Globe Life Sees Agent Recruitment Improving

What You Need to Know

Hutchison said agent productivity increased.
More new agents are coming in through personal referrals from Globe Life agents.
The COVID-19 pandemic claim total was $17 million higher than expected.

The strong job market continued to hit Globe Life’s agent count in the first quarter, but company executives say recruitment appears to be stabilizing.

Globe Life is a McKinney, Texas-based company that focuses on selling life insurance and health insurance to middle-income families through career agents and a direct marketing program.

The company reported Wednesday, when it released earnings for the latest quarter, that it had an average of 13,141 agents making sales in the latest quarter, down 5.7% from the total for the first quarter of 2021.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic-related social distancing rules hurt Globe Life’s efforts to recruit agents and get new agents trained and licensed.

Securities analysts asked on Thursday in a conference call Globe Life held to discuss its results with analysts, how the tight job market is affecting agent recruitment.

Larry Hutchison, the co-CEO, acknowledged that low unemployment is a concern.

“Recruiting has been challenging because there are so many work opportunities,” Hutchison said.

But he noted that recruitment improved at one company unit, American Income, toward the end of the first quarter; that the productivity of the agents still with Globe Life has improved; and that more of the new agents are coming in through personal referrals from Globe Life’s own agents.

“Personal recruits stay twice as long as the recruits from other sources,” he said.

Meanwhile, even if employment levels are high, “there’s absolutely no shortage of underemployed workers looking for a better opportunity,” Hutchison said.