 8th, the CDC had released new rules for those who have been fully vaccinated. According to new Biden administration guidance, "People who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can now spend time together indoors and unmasked." The new guidance also suggests that those who are fully vaccinated can visit low-risk individuals from other households even if they haven't received a vaccine. According to Stat News, "The CDC considers Americans "fully vaccinated" once two weeks have passed since they received the final dose of their vaccine regimen. 

White House Warns of Hack of Microsoft's Outlook Email Program

A recent software patch left serious vulnerabilities to Microsoft's Outlook Email Program, leading the White House to urge computer network operators to take further steps to gauge whether their systems were targeted. The patch was originally meant to shore up flaws in the email software, but instead, it left open the possibility for compromised servers and perpetuating further attacks by others. According to Reuters, "More than 20,000 US organizations had been compromised by the hack, which Microsoft has blamed on China, although Beijing denies any role. The back channels can impact credit unions, governments and small businesses, and have left US officials scrambling to reach victims, with the FBI on Sunday urging them to contact the law enforcement agency. Those affected appear to host Web versions of Microsoft's email program Outlook on their own machines instead of cloud providers, possibly sparing many major companies and federal government agencies, records from the investigation suggest." Read more about the breach here. 

 Agency Salary Survey: Satisfaction Rises, Compensation Falls, Agencies Kept Employees Happy Through Disruption

The results are in from Insurance Journal's annual Agency Salary Survey. Employees reported the highest levels of satisfaction with their agency compensation in years, despite receiving less compensation in 2020 than in the prior year.

"According to the survey, which polled nearly 800 agency owners and employees across all states, the average Agency Compensation Satisfaction Index was higher in all three categories - management/owner/principal, producer/sales and support staff/CSR/account executives. Satisfaction ranked the highest in the past five years, according to the survey results. So while average total pay fell for nearly all agency personnel, except producers, satisfaction over agency compensation in general actually increased in 2020," according to Insurance Journal. 

The report states thatagency employees were mostly satisfied with how their agency responded to COVID - included with this were the accommodations that were provided to employees during the pandemic: 

• Work from home options (88.9%)

• Added safety precautions such as partitions, masks and extra cleaning (71.1%)

• Flex time or paid leave (28.8%)

• Additional wellness programs (8.6%)

• Virtual in-house events (28.1%)

• Additional tools to help communicate with agency clients (34.9%)

• Employee Assistance Programs (14.6%)

While almost half of all agencies who responded to the survey reported that they implemented a salary freeze, only 7.7% reported implementing salary reductions or furloughs and 15.8% reported agency layoffs.

For more news, check out the Action news section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. Don’t forget you can stay up-to-date on other industry news as its happening on our Online Community. You can join the Online Community (exclusive to IIAW members) here. We hope that everyone has a great rest of their week.