Verhovayak Lapja, 1951 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1951 / Verhovay Journal

Verhov ay

Official Contest Blank

(For Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association) (Change of Name)

I, ........................................................................................ Member

(Name of Member)

of Branch No................., submit the following name which

I think would be appropriate for the new name of the Association........................................................................................

I hereby agree to adhere strictly to the rules and regulations governing this contest.

(Personal Signature of Member)

(House No.) (Street Name)

(City or Town) (State)

(Any branch wishing to submit a name should use this form, also.).

Enclose completed contest blank in envelope which should be sealed and addressed to “VERHOVAY NAME CONTEST,” 436 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh 19, Pennsylvania.

CONVENTION TO WEIGH ORGANIZING POLICIES

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The employment of a Field Manager was not a new idea. The first attempt in this respect was made fallowing the National Convention in 1939, but unfortunately it failed. The 1943 National Convention again took up the matter, but this second attempt, too, was unsuccessful. These two failures, however, do not mean that we cannot find the proper man for the job. It is the common experience of similar large organizations that the man particularly suited for the job can be found only after several experiments.

One must keep in mind that when it came to selecting the man for this position, the Board of Directors had to take certain difficulties into consideration. For instance: even if we should engage a genious for this position, if it’s a man who isn’t thoroughly acquainted with the peculiar make-up of the Association, he would be able to accomplish less than had been accomplished so far. On the other hand, the fact had to be realized, too, that while the, Association is still being run more or less by the older generation because the younger people have not yet assumed leadership on a larger scale, the time has arrived for recognizing that the Hungarian market has been very nearly exhausted and, as a result, we must concentrate our efforts for securing new members on the large field of native Americans. Therefore, at this time we had to look for a man who has ability to meet the requirements arising from both of these important considerations.

Speaking of the Fiaid Manager’s position let me emphasize this: regardless of who will be our Field Manager in the future, we can’t do without a Field Manager. This position is as necessary as the position of any national officer in our organization. There is only one difference: the Field Manager’s position should be filled at all times by the Board of Directors. This will protect the Association against the possible lass of a capable and competent Field Manager due to changes arising out of fraternal politics, but it also will protect the Association against having to retain an incompetent Field Manager until the next Convention. It would be a great disadvantage to the Association if the filling of this particular position with a competent man would have to be delayed from one Convention to the next.

COMPETENT FIELD FORCE NEEDED

For continued and steady progress, our Association needs at least 24 full time organizers. The idea is not, as some believe, that these men should roam, all over the country, but rather that they should concentrate their activities on those areas where industrial and economic conditions are most favorable for successful field work.

Illnesses are known to occur even among full-time field workers, district managers and field supervisors. If we have at least 24 on our staff, then the occasional disability of one will not be immediately reflected in lowered production because the rest will be able to make up for the production lost due to one man’s disability. Due to our persistent manpower shortage, the situation still is that if a district manager or field supervisor becomes temporarily disabled, production of new business comes to an immediate standstill in his district.

Conditions affecting the securing of new members are altogether different

Journal

August 15, 1951

from those in the past. We need field workers who are able to sell insurance because people will no longer join the Association just because we are Verliovayans or Hungarians. The times when they did, are gone for ever. Today we must work chiefly on the American market and, there, we must employ men who are able to compete with the professional workers of the large insurance companies and societies.

This won’t lead to the gradual disappearance of fraternalism, as some maintain, on the contrary. It will produce a revival of fraternalism, because ifc‘ will create membership relations conducive to encourage fraternal practices. After all, our members today demand service; most of them refuse to attend meetings. In the highly competitive world of the present time we can assure our members of adequate and satisfactory service only if our field forces arel adequately organized.

APPOINTMENT OF MANAGERS BY HOME OFFICE

This ties up with the much disputed issue of the appointment of branch managers by the Home Office. The truth is that the Association is forced by conditions to adopt such a policy. Whatever is said and written to the contrary, the fact remains that the majority of our present managers has become tired of the job and isn’t happy at all to continue, while the younger members are unwilling to assume all the bothers and troubles of branch management, especially in branches where due to the small number of members compensation for these services is necessarily small.

It is not at all my intention to belittle our branch managers, on the contrary! It is an undisputed fact that they have been the pioneers and builders of the Association. But in making this statement I also must point out that if we are not careful now and if they raise obstacles to the progress of the Association, then unintentionally they will be breaking down what they h'ave helped create. After all, we can’t expect an old man who still works eight hours each day in the mill or in the mine, to work for the Association like he did in his younger and more active years.

However, when we speak cf the appointment of the branch managers by the Home Office, nothing is farther from our mind than to remove the faithful and productive branch managers who still are doing a good job. It couldn’t1 even enter our mind to propose to simultaneously select, train and place 300 new branch managers.

On the contrary, we are only too happy if a branch has an active, competent manager who is able and willing to carry on. And if a branch should request the Home Office to appoint such a member, that request will never be turned down by the Home Office but granted with the greatest pleasure. On the other hand, it is only fair that if a manager does a good job, his position should not depend on the easily changed goodwill of a few members who attend the branch meeting.

However, the essential point of our organizing program is the development cf a professional staff of field workers. There is nothing new in that. More than one fraternal society in our country, counting its members by the hundred thousands, has introduced this system a long time ago and the fact is that fraternalism, instead of disappearing from their lodges and branches, is being maintained on a much higher, far more constructive and active le\%l than anywhere in our Association.

GOOD PAY FOR GOOD WORK

The question now is where we will find the 24 professional field workers mentioned aoove? Naturally, good workers can be found but under the present living conditions we will have to provide them with adequate earning possibilities, too, because you can’t hold a good worker unless you pay him well. Let’s not forget that for the part-time branch manager work for the Verhovay is a sideline, but the professional field worker expects to make his living in his job with the Verhovay. We can’t expect able and competent men to comei and work for us if they know that elsewhere they can earn much more for the same job. We are able to pay our workers just as well as the large insurance companies pay their workers for the same kind of work and similar results. However, today more is needed than mere pay. The competent field worker will also inquire: “What are my prospects for the future? What job security can you offer me? What are my advancement possibilities? What1 provisions have you made for the old age security of your field workers?”

The Board of Directors has taken several important steps in this direction and the delegates to the National Convention will have opportunity to study them and, if they are so inclined, to add further advantages to those planned.

None of this is new either. After all, the manufacturers, too, insure their workers, provide in some manner for their old age security and assure them of fair opportunities for advancement during their working years. The welfare of our Association demands that we make similar provisions for those who wish to work for us.

If we assure our field workers of good earning possibilties, they will work and produce and if they produce, that will be to the advantage of the Association and its membership. A smart contractor does not look for cheap labor but for the best worker whom he is willing to pay well, too, because he knows 1 nat he will produce the most and the best. If we want cheap labor, we can’t get good workers because the good workers will ge> to where they can earn more and enjoy better chances for advancement.

GOOD TOOLS HELP PRODLCTION

Nor is it enough to engage and train competent field workers for the attaining of higher production results. We must provide them with the proper tools of the trade, tools that are on par with the products of today’s insurance industry.

Henry Ford, for instance, refused to make any changes in the automobile models in 1925-26, because he felt he was giving the public good cars for their price. But the construction of the Ford cars was outmoded and the public preferred the modern products and, as a result, Ford lost the race with the other, more advanced automobile manufacturers of that time. Thus Ford, too, came to realize that no matter how dependable his products were, the public always prefers the new products. The same holds true in the life insurance industry. We must keep in step with fashion. We must give newly fashioned insurance products to our field force and then we will have new business, too.

According to the estimates of our professional insurance men, we are losing at least four million dollars of new business annually because we don’t feature some important insurance plans preferred by the public today. And let’s

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