[USER]

A friend of mine gets paid minimum wage as an admin for an insurance sales team. The job requires submitting claims, responding to client emails, billing, and handling general client inquiries and problems.

I just cannot believe this is a minimum wage job and friend cannot afford to live at this wage so will need to negotiate a raise or leave. They have no idea what their skills are worth.

Does anyone know what this role usually pays? They live and work in a HCOL area and have a bachelor’s degree if that matters.

Also wondering if this is typically a w2 or 1099 role, as that has been discussed.

[Michael]

A BS degree won’t matter in this role, but dang…doing this for a decade on a 1099 at $14/hr? I’d be looking for better role like there’s no tomorrow.

In my experience admin assistants, etc.

have all been W2 employees with set schedules. A better role might entail giving up some of that flexibility.

[Katrina]

Since they have a BS degree and insurance experience, recommend they apply for entry-level job (customer or claims service rep or claims adjuster) for a large national or regional insurance company.

Will be a W-2 job with much better pay and benefits, advancement opportunities & potential to move laterally into other areas of the business.

Update their resume/brush-up on interview skills, set up LinkedIn profile, and ck career pages of insurance company websites for entry-level job opportunities/online applications.

[Aura]

If I had worked for a decade for the same company, I would let them know that I really love the job, but that I am going to have to start looking for a position that has better benefits since I need a better salary/healthcare to make ends meet.

Then I would start looking for that job.

In our HCOL area, Panda Express pays entry level workers with just a high school diploma $19 an hour so that job for $14/hr wouldn’t make sense to me.

[Alicia]

Those tasks sound reasonable for an admin role. And no, a degree typically won’t mean anything at an entry level admin job – is their degree close to this field?

Would it be used/valued in future roles?

I would also assume that they would be an employee, not a contractor, as they’re not licensed to be an agent on their own and are being told where/how/when to do their job.

Honestly, I would expect this to be close to minimum wage and would receive raises/bonuses over time – and you didn’t include how long they have been there.

What is the minimum wage for their location? Several HCOL cities have their own, higher min wage than the actual state min.

[Megan]

One of the big litmus tests for 1099 vs W2 is can they set their own hours.

If they can’t it should not be 1099 work.

[Tristan]

This sounds pretty typical of an entry level admin role, which I’d expect to be w2 and minimum wage

[Roxanne]

That should be over $40,000/year. Even if it’s classified as entry level, a person needs certain skills and aptitudes.

This goes well beyond working a cash register at a burger joint.

[Author]

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