Insuring people get the help they need

Feb. 7, 2002

Insuring people get the help they need

By Farah Ali
fali@uwo.ca

Janet Suliman picks up the phone in the morning and takes a call from an insurance agent who is very upset because he was calling and leaving messages on answering machines but was not getting any replies. He was particularly annoyed because when he finally talked to an employee he was given incorrect information. Suliman manages to take control of the situation and calms him down by apologizing and answering his questions. The agent tells Suliman that he will now only deal with her.

For Suliman this type of problem-solving is part of her job as a client's service clerk at Great West Insurance Co., which took over London Life Insurance Co. four years ago. But Suliman, who has leadership awards stuck to the wall of her London office, says she finds her job worthwhile because she feels all her clients trust her and treat her the same way, even people like singer Anne Murray.

Photo by Farah Ali

Janet Suliman works on a client's account.

Suliman spends part of the morning approving policies, making policy changes, doing some underwriting and receiving calls from the 1-800 call centre. Even though she is busy, Suliman, 59, shows no annoyance at being constantly interrupted by specialists wanting her to handle VIP situations and colleagues asking her to troubleshoot their unfriendly computer system. A new employee, who sits in the adjacent cubicle, relies on her help and disrupts her often with questions, but Suliman patiently answers her.

Her voice lowers as she recalls an incident in the claims department where she dealt with a sad case of a client desperately needing the insurance money from a claim. She says she did not think twice about going out of her way to assist him, to ensure he got his money immediately. She approved the claim, walked to the bank and processed the cheque. "I think these are the little things that can make a difference in a person's life, and I have encountered many situations like this," says Suliman.

Spending four months in Winnipeg for training was another highlight of her job. She was put up in a penthouse apartment and was able to fly her family in for visits. She and another colleague were the only ones transferred, and after returning from the trip they had to carry out training sessions themselves. A major part of her job involved attending seminars in Toronto, but the aspects she found most educational were following the agents around on their job, and learning first-hand from their experiences of dealing with clients.

There are other benefits of the job that she appreciates. As she sits at her desk, she opens her purse and takes out a voucher from Oscar Taylor's Steakhouse, and says she plans to use it during her 45-minute lunch break. She smiles and says, "A good part of working at this job is receiving many perks like these vouchers, or bonuses and gifts."

Suliman rarely follows her 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. work schedule because she has to work extra hours, either in the evenings or on weekends. She plans to leave late this week because she needs to take three weeks vacation in Feb., but has to work extra hours in order to get the time off. She says this is the hardest part of her job, and remembers disappointing her husband and two children because she was not able to make family trips, since she had to meet deadlines.
No one passes her without stopping to talk, and Suliman admits, overall, everyone in the office gets along very well. She says last year was the first time in 26 years she came across two unfriendly employees, who were transferred from another location. The dreaded year-end assessment reports of colleagues, specialists and team leaders reflected this. When she got her feedback, she was disappointed. "This is my first bad report and I just felt so disheartened."

She has a couple more courses to take for the insurance exams, which are a requirement for her job. Now Suliman says the company requires a college or university education when hiring employees, especially for a position like hers. Suliman emigrated from England in 1975 and spent her first 11 months in Canada working in a department store as a cashier, a position she did not enjoy. She then got a job as a temporary office assistant at London Life, and within three months she applied for a permanent position in the company.

Suliman is now thinking of early retirement; however, if she retires before she is 62 it would be at a reduced pension. She admits there are changes in the management, salary and policies since London Life was bought out. "The benefits are now less; even for parking we now have to pay." But Suliman has no regrets about working with the company. "Overall I enjoyed working here; if not I would not have stayed on for such a long time."