What motivates brokers to perform?

“Show me the money,” brokers demand.

Basing broker compensation on performance proved most beneficial over the past 24 months, according to 67% of brokerage owners responding to Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 National Broker Survey. That compares to 71% giving the same answer in 2024, 69% in 2023 and 68% in the 2022 survey.

Women (67%) are 3% more likely to cite performance-based compensation as a key driver compared to men (64%). And brokers with 31 or more years in the business favour the tactic a bit more (75%) than those with between 16 and 30 years in the broker business (71%). Those at larger firms are 100% on board with the practice, compared with 82% at mid-sized firms (20-99 employees) and 50% at smaller firms with fewer than 20 employees.

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Employee recognition programs were the next prime motivator, coming in at 52% in 2025.

That response is still better than the 48% who rated the tactic highly in 2024’s survey. Men (50%) more often say recognition programs are motivating than women (40%). And younger brokers (67%) are more appreciative of them than veterans (27%). Those at smaller firms are far less likely (39%) to value recognition programs than those at medium and larger firms – 67% for both.

Among verbatim answers to CU‘s survey, one broker at a smaller firm says it’s important to give recognition to those who engage in activities that don’t directly generate revenue, like managing the company’s online Google reviews.

Other sweeteners include extending holiday time for employees, and giving brokers a “vested interest in [their] book of business.”

Profit motivator

The biggest change last year was a sharp increase in those seeing benefit in profit-sharing plans. Forty-one percent of broker owners called them a valuable motivator, compared to 21% in 2024. Women (60%) favour profit-sharing more than men (32%).

At large brokerages, 100% gave profit-sharing high marks, compared to those at mid-sized firms (40%) and smaller firms (28%). And profit-sharing plans are more popular with mid-career broker owners (50%) than veterans (33%).

Least popular as motivators among brokerage owners are employee ownership programs at 19% in 2025, although that number tops results in 2024 (13%) and 2023 (15%).

Related: Why brokers say the personal touch beats advertising

Women (40%) value employee ownership programs far more than men (12%). And veteran brokers (25%) find them more motivating than those at mid-career (13%). As for firm size, owners of large brokers are most likely (67%) to find they motivate their teams than those at mid-sized firms (20%) and small firms (6%).

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Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 National Broker Survey was fielded between Jan. 22 and Feb. 20, 2025 with 165 responses. For most questions sets, respondents were able to choose multiple answers, so totals will not always equal 100%. The survey is supported by Sovereign Insurance.

Phil Porado

Phil, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in financial topics, has been managing editor of Canadian Underwriter for more than three years.