If you were curious as to why Zenefits’ CEO left his post so suddenly, it seems the company was letting insurance brokers in California fake their mandatory training.
According to BuzzFeed, now-former CEO Parker Conrad allowed training that let brokers sign-off on completion of the requisite 52 hours of training without having completed the actual course.
The Zenefits training program was known as Macro, and let brokers feign the required hours of training. Macro led to Conrad’s exit, where it seems he was allowed to step down rather than being fired.
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It seems Conrad’s willingness to allow brokers to sidestep the law is the real issue, here. An email sent from new CEO David Sacks to Zenefits staff notes that Conrad felt 52 hours of training was “too long,” which led to the creation of Macro.
It’s not all on Conrad, though. At the end of their training, insurance brokers have to sign a certification that their mandated 52-hour course was completed. Signing off on training that was incomplete could lead to perjury, a lawyer for Sacks told BuzzFeed.
Sacks did tell staff Zenefits was “developing a comprehensive remediation and retraining program for all licensed employees who obtained and used the Macro in connection with their California resident broker license,” but its not clear if existing brokers who have gone through Macro will be able to continue doing business in the interim.
➤ Zenefits Program Let Insurance Brokers Fake A Mandatory Training Course [BuzzFeed]
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