Insurance agents protest payment cuts

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 4,000 Prudential agents nationwide turned up at the Prudential Tower in Jalan Sultan Ismail to protest the 30% slash in bonus and commission.

The protest was organised by Prudential Life Insurance Agency Association Malaysia (PRULIA) as a last resort after a year of fruitless meetings.

PRULIA president Maniraja Chandran said the agents felt the reductions and conditions on them imposed on them since the beginning of the year were unfair.

“As entrepreneurs, agents are not paid any basic salary.

Chandran claimed that Prudential was adjusting their sales-based bonus by introducing the Balance Score Card (BLC) which would result in the fixed commission for the agents becoming variable.

The slash in bonuses and commissions is scheduled to be implemented next year.

Sasha Arshad, 47, said she felt disappointed after over a decade of hard work and yet now faced reductions instead of rewards or better commission and bonuses.

“It is not fair for us, especially the junior agents,” she added.

Another agent, Prema Kaur, 60, said the reduction was unnecessary as the new system would affect all the agents equally.

“They should follow how the Singaporeans do it. Hard-working agents should be rewarded with more.

“But whatever we earn, they will hold back the payments until we meet a certain target. It is unfair,” said Prema who has been an agent for 24 years.

In a statement, Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd (PAMB) believes the BLC will increase the insurance penetration in Malaysia and is certain to meet the KPIs set by the regulator.

“PAMB is also open to continuing the engagement and discussion,” the company said.

 

Source: The Star