Complaint Review: AFLAC

I have worked as an AFLAC agent for many months without a paycheck. They promise you that it is your own business and a flexible schedule. They also promise that after going to sales school (which you spend most of the time learning scripts to counter employer objections) and spending 5 weeks of meetings and doing cold calls on businesses you are supposed to be ready to handle your own agency. They also tell you stories about all the money you are going to make.HA!

I have spent a few thousand already on gas, licenses, sales leads, phone,foffice supplies and TIME. You find out that what you really are is a canvasser for your district manager who gets to keep all the sales made once you leave (and most will leave). You go out into the field from business to business that has already been hit several times from other agents hoping to make "an appointment".

Once you make an appointment (if you can) your District Sales Coordinator (DSC) or CIT (coordinator in training)will actually come and set up the enrollment for employees at THEIR convenience. At the actual enrollment the CIT or DIC will bring the sng computer (because you don't have one, and will conduct the enrollment. If it is a big group they will bring another agent (pet) and you will have to split commissions with anyone who comes to help because guess what? You can't do it by yourself! And you better not get too big a company or it will be taken away from you and given to one of their brokers.

You find out that after the first five weeks of novice meetings you also have to attend a general weekly meeting with the Region and a weekly planning meeting with your District. You must fill out a daily activety monitor called "Success Trax" online where they track your performance. They will humiliate you weekly in the Regional meetings by having you place all your numbers on a blackboard in front of everyone. How many doors did you pull? How many cards did you put in your box? How much AP (money) will you bring in the next week? Then they sometimes pair you up with someone else to Hold You Accountable! They call and text you even on weekends. In essence what you are doing is financing someone elses business with whatever savings or credit you have. You are not given the tools or the training to actually do it all yourself. They also like you to first focus on your circle of influence (people you do business with) These become warm leads for them. Then they pressure you to recruit other people and even to work in the office and call people who have sent resumes! All with no pay or base against commission. Nothing.

I do not understand how a large company like Aflac has goten away with running their business the way they do.Under IRS rules, workers are presumed to be employees. The burden is on the employer to prove that a worker is an independent contractor and not an employee. The IRS has recently simplified their previous list of 20 factors into a 3 category evaluation system to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. Aflac fails the test on almost everyone.

These 3 categories: (A)Behavioral Control, (B) Financial Control, and (C) Type of Relationship, include a total of 13 factors.https://www.workplacefairness.org/independent-contractors.  You are an employee who works for free.