For a little bit of back story, I just graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in mathematics in May 2019, I now work for my in-law's small independent insurance agency. My husband thinks that my in-laws aren't paying me enough and keeps pushing me to ask for a hefty raise. I have absolutely no idea if I'm being paid fairly seeing as I've only been in this industry for a little over a year now. I was hoping for some advice.
Job Description: Officially, my title is a Customer Service Representative. I am being paid $42,000, we are located in the suburbs of a major city in Texas. I am licensed in both Life & Health and P&C. Currently, I manage all of the employee changes with the carriers. If an employee is hired, terminated, experiences a QLE, etc. I manage and process that every day. We have about 50 accounts, most of our accounts are in the 51-100 range. This part of my job alone can easily take up to 20 hours a week. On top of that, I do all of the back end work for all of the open enrollments for each of our existing accounts. I quote with several carriers, I write up a proposal, take it to the group, I travel out to each account (we have accounts all over Texas) during their open enrollment, sit with each employee at every group (usually my SIL or MIL will go with me, in Q4, our entire office MIL, FIL, and SIL will go) enroll the employees, I handle the installation process, submit all of the spreadsheets and enrollment info to the carriers, and then I maintain the group for the entirety of their policy year. Since I'm so new, my MIL has been double checking my work for the most part, and guiding me. I do not acquire any new accounts, I just maintain the ones we have, or install new ones that are sold by my FIL.
I also manage smaller office tasks (sort of like a secretary would), I'm in charge of getting the mail every other day, I send out birthday cards, I'm in charge of our company gifts for our clients at Christmas time, etc. .
My MIL used to do the back end of the quoting process for the groups' open enrollment and outsourced the "changes" part of the job. She and my FIL started the business about 10 years ago and it was the intention when I was hired that I would take over for my MIL so she could retire early. They implied that it would take a few years before my MIL would be able to go part-time. But, after just one year of me working here, my MIL has already been able to go part-time, and eventually, she will only come in to work to cut payroll and that's it.
Also, in case it's helpful, in May 2020 (yearly review), I told them that my goal is to eventually be paid $60,000 per year (husband's idea) in the near future, and they acted like that was ridiculous.
So my question: Is $42,000 a fair salary for the job I'm doing? Please bear in mind that I have only been doing this for a year, I have so little experience that big picture issues or situation have to be handled by my boss (MIL or FIL). When I say fair, I mean, is this comparable to what someone else doing a similar job is being paid? I know it is sort of taboo to talk about salary, but I'm really hoping to get some perspective here.
Edit: I forgot to mention, I also manage the 401(k) meetings and enrollments for 5 of our groups. This usually means, twice a year, I travel to each of the accounts and meet with the employees who are newly eligible 401(k).
Job Description: Officially, my title is a Customer Service Representative. I am being paid $42,000, we are located in the suburbs of a major city in Texas. I am licensed in both Life & Health and P&C. Currently, I manage all of the employee changes with the carriers. If an employee is hired, terminated, experiences a QLE, etc. I manage and process that every day. We have about 50 accounts, most of our accounts are in the 51-100 range. This part of my job alone can easily take up to 20 hours a week. On top of that, I do all of the back end work for all of the open enrollments for each of our existing accounts. I quote with several carriers, I write up a proposal, take it to the group, I travel out to each account (we have accounts all over Texas) during their open enrollment, sit with each employee at every group (usually my SIL or MIL will go with me, in Q4, our entire office MIL, FIL, and SIL will go) enroll the employees, I handle the installation process, submit all of the spreadsheets and enrollment info to the carriers, and then I maintain the group for the entirety of their policy year. Since I'm so new, my MIL has been double checking my work for the most part, and guiding me. I do not acquire any new accounts, I just maintain the ones we have, or install new ones that are sold by my FIL.
I also manage smaller office tasks (sort of like a secretary would), I'm in charge of getting the mail every other day, I send out birthday cards, I'm in charge of our company gifts for our clients at Christmas time, etc. .
My MIL used to do the back end of the quoting process for the groups' open enrollment and outsourced the "changes" part of the job. She and my FIL started the business about 10 years ago and it was the intention when I was hired that I would take over for my MIL so she could retire early. They implied that it would take a few years before my MIL would be able to go part-time. But, after just one year of me working here, my MIL has already been able to go part-time, and eventually, she will only come in to work to cut payroll and that's it.
Also, in case it's helpful, in May 2020 (yearly review), I told them that my goal is to eventually be paid $60,000 per year (husband's idea) in the near future, and they acted like that was ridiculous.
So my question: Is $42,000 a fair salary for the job I'm doing? Please bear in mind that I have only been doing this for a year, I have so little experience that big picture issues or situation have to be handled by my boss (MIL or FIL). When I say fair, I mean, is this comparable to what someone else doing a similar job is being paid? I know it is sort of taboo to talk about salary, but I'm really hoping to get some perspective here.
Edit: I forgot to mention, I also manage the 401(k) meetings and enrollments for 5 of our groups. This usually means, twice a year, I travel to each of the accounts and meet with the employees who are newly eligible 401(k).
