Most of our insurance education focuses on improving product knowledge and developing our technical skills. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, more emphasis has been placed on discussing the ethical decisions that insurance professionals have to make daily in their dealings with other industry staff, their clients and the insurance companies they represent.
We work in a society where people pay us for the advice and products we provide to them. They expect us to be fair, honest, trustworthy, and loyal and all the other things they value in their insurance professional. If we breach any of these ethical values, they may well perceive us as being unethical in our dealings with them.
When you hear the word “ethics” what, if anything, comes to mind?
If you said that ethics involves doing the right thing – making the right decision – when in a given situation that offers other possibilities, you are on the right track.
So, it makes sense that if you choose to do the right thing, you are acting ethically and, conversely, if you choose to do the wrong thing, chances are pretty good that you are acting unethically.
There are many definitions of “ethics”, including this one: “Ethics is about fairness, about deciding what is right or wrong, about defining practices and rules that guide responsible conduct between individuals and groups”.
Fairness is a basic ethical value – if you treat people fairly, you reduce the odds of your behaving unethically.
Over the years, philosophers and other scholars have made valiant attempts to provide a generally acceptable definition of ethics. Ethics, like professionalism, is very difficult to define in a fundamental way that will win wide acceptance, but we know it when we see it. Several values are widely recognized as the requisite traits of an ethical person, including:
– honesty and integrity;
– respect and caring for others;
– promise keeping, trustworthiness and fairness; and
– personal accountability.
These ethical values can clearly influence the kind of service insurance organizations provide. A motivated work force that is guided by these ethical values will do much to earn the trust of the insurance buying public. Trust is earned over time through dealing honestly and consistently displaying an attitude that reflects both self-respect and respect for others. If service improves, if ethical values rise, the image of insurance will necessarily improve because image reflects reality.
New Course Making the Right Ethical Decisions
Ethics is all about doing the right thing in a particular situation. As insurance professionals, our clients, insurers and the public (and a lot of other people and organizations) would expect us to do nothing less. In this course, we will look at the following topics as they relate to “Ethics and the Insurance Professional”, specifically:
- Defining “Ethics”
- Establishing Ethical Standards – Sources of Influence
- Basic Ethical Values and What They Really Mean
- The Insurance Broker’s Dilemma
- What a Formal Ethics Program Will Do For Your Brokerage.
Credit Hours: 1
Credit Type: Conformité – Compliance
Credit #: CSF18-12-44571
Accrediting Provinces: QUEBEC
COURSE INFOThis course is included as part of your ILScorp CSF PDU Subscription.
Complete your PDU requirements by November 30, 2019. CSF accredited online courses for Quebec Life Insurance Agents and Financial Planners!
MORE INFOReference period from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2019
With the CSF Accredited Online Courses Subscription you will:
- have 6 months access to over 52 accredited CSF insurance training courses in both text and streaming video formats
- access over 120 PDUs in the categories compliance, insurance of persons, general subjects and group insurance of persons
- save money compared to purchasing individual courses
- have a digital record of your completed course work, which we keep on file for up to seven years
- save time by completing your PDU requirements entirely online, no paperwork or commute
