The Ultimate Guide to Combating Employee Burnout in 2025

About the Guests:

Colleen Hauk is the CEO of The Corporate Refinery, a consultancy based in California that focuses on addressing and mitigating burnout within the workplace, specifically for women. Colleen has dedicated her career to helping others balance a powerful career and fulfilling personal life. Her approach combines personal anecdote with practical strategy, advocating for both individual self-awareness and systemic changes in corporate culture.

Bob Christy is the co-founder of F.A.C.T.S. & Christy Insurance, a staple in the Findlay area for over three decades. With roots in the agricultural community from his start as a farm management instructor, Bob demonstrates strong expertise in insurance tailored to farmers' unique needs.

Episode Summary:

As the new year begins, "Chamber Amplified" from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce dives into the pressing issue of workplace burnout, especially as it impacts women more prominently than men. Host Doug Jenkins revisits a May 2022 interview with Colleen Hauk from The Corporate Refinery. Colleen shares her personal journey and reveals strategies for tackling persistent workplace stressors that significantly affect women's productivity in professional settings. The episode also discusses how businesses and managers can adopt better communication practices and workload management to reduce staff burnout.

In the second segment, Bob Christy shares his industry insights from over thirty years of practice. He highlights the specialization required in crafting insurance policies for agricultural enterprises, drawing from his unique position as both a former farmer and insurance agent.

Key Takeaways:

• Workplace Burnout Prevalence: Burnout is not a new phenomenon but has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly affecting women more than men due to traditional roles during remote work transitions.
• Communication and Clarity: Effective and consistent communication from managers is crucial in reducing employee burnout, allowing employees to voice satisfaction and concerns meaningfully.
• Leadership Responsibility: Leaders should first address their own burnout to effectively support their teams, thus forming a foundation for a healthier organizational culture.
• Specialized Insurance Needs: The agricultural sector requires specific and knowledgeable insurance services, as highlighted by the evolving nature of farming operations.
• Proactive Help-Seeking: Employees experiencing burnout should actively seek support, set boundaries, and communicate their needs to prevent exacerbation of burnout symptoms.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Hey everybody. Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. It's another best of episode. Hope you enjoyed your New Year's holiday and are ready to be off and running in 2025. We have a few more best of episodes for you before we get back to original interviews today. It's a replay from all the way back. When did we do this interview? We did this in May of 2022, so not too long after we initially launched the podcast in March of 2022.
0:00:28 - (Doug Jenkins): This time we're talking to Colleen Hauk. She is the CEO of the corporate refinery talking about burnout in the workplace. Hey, New Year, new you. We're all trying to develop good habits as we go into the New year. And one thing that I think we all try and do is try and mitigate stress. Doesn't mean that we're not going to be stressed at work or at home or anything like that, but there are things we can do to mitigate it and that's really what we're talking about in this episode.
0:00:50 - (Doug Jenkins): And Colleen also highlights why office stress impacts women more than men. And again, what's that impact on your business? Doesn't mean we all have to be lovey dovey Kooba Yah all the time at work. Just something to be aware of so you'll get a lot of tidbits from that. Also remember way back when we started, it was always two interviews. It's kind of hard to line up two interviews each week for the podcast and do other things. But we have another bonus interview at the end of this one as well with Bob Christy, so be sure to check that out. Hope you enjoy it. Hope you enjoyed the holidays and enjoy this episode of Chamber Amplified.
0:01:25 - (Doug Jenkins): Hello and welcome to another edition of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm Doug Jenkins, membership and Events Manager here at the Chamber. Happy to have you along with us once again as we continue to look into issues that can impact your business. Some of the things you can be doing to mitigate those issues and thrive in the current environment that we find ourselves in. Of course, each podcast has some business tips and advice and each podcast highlights one of our longer tenure members here at the Chamber. We've got another focus on employee retention. Today we'll be talking to Colleen Hauck. She is a consultant from the west coast out in California. We're talking about women getting burned out in the workplace, how that is impacting our businesses around here and not only what's causing it, but what can we do to mitigate that and do a better job of keeping people in the workforce.
0:02:19 - (Doug Jenkins): Colleen has a lot of great ideas. Some of them apply to women specifically, but a lot of them apply to just your entire employee rosters. So you definitely want to listen to what she has to say. A lot of great conversation coming up with Colleen here in just a few moments, we're also joined by Robert Christy of Facts and Christy Insurance. They are 32 year members of the Chamber of Commerce. We'll talk about how the industry has changed over those 32 years, what they're able to provide, how we got into the industry, and a whole lot more that is coming up. Do you want to thank you for subscribing and listening to the podcast each and every week Again, wherever where podcasts are available, download us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and everywhere in between, even weird ones I've never even heard of. We're starting to see those roll into the download section on the stats. So great to see it. Be sure to share it with your friends, especially if they are having some problems with their business and want some advice. Well, this can help them out with that as well.
0:03:16 - (Doug Jenkins): So let's get into it. Colleen Hauk is joining us. She is the CEO of the corporate refinery and we're talking about burnout in the workplace. More specifically, why more women are burning out in the workplace than men. Colleen, thanks for joining us today.
0:03:30 - (Colleen Hauk): Oh, I appreciate being here. Thanks, Doug.
0:03:32 - (Doug Jenkins): So I found this interesting because I think over the last couple of years we've all dealt with a certain amount of burnout and kind of questioning what we do as a career. I think maybe universally across the board we've seen that. But I was interested in the article. I think we both saw last week that women are experiencing a higher rate of burnout and what the causes of that might be. So I think we'll just kind of jump off there. What are those underlying causes that see women seeing more burnout?
0:04:02 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah, so there are several. And let's be clear, burnout is not a new phenomenon. Right?
0:04:08 - (Doug Jenkins): That's true.
0:04:09 - (Colleen Hauk): Right. So burnout is definitely not a new phenomenon. However, since 2020, it has just been exacerbated by the pandemic, especially for women. So we know women typically take on more than just their professional aspect of life. Traditionally, even when they are married or in a relationship where both, you know, husband and wife or partners are working, women predominantly take on the household duties, which adds up in some cases to, you know, 20 plus hours per week, which is as if they're Working a second part time job.
0:04:50 - (Doug Jenkins): Right.
0:04:50 - (Colleen Hauk): What we saw though in the last couple of years is that women were taking on even more as, you know, children, especially, especially if they have kids, were being homeschooled essentially. And women were just forced back into more of those traditional roles where we started to see, especially if they had kids, that women were adding another 30, sometimes 40 hours per week with all of their additional responsibilities.
0:05:17 - (Colleen Hauk): So it's no surprise that women were experiencing burnout at an even greater degree than men just because they were pushed back into those kind of traditional roles that women tend to take on.
0:05:29 - (Doug Jenkins): And especially when you look at the way that we had to adapt to those traditional roles and trying to school the kids from home while they're learning a whole new different way to learn, while we were working on a whole different way to work, I can definitely see where that even exacerbates it even more.
0:05:46 - (Colleen Hauk): Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, burnout is technically a workplace phenomenon. So the World Health Organization has classified burnout as a diagnosable condition. It's not an illness. It's not something, you know, you can like quote, take sick leave for.
0:06:05 - (Doug Jenkins): Right.
0:06:05 - (Colleen Hauk): However, people, people do end up taking more sick leave or actually, you know, can become physically ill from burnout. But burnout is technically based on the World Health Organization definition, a workplace phenomenon. However, exactly like you said, we see that work and life are even more blended as people now are either continuing to work from home or they're in a hybrid situation. So when we already have a heightened stress in the professional aspect of life, but then now where that professional aspect is creeped into the personal life, we almost can't even separate it. So the personal aspect, because they're blended has absolutely contributed to those feelings of absolute exhaustion, which is typically the number one feeling people experience as they start to go into burnout.
0:06:58 - (Doug Jenkins): Absolutely. And burnout is a little bit different than just workplace. We all have workplace stress. It's when you burnout is. It's different. Can you kind of show some examples of the differences between the two?
0:07:09 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah, I'm actually glad that you hit on that because look, we all have stressors and in fact there is good stress that is in our life. Psychiatrists classify that as eustress. And so good stress is what we need to, you know, achieve big goals and reach for our aspirations. But burnout happens when there is chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. So it is one thing to just have a bad day. We wouldn't say that that's going to cause burnout, but when you have things occurring over time chronically.
0:07:44 - (Colleen Hauk): So as an example, one of the top drivers or causes of burnout is unmanageable workload. So when you have consistent, consistent unmanageable workload, that is going to lead to burnout. So it's that chronic stress when. When it hasn't been managed properly. And unfortunately, a lot of people just don't even know how to deal with the chronic stress. So a lot of people found themselves all of a sudden just kind of thrown into the situation and, you know, just feeling like they're drowning every day. And I know firsthand what that's like because I experienced my own burnout several years ago.
0:08:22 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah. And that kind of led into you going out on your own and doing what you're doing now. Can you walk us through that story just a little bit? I think people will get. I think a lot of people that listen to the podcast will relate to that journey.
0:08:35 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I kicked off my professional life wanting to really be like my mom. She was a wife, a mom, and a career woman, and that's what I aspired to be. But unfortunately, going into the year 2013, I accepted a promotion. And this promotion met my professional and my financial goals. But I went into this promotion with total blinders on for everything else that it would. And because I was taking on nearly another person's full time job on top of my full time job in that particular promotion, I ended up doing literally nothing but working. I mean, I was working 60 plus hour weeks. I was only sleeping four or five hours a night.
0:09:18 - (Colleen Hauk): And at the time I had three kids at home and, you know, my husband. And it was awful. I mean, I still to this day do not understand how my husband Matt did not pack up our kids and leave me. I mean, I was an absolute tyrant coming home. I mean, I would be screaming because a sock was on the, you know, in the middle of the floor. It was so much to handle. I went through that for just over a year of that constant work, no sleep, angry at my family Until December of 2013 one night, sitting late in my office and I said, that's it. I have to qu.
0:09:55 - (Colleen Hauk): I just at that time, could not see how you could possibly not feel like you are drowning every day and be healthy and happy. Fortunately, I didn't. I hired a coach. I worked with her. I started on my burnout recovery journey. And what I found is that while I was experiencing that for a year, I assumed every other person, especially the other women in my office who were you know, married and had kids and were traveling like I was.
0:10:25 - (Colleen Hauk): I assumed they had it all together. I didn't realize that they themselves were suffering just like I was. So I felt a tremendous responsibility to start to share not only my story, but to share the strategies I had learned so other women could continue on to have what I now call the. And life where you can have this powerful career and extraordinary personal life.
0:10:50 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, there's a few different ways to go there. One, that realization that, wait a second, everybody is struggling in this role that's in a similar situation. I imagine that had to be a pretty powerful revelation and something that I have to imagine a large portion of our listeners maybe are starting to connect those dots, but maybe they haven't yet.
0:11:11 - (Colleen Hauk): Yes, I think. I think, you know, unfortunately. But a positive outcome of the pandemic is that people are talking about it more. It's not as secretive or, you know, for me, I just. I'll never forget the day. It was about a month or so into my burnout recovery, and I was standing in the doorway of one of my colleague's offices. And for some reason that morning, I just felt compelled to start sharing with her what had been going on that previous year.
0:11:38 - (Colleen Hauk): And she wasn't saying a word. She was just staring at me. And I started. I started to freak out, thinking, oh, my gosh, I, you know, she's going to go tell somebody that I wanted to quit. Like, the cat's out. Right?
0:11:49 - (Doug Jenkins): Right.
0:11:49 - (Colleen Hauk): And so I stopped talking. And she says, I'm so sorry. I. It's just. I'm looking in a mirror. I just had this conversation over the weekend, and that was that first moment that I was like, okay, I'm not alone. And it is. It's extremely supportive when, you know, you're not the only person going through it, whether it's just because now you have somebody to kind of share and voice those concerns and those challenges that you've had, or to know that there's people out there who have some answers that you can turn to.
0:12:19 - (Doug Jenkins): The other thing you mentioned is you made the decision to take the promotion. Like you said, you took it on with the blinders on. And I think maybe that speaks to. Before you take that career step, maybe looking at it from the whole. And I imagine that was one of the lessons learned.
0:12:35 - (Colleen Hauk): Yes. And it's actually one of the major critical strategies that I share when I'm at organizations or conferences, like for a keynote talk. But I share that you absolutely need to create and look at your life holistically I call them the six balance points of life. And absolutely professional and financial are two. And they tend to be the two that most people focus on, especially for people who are high achievers. Right. And that's a lot of the people I work with, you know, female executives, men and women in leadership.
0:13:08 - (Colleen Hauk): They are traditionally high achievers. And so they've spent majority of their, you know, young adulthood into it, into full adulthood, knowing exactly what they want professionally and financially. And we, we can't live that way. I mean, if that's all you're focused on, then you can't be. You can't be upset when, when some other aspect of your life doesn't go the way that you want it to because you didn't take on the responsibility to say, hey, these are the things I want.
0:13:39 - (Colleen Hauk): And it really is just about taking some time to sit down and say, okay, well, what do I want my relationships to look like? What do I want my health to look like? And just, even if you're just penciling out a few ideas, at least then when those opportunities come to, you have a bit of a compass, you know, a North Star, to say, does this, or does this. Excuse me, does this opportunity fit with everything else that I want in my life?
0:14:05 - (Colleen Hauk): And once I did that, I also was able to then start asking for things like I, you know, then I could say, wait a minute, yes, I want this promotion, but I need this to make it work. Or can we make these adjustments? Or you can just flat out say, this isn't the right fit at this time.
0:14:22 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, I think that's a powerful tool, and it gives you an idea of what you want to negotiate for and what you go into everything with. So we focused a little bit on the employee part of it. But what can businesses be doing to try and mitigate some of this burnout? I don't think many bosses, and there certainly are some, but I don't think a lot of bosses go into it like, I'm going to work my employees to the bone, and they think that's a good strategy. I think it just happens over time due to different restructuring and different things like that.
0:14:52 - (Doug Jenkins): So what are ways that they can sort of turn that ship around and make sure that they're at least trying to mitigate these factors that lead to burnout.
0:15:00 - (Colleen Hauk): Yes. And it's so interesting that you. That you're asking this, because I just. About. About two months ago finished filming a course that we're waiting for launch potentially to be out on LinkedIn, which is all about how leaders can mitigate burnout for their team. So this is very timely you're asking this question and what's interest? What's interesting is Gallup recently did a survey earlier this year and it was looking at burnout across, you know, from 2021 into even the beginning of this year.
0:15:31 - (Colleen Hauk): And frontline employees, their burnout level is actually starting to reduce. It's starting to come down just a tad bit. I mean, we're talking one or two percentage points, but what we're seeing is people, leaders, people, managers, their burnout is significantly still increased that compared to the year pr. So it is, and it's hard because I agree with you, majority of managers and leaders are not going in trying to work their people into a state of burnout.
0:16:01 - (Colleen Hauk): But the leaders are actually the ones who are most significantly burned out. So how in the world can they expect to mitigate burnout for their team when they themselves haven't figured out how to get a handle on it? So the number one thing that managers can do is start to figure out how to reduce the burnout for themselves so that they start to feel more alive at work. And when they are starting to have a clearer picture, then they can start to see their team a little bit better.
0:16:32 - (Colleen Hauk): The second thing that I would say is that again, unmanageable workload is a really big driver of burnout. But also lack of communication from a manager is one of the other top reasons or causes of burnout. So I say leaders need to be in consistent communication and it has to be done in a very thoughtful way through intention. One of the key questions that I asked when I was a leader, and it's something that I train on, is that having a weekly meeting or bi weekly meeting with each of their direct reports.
0:17:08 - (Colleen Hauk): One of the questions that leaders should be asking is on a scale of 1 to 10, how are you feeling professionally? And on a scale of 1 to 10, how are you feeling personally? And this allows leaders to at least have an idea of the headspace that their employees are in. Now, the employee may just state the number and not choose to share why.
0:17:31 - (Doug Jenkins): Right?
0:17:31 - (Colleen Hauk): That's okay. At least we're opening the door for some conversation. So making sure that they're asking, engaging in that, and then having the consistent communication allows employees to know, like you said, if there's organizational changes or anything going on, the more the manager is communicating, the less stress that the employee starts to feel.
0:17:54 - (Doug Jenkins): Those are all good points. The last question I'll ask, I say it's going to be my Last question. I'll think of another one right after. It's an ongoing tradition with the podcast, so that's what we can do at work. But as you've stated, it's also the burnout that you're feeling. Not necessarily burnout, but the stress you're feeling from added pressures at home, especially over the last couple of years.
0:18:13 - (Doug Jenkins): What can we be doing as partners, as husbands and boyfriends and partners? All I know, I try and do the laundry. I try. That's my, that's mine. But also, I fold clothes better than my wife. She doesn't listen to the podcast. It's okay that I say that. But, you know, aside from trying to take on some more of those, those types of household things, what are ways that we can be better at this?
0:18:36 - (Colleen Hauk): Yes. Oh, that's such a lovely question and I definitely appreciate that. I think, you know, I'll kind of flip it. Yes, I, partners should be asking and being there to be supportive. But I also, I really put the responsibility on the individual who's experiencing the burnout. And for women, sorry, I got to tell you.
0:18:56 - (Doug Jenkins): No, this is great news for me.
0:18:59 - (Colleen Hauk): You have to just take the responsibility. But with that said, the responsibility for many is you don't have to be doing everything yourself. Right? So just because you want it all doesn't mean you have to be doing it all. And so, you know, at least for me, one of the things was kind of taking that cape of, you know, the superwoman cape off and saying, look, I've got to ask for help. And it sounds like you're a wonderful husband. I have an amazing husband, but I can't expect him to read my mind and know where I need assistance or where I need the support.
0:19:31 - (Colleen Hauk): So I have to take the responsibility and just ask, delegate, reach out. You know, if you, if you have the opportunity and the blessing to have additional family members nearby, ask for help. If not, get a community of other parents and, you know, start doing those, the carpooling and the, you know, all of the things that you possibly can in order to leverage the community. And again, community can be friends, family members, but we have to take responsibility and ask for help.
0:20:05 - (Colleen Hauk): I really recommend going back to the basics. I laugh because I see all of these like, oh, give yourself an at home treatment with this 24 karat gold facial mask. I'm like, really do. We don't need that. That is not going to cure the burnout. Get back to the basics. And when I say basics, I mean figure out ways that you can be sleeping A minimum of seven hours a night. Do you have water sitting next to you and are you hydrating each day?
0:20:33 - (Colleen Hauk): Are you doing some meal preparation and trying to eat the best you can? I know this sounds like no brainer, but I challenge people. Are you actually doing that? And the more that you can get back to the basics of sleep, hydration and nutrition, the other things become clear. You are approaching things already in a better state of mind. And it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be quicker at your role, but it could be that you have better clarity to see where you can delegate or you have better confidence in being able to ask questions, make requests, say no.
0:21:09 - (Colleen Hauk): So get back to the basics. Stop trying to find all of these. Like, I need to go to the spa for the day. I'm not saying that's not great, right? But let's do the small things consistently every day, day. And that is going to better support somebody on their burnout recovery than a day at the spa is.
0:21:24 - (Doug Jenkins): I told you I'd have one more actual last question because I thought of as you were saying that how much does social media feed into this? A little bit. We see that the hashtag mom boss or girl boss and you know, people put out there their best selves. You know, I'm killing it at work, I'm killing my mom game, awesome wife. You know, they, the outward presentation may not reflect the inward reality.
0:21:46 - (Doug Jenkins): Do you see that as kind of a factor in some of this?
0:21:50 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah, absolutely, it can. I mean, it's all going to depend on the individual and how they receive that information. You know, some individuals look at it and they think, great, good for my friend or good for this person. Other individuals receive it as, you know, as oh my gosh, I'm failing. So I think you really have to look at your, how you receive and respond to information to know whether or not you should be, you know, on social media as much as you are or aren't.
0:22:17 - (Colleen Hauk): A lot of the executive women that I work with, they, they choose not to be on social media as often. And part of it is because of that point. The other part is just, you know, it's better to let go of things than add new things. Right? So if we look at social media, the question should be, is it contributing and making things better for me and if it's not enhancing your life in some way? And again, this is individuals, everybody has to assess that for themselves.
0:22:48 - (Colleen Hauk): What I challenge, you know, that's the question you should be asking. If the time you're spending on Social media isn't contributing to a more positive aspect for you, supporting you in a positive way, then I would say, you know, limit or disengage altogether.
0:23:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Very good, Colleen. I really appreciate it. Of course, Corporate Refinery, you are the CEO there. Tell us just a little bit about what you're doing there. If people want to get in touch with you, perhaps invite you to be a speaker. Although here in Ohio, probably better for you to be a virtual speaker since you're out there on the West Coast. How can they get in touch with you?
0:23:18 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah, absolutely. And I love to travel. I'll actually be in North Carolina coming up soon for a big event.
0:23:24 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, we can teach you to say open stuff here.
0:23:27 - (Colleen Hauk): There we go.
0:23:28 - (Doug Jenkins): We'll teach you the Midwest stuff.
0:23:30 - (Colleen Hauk): Well, I will tell you my both of my parents are originally from Michigan. I have family who's lived in Ohio, still lives in Ohio. So yes, I'm familiar. I've been there.
0:23:38 - (Doug Jenkins): Very good.
0:23:39 - (Colleen Hauk): Yeah. So the Corporate Refinery Refinery. I'm really excited. We just launched this new business, so more details to be coming, but we're really looking at how do we forge new paradigms for women and leaders overall. So we are all about ditching these stale perspectives that organizations have had and really coming in with modern methods and whether that is bringing me in for speaking my team in for training.
0:24:04 - (Colleen Hauk): We are really excited about that. So immediately right now, you can always find me on my personal website, which is colleenhauck.com and the corporate Refinery is launching this spring. So we are really excited for those details coming out.
0:24:17 - (Doug Jenkins): Very good, Colleen. We appreciate it. That's. I think we probably went over our allotted time there, but that's a lot of great information. I'm excited to get it out to, to our members and to our community here. So thank you for your time today.
0:24:30 - (Colleen Hauk): Yes, thank you, Doug. Appreciate being here.
0:24:33 - (Doug Jenkins): Big thanks to Colleen Hauck of the Corporate Refinery joining us here on Chamber Amplified. And again, if you have any questions about what she had to say today, feel free to reach out to her. She just gets you her contact information. I can be happy to arrange an introduction as well if you would like. Right now, do want to tell you that starting next week, you'll start hearing some highlights from other Chamber members that have their own podcasts. Figured that we would use this spot. We've got several that we know of that are doing podcasts. Everybody does a podcast right now. I've had people ask, there are so many podcasts.
0:25:07 - (Doug Jenkins): Why should I do a podcast? Well, look, the goal is not for you to be the top of the podcast charts. That would be cool. I'd be alright with it. If Chamber Amplified Suddenly was the most downloaded podcast on Apple Podcasts, I would run a victory lap around the Chamber of Commerce. But that's probably not gonna happen. That's all right. It's not necessarily that you're trying to get this huge audience. What you are trying to do is show that you know what you're talking about and focusing on different issues that can help help in our case, help our members.
0:25:37 - (Doug Jenkins): So a lot of times when I'm talking to members and they say, yeah, I've got this, you know, we're struggling with employee retention again, that's been the big issue that we've been dealing with for the last year and a half or so. It's easy for me to just send them a link to a podcast, make you know what, I just talked to somebody who talked about this issue in particular. Have a listen to it, they might have some tips for you. So it's a really good way to build up your resources.
0:26:00 - (Doug Jenkins): So that's why we're doing one. That's why I would encourage you and your business to do a podcast as well. You don't have to have the fanciest equipment in the world. Certainly we made a little bit of an investment just so that the audio sounds nice and crisp. Although my friends in the radio industry probably have something to say about. I'm sure there's something not right with our audio settings. I'm not an audiophile. I'm not exactly going to knock that one out of the park each and every week. We'll figure it out, out as we go.
0:26:27 - (Doug Jenkins): Anyway, if you are a Chamber of Commerce member and you are doing a podcast, we'd love to play a one minute highlight of your podcast right here so that we can help direct people to you and let them know about your industry knowledge as well. Let's get back into our podcast this week though as we're joined by Robert Christy of FACTS & Christy Insurance Agency. Actually, now that I see on your zoom screen, Bob is probably preferred.
0:26:50 - (Bob Christy): Right, that's fine.
0:26:52 - (Doug Jenkins): So Bob, again, thanks. Let's talk a little bit about the facts. And Christy Insurance Agency has been a member at the chamber here for 32 years now. Certainly, I imagine things have evolved over those three decades and change. Tell us a little bit about how the agency came together and how you came to be a part of it.
0:27:10 - (Bob Christy): Well, I started this agency actually back in 1988 as farm accounts Computer Tax Service. I Have been up to that point. I'd been a farm management instructor. State funding was being cut, so I decided to start the business doing taxes, record work and financials for farms in the area. We started in Arlington.
0:27:38 - (Doug Jenkins): Okay.
0:27:38 - (Bob Christy): And then in 1992, we decided we needed something more. So we added the Insurance Agency in 1992 and moved up to Findlay.
0:27:51 - (Doug Jenkins): Very good. So let's focus a little bit about the farm tax side of things, just because that is an interesting area. There's a lot that has to be done there. There are so many different expenses and inputs and everything. And keeping track of all that can make or break a farm income for.
0:28:10 - (Bob Christy): A year, that's for sure. Prices, income, as far as the prices of inputs, inc. Income, everything has changed drastically. Of course, you know, the price of equipment has gone. I don't even know how much, percentage wise, it's gone up. But the thing is, is that the farmers have to be on top of this stuff in order to maintain, you know, their profitability. But that was something that was kind of lacking. We were starting to see some tax preparers and accountants not really understand some of the changes.
0:28:47 - (Bob Christy): I can't say it not understand. But, you know, looking at the changes that have occurred in the tax code for just farms, Farms are sort of their own little entity in the tax code, unlike regular business.
0:29:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, it's a whole different ball of wax. So it's good to have somebody who specializes in that area watching your back for you. Because the weirdest thing about tax time is we all have to start looking for these, I don't want to say loopholes, but we're all sudden looking at, oh, wait, does this count as this? Does this count as that? And it's a whole different thing on the farm.
0:29:20 - (Bob Christy): Oh, it certainly is. And it does get complex. I mean, in the past, we used to be able to get the tax returns done pretty quickly. Now it takes us a while. This year, especially with the last two years when everybody had extensions and everything else, we have gotten way behind in the last three years as far as getting things done. Right on a minute here. And it doesn't help when the government keeps changing the rules midstream.
0:29:50 - (Doug Jenkins): Everything else, I would imagine not. So how does the. You mentioned you wanted to add to it and decided that you wanted to get into the insurance side of things. What drew you to that?
0:30:02 - (Bob Christy): Well, actually, part of it was.
0:30:08 - (Colleen Hauk): I.
0:30:08 - (Bob Christy): Had a barn fire.
0:30:09 - (Doug Jenkins): Oh, okay.
0:30:11 - (Bob Christy): And the coverage I had, even though the agent told me, oh, everything's okay and everything else, he. I don't think he didn't have it covered the way I really wanted to. And so that led me to start asking some questions, start, you know, talking to my current tax clients, especially, you know, what do you have in your farm owner policies? And, and, and that led me to believe that, you know, there are agencies out there that like to write houses, they like to write autos. Those are quick and simple type of things.
0:30:43 - (Bob Christy): But to write a farm, you. You gotta get out there and really look at the place. And that's kind of why we did that, because I farm also. So, hey, everybody knew that I knew what I was looking at. Not just somebody's coming out there and giving an opinion.
0:30:58 - (Doug Jenkins): It's not something you just read about in a book. You've. You've lived the life. Life.
0:31:03 - (Bob Christy): Yeah. And live the life. Yeah.
0:31:06 - (Doug Jenkins): And we've certainly. We just had an example of why it's probably good to have somebody who knows farms write your insurance policy. This week with the tornado that just hit on the one side of the county and tore the roof off of one of the barns near the Rosson area.
0:31:19 - (Bob Christy): Yeah. People don't realize that, you know, how much investment you have.
0:31:24 - (Doug Jenkins): Not.
0:31:25 - (Bob Christy): It's not just the equipment that's sitting out there, because it's the building, just the house, it's the livestock. If they've got anything, they need to know how to make sure it's properly covered.
0:31:35 - (Doug Jenkins): How has it changed over the last 30 years? What are the biggest changes you've seen?
0:31:40 - (Bob Christy): Biggest changes is a type of coverage we have to have out there with the specialized operations, such as these hog operations, you know, these massive hog operations. We gotta make sure the coverage is tailored for them because the farmer used to be. The farmer owned everything, and we could write a policy to cover everything that he owned. Now they're putting up buildings, but they don't own the animals in them.
0:32:08 - (Doug Jenkins): Okay.
0:32:09 - (Bob Christy): So we have to come up with the coverages and the specialty stuff for those buildings with the animals in them. For the other company, the other thing is too, a lot has changed, you know, just in how people raise the animals. Now we got to make sure we have generators out there. We have to have backup power supplies and stuff, because if something happens to electricity, again, especially in these livestock operations, such as the hogs and the poultry, if the electricity goes off, you could wipe out an entire barn and livestock.
0:32:42 - (Bob Christy): So we have to watch. You know, that's a huge change there. And of course, looking at the regular farmers, the size and scope of this equipment, it's no longer, you know, $30,000 for a combine, right. You know, it's almost a million dollars. I mean it's just going up all the time. We have to make sure, because the coverage in place to take care of things like, you know, if they are in an accident or even if they have something happen in the field that wasn't anticipated, we have to make sure that coverage is there to cover this stuff.
0:33:13 - (Bob Christy): The average farmer, you know, if he lost a combine, he could not replace that without the insurance.
0:33:19 - (Doug Jenkins): It's about $30,000 for a combine tire these days, isn't it? Pretty close, at least for the set of them. What is a big challenge that you faced and how did you address it? How did you, how did you tackle the problem?
0:33:36 - (Bob Christy): One of the biggest things that I do drive around and look at my clients, clients seem to think, you know, they don't want of, you know, a lot of people don't want to spend a lot of money on insurance. So I drive around, I look at their farms and stuff. Tell me when you buy something, tell me when you build something. We got to get it on the insurance policy because if, if something happens to it, it might have gone through the, basically the grace period to get that on the policy. And then if something happens, you know, we're up the creek.
0:34:12 - (Bob Christy): That's the biggest thing is you just have to keep that communication. We got to keep the communication between the farms and myself to make sure that we have the coverage that they need and know what they're doing.
0:34:25 - (Doug Jenkins): Absolutely.
0:34:26 - (Bob Christy): That's it.
0:34:27 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, it makes me think my father in law built all new grain bins. I don't know, it's been six, seven, eight years ago at this point. And I imagine that's one of those things you make the investment and you probably want to make sure you have that policy and you want to make sure you get under that policy quickly just in case.
0:34:43 - (Bob Christy): Yeah, I know. Nobody wants to pay more insurance, right? I hear that every day.
0:34:49 - (Doug Jenkins): I would imagine so.
0:34:51 - (Bob Christy): But the thing is is that if something happened to it again, it would be a severe financial burden on that person to try to replace it on their own.
0:35:02 - (Doug Jenkins): So Bob, if somebody were looking to go into insurance, but they wanted to look at it from the agriculture standpoint, I know from working with our agribusiness committee and our leadership ag days there one like you said, farms are getting way more advanced. So there's a lot more to cover. And there's like you said, you got to have the generators to make sure that a lot of the different things are running, but there are a lot of people who are doing things that are very closely related to the ag industry. This is not an area I had really thought of, but it seems like there's always going to be a need to cover agriculture around here.
0:35:37 - (Doug Jenkins): So how would somebody get into it? What kind of mindset do they need?
0:35:42 - (Bob Christy): I think if somebody has some ag background, that would help an awful lot. Now I'm not saying that somebody couldn't just start this from scratch and work with a mentor, so to speak, you know, an agent who's been doing it for a long time, but they could work with a mentor or like I said that if they have the background, that's great. The requirements for any insurance agent is a 40 hour. Excuse me. Yeah, 40 hour class and they have to take a state exam.
0:36:14 - (Bob Christy): If they pass the exam, then they need to. If they're working with an agency already, that agency can get them signed up with the companies. That's the first step there. After that it's them doing a lot of book work and studying to see what the company, our policies are written, like, what they'll cover, what they won't cover. That's up to the person to do that. And then of course, you know, talk to the people, see what you can come up with.
0:36:38 - (Bob Christy): Now there are a couple offshoots to this thing. If they want to write crop insurance, that's a whole special line and they have to get additional training and pass additional tests for crop insurance. We have to do of course, continuing education all the time, you know, for both things and just being out there in it, that, that helps you immensely.
0:37:03 - (Doug Jenkins): I would imagine being able to develop trust and being a trustworthy person just on its own. You know, when you work with the agriculture community you want to, they've got to trust you and they have to trust that you know what you're doing. They have to think that you're a trustworthy person and know that you're a trustworthy person. You've got to be able to develop those relationships. I have to imagine. Imagine.
0:37:23 - (Bob Christy): Yeah. And what's nice is once you've been in. That's kind of why when we were doing the taxes we had to develop that trust that we knew what we were doing, you know, first off. And then those people actually carried over and bought the insurance eventually. So it was sort of our, my double, my idea was we were hitting them two ways at once. Keep it all under one roof, so to speak. And, and we can help them the most. I mean, I have People stop in all the time just to shoot the breeze, but usually there's a question or something behind it, and sometimes it takes a little while to get to that question.
0:38:04 - (Doug Jenkins): Being able to shoot the breezes, I think the very top skill in your. In your industry.
0:38:09 - (Bob Christy): Yeah.
0:38:12 - (Doug Jenkins): Without a doubt. Bob, if people want to learn more about facts and Christy Insurance, what's the best way for them to go about that?
0:38:19 - (Bob Christy): They can stop in. We have two offices, one in. On East Sandusky street, sort of just down the road, just east of the fairgrounds, on the corner of Warrington and Sandusky. They can stop in or give us a call. And then our second office is here in Cary. It's on East Findlay street, right in front of the IGA store, or the Hometown Market, I guess, is what's called. Now, they'd be more than welcome to stop in. I have an office manager in each one. Actually, the office manager up here in Cary is my daughter. So, you know, she can. She can help take care of everything.
0:39:00 - (Bob Christy): As far as phone numbers, I mean, we're in the phone book, but usually I found that, you know, if I say a phone number over the. Over a podcast, nobody remembers it. So just. Just stop in. It's about like, people never open their mail.
0:39:18 - (Doug Jenkins): That's fair.
0:39:19 - (Bob Christy): Yeah. So if they're interested, we're in the phone book. We do have a, you know, we're on Facebook. We have a webpage. I think it's still working. I don't pay attention to that. My daughter takes care of that.
0:39:31 - (Doug Jenkins): That's her job.
0:39:33 - (Bob Christy): Yeah, that's old people. You know, that's way before our time.
0:39:38 - (Doug Jenkins): It's just, hey, the best way, stop and shoot the breeze with Bob, and you'll get. You'll get to what you need. There you go. That's how you learn about people. Well, Bob, thank you for doing this. Thank you so much for being a chamber member for more than three decades now. We really appreciate your support and really love what you're doing in the community.
0:39:56 - (Bob Christy): Thank you.
0:39:57 - (Doug Jenkins): And that's our podcast for this week. Big thanks to our guest, Colleen Hauck from the corporate refinery, talking about workplace burnout and how that's impacting women more than men, the things that you can do to help with that as well. Always want to talk about solutions here in the podcast, as well as Bob Christy joining us to talk about facts and Christy Insurance Agency. Really fun to learn his story and talk about his farming background and how he's able to help the farm community with their insurance needs.
0:40:28 - (Doug Jenkins): I always learn a lot when we talk to our long term members and learned a lot more today. Let me tell you one of the hardest things though, because I know I started off by calling him Robert whenever we have the proper name listed in our directory. I never know if people go by their short name or by their proper name. Like for instance, I've never gone by Douglas. I'm also not listed as Douglas anywhere other than when my mom's upset with me. It's been a while since that. Used to hear it a little bit more frequently in my teenage years.
0:40:54 - (Doug Jenkins): Anyway, if you have a podcast idea, if you have a topic topic you want us to cover, certainly send us that note and we'll look to find a speaker on it and find the information that you're looking for. That's what we want to be doing with this podcast, giving you ideas on how you can be running your business, how you can retain employees. But we'll be focusing on some other topics here in the coming weeks too, including IT issues, what you need to know, and make sure that you don't get a victim of a ransomware attack or even worse.
0:41:20 - (Doug Jenkins): We'll also be talking about some marketing topics and plenty of other things to come in the coming weeks here on Chamber Amplified. Thank you for tuning in today. Make it a great week. We'll see you next time. From the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.