commercial lines account manager

contract specialist

insurance account representative

insurance coordinator

insurance account manager

Gallagher

TYPICAL DAY AT WORK

I would be one of the first employees to arrive in our department. I would turn on the lights and equipment and get the coffee ready. I would plan my work for the day by priority before phones started ringing. Once regular business hours began I made calls to different state Insurance Departments to get information/forms needed to complete procedures for agent/agency licensing to be processed in those particular states. With time differences in the 50 states I kept notes what time to contact various departments of insurance. I set up meetings for the staff of three offices, took dictation from the Area Chairman, typed correspondance, compiled reports, filled in on swithboard at receptionist breaks and lunch. I did all department filing and took inventory so all office supplies were available and adjusted my schedule as client calls came in to service their needs personally or refer them to appropriate employee.

WHAT I LEARNED

Gallagher promotes continued education and supported my state licencing and many other appropriate licenses, including paying for attending courses to obtain continuing education credits. My supervisor encouraged me to get involved with the Greenville Association of Insurance Women where I served several terms as head of the Education and Legislation committees. Through GAIW, I learned even competative employees within the same company and those working for competative companies can find common ground to build friendships and share valuable ideas within the industry.

MANAGEMENT

Management was generally great. They rewarded hard work and success. They awarded Employee of the Quarter, Employee of the Year, and sponsored company events to make us more of a family.
On my 10 year anniversary I received an award from the CEO of Gallagher Corporate Headquarters.

CO-WORKERS

We were all busy and at time stressed. There were times the co-workers felt some were working harder than others. I planned events to experience fun times with each other which made it easier to deal with each other in the difficult times.

HARDEST PART OF JOB

The hardest part was priorities. Working for several agents, the Area Vice President, and the Area Chairman, each thought their need should come first. I would go to my direct supervisor for her to determine what needed to be addressed first. I was then able to let the others know the priority of my work for our department that day and when they could expect their project done.

THE MOST ENJOYABLE PART OF THE JOB

Making friendships with clients and co-workers and being able serve their needs with the excellence they expected from me. I met my best friend at Gallagher, and although I live in FL now and she is in SC, we still stay in touch via phone and e-mail after over 11 years of working together.

I was hired in as a Client Service Manager Trainee in February of this year at the OKC location. I was told I was going to start in July to begin the Achieve Program. However, I was contacted later that month and was told that my supervisor wanted me to start early in April. I thought that getting some experience before the program started was a perfect idea. However, once I started, I quickly realized that I was not going to be given very much direction on how to complete tasks, the Gallagher culture, or the world of insurance. I was told in the interview that I would be trained from the ground up. I was told that no experience was necessary.

I was given very few tasks to complete in my 3 months at Gallagher. Most of the tasks I received were just saving things to DMS. I felt like I was pulling teeth to try to get more work given to me. I tried to ask for work to do and I tried to make sure my mentor and my supervisor knew I was willing to help with anything or work on any tasks that they needed me to. I truly wanted to learn. I felt like no one was giving me very much direction or telling me how things worked. 

My day to day frustrations of not being assigned tasks started to dwell on me. I was concerned that I wasn’t able to show my team what I had to offer. I was not able to show them my efficiency and my willingness to learn. I was worried I would come across as lazy and unmotivated but I didn’t want to burden them by asking them for tasks anymore since I rarely ever actually received any. 

Three months into my job at Gallagher (before I even got to start the Achieve Program) I was let go for a reason I’m still trying to figure out. The only thing I was told is that my typing skills weren’t up to par and that they were concerned of my ability to keep up with the program and with my team. I told them that typing is a learnable skill. I knew my typing wasn’t slow. I could type quick enough to complete my work in a timely manner.

I kept pushing for answers as to why I was being let go, but all of my inquiries were brushed off and left me with no closure. I knew I wasn’t being fired for my typing. I had hardly done any typing in the 3 months I had been there. I knew HR had never even seen me type. They knew I didn’t have any professional skills yet when I was hired. I just wish I was told the things I needed to improve on. I would have done anything I needed to save my job. I was not given the opportunity to succeed or fail. It is unfortunate that I was not given a fair chance. I feel like I ended up shooting myself in the foot by starting early. I felt like I was held to a standard that I wasn’t aware of and then was punished when I didn’t meet it.

Honesty would have made this much easier on me. I truly wish I was given feedback. Positive and negative. It would have gone a long way.

A day in the life of a Benefit Advocate consists of arriving on time at 8am and eager to start the day. Once at the location where the customer service magic happens, my daily agenda was tediously planned out and documented, any voicemails or unread email messages received while away would be recorded as well, and then I began multitasking, handling all things related to health insurance and customer relations. I gained a thorough knowledge of federal and state health laws, policy tutorials, privacy restrictions and implementation, customer retention and satisfaction, HR duties, orderly and timely data recording and problem solving, claim resolution, and became an expert in oral and written communications. Management could be described as the people you  are consistently using as  the highest standard of judgment for the ideal boss(es). A professional environment was always enforced along with a fun and friendly atmosphere employees are magnetically   drawn towards. This allowed for professional and timely work-flow amongst co-workers and promoted a team-oriented workplace. Everyone at A.J.G. was a pleasure to work with, and possessed an enormous amount of knowledge. This minimized the amount of time an employee would typically spend researching and learning related documents/material and how to utilize the skills being taught while on their own because learning first-hand, or hands-on learning is the most effective form. The most challenging aspect of the job was informing clients of negative news and/or outcomes. I strive to be the best. Some might call me a perfectionist. I will go above and beyond necessary actions in order to satisfy a client, and after exerting all efforts and hitting a dead-end, it feels as though all energy was wasted. Not because of the time spent, but because anything less than superb reactions and happy clients is unacceptable. The most enjoyable part of this job was the people encountered. Having a background in customer service, I thought I had experienced every personality on the planet, but this type of advocacy made me realize that I already knew the different types of people and personalities, and once pin-pointed, I could not only identify, but empathize and give them the quality customer advocacy we all seek. This proved to be quite successful with satisfaction and retention rates.

Pros – They allow telecommuting, which is the only perk.
Coworkers are nice but everyone is overworked and overstressed.
There is 401 K plan, they will match up to 6%
Minimal Medical benefits.
They have not cut our pay, but there have been no raises for over 3 years.
Office Admin manager assists with license renewals, that is a HUGE help.
Gallagher manages many interesting accounts, and I personally developed relationships with those accounts that are strong today. I was able to earn more supervisory experience, with increased exposure to issues outside my supervisory territory and jurisdictions. I was priviledged to work with a team of talented, supervisors, experienced adjusters and support staff.

Cons – Excessively high workloads
Phones and computer systems go down quite often.
Technology is very behind the times.
Morale is very low and workers are over stressed.
The turnover is down because of the slow economy, but pretty much everyone is looking for other opportunities and leave when they can.
There does not seem to be any attempt to retain staff.
No promotions
No pay raises
No training
No future.

Advice to Senior Management – Lower case loads to a reasonable number. Allow input from supervisors and adjusters to define what a reasonable workload is. This will vary between accounts and claim types. This will increase work quality, closing ratios and overall client service. Not to mention a huge increase in morale.
We need an adequate number of technical staff to assist the adjusters, not to just complete office projects.
Split workloads by complexity not just by account. Large losses should go to those who are experienced enough to handle them. Those losses that have nominal value, minimal complexity with quick turnaround times should go to a special unit.
Sales staff should coordinate with claims regarding what service requests are within reason. To promise services that cannot be adequately provided do not make us look good to clients. Some requests impede the work flow and are not necessary. If those promises are being made, there have to be enough staff to adequately provide the service, regardless of what the numbers are..
Supply the tools to do the work. Phone systems that go down, antiquated printers, copiers and IT systems make it difficult to do the basics. When they are down constantly for repairs or system problem, that stops productivity and costs money in down time.

A typical work day is busy, but laid back.  For those working in the office, the expectation is that dress  is casual (jeans!) most days unless a client meeting is taking place in the office.  Most people have the opportunity to work from home, which I have been doing for over three years. I love the ability to work independently and the flexibility that comes from working from home means I don’t have to take sick days when I have a cold or my child is sick, drive to or from work in a snowstorm, or take off time for a routine doctor appointment. This is the only employer I have known that throws bridal and baby showers for their employees, to celebrate events in their personal lives. It is truly a family atmosphere and I have made true friends while working here.  I have been given the tools and training I need to be successful and have supervisors who encourage me to grow and develop my strengths.  I feel like I have people looking out for my best interests and in helping me reach the next level of my career.  There is absolutely opportunity for growth and advancement;  I have been promoted in the last two years and am formally working toward my next promotion with the assistance of upper management.  I work on a team made up of talented and knowledgeable individuals who do not hesitate to step up to the plate when someone needs help or is out unexpectedly for a day or two. The case load is lower than industry standards in my experience and completely manageable, allowing me to have  work/life balance.   You are encouraged to take your time off and when on vacation disconnect completely.  I don’t foresee myself leaving anytime in the future and feel lucky to work here. 

The only negative is that there could be more vacation time, but sick days do not count against your time off and you get a lot of days off for holidays, including the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is nice.  The sick policy is you take what you need, but don’t abuse it.  Because I have the flexibility of working from home, I find that I don’t need as much vacation time because of my flexible work schedule.

Individual branches are isolated from Gallagher corporate. After an acquisition, it felt like the branch I worked at only inherited the policies and procedures from corporate without any of the benefits and resources of working at a large corporation.
One year, raises and promotions were delayed because we were still on our branch's general schedule, the next year they were delayed because we were now on corporate's schedule. 
There is a disconnect between branch location and corporate. They didn't know how our branch operated, and we didn't know how corporate operated, nor did they make any efforts integrate employees, only the systems needed to produce revenue. Other than having a whole new set of rules to adhere to, I never felt like I was a Gallagher employee. Not even a Gallagher branded pen was thrown our way. 
Management is hit or miss depending on department. Overall, I felt like our branch had the unprofessionalism, nepotism, and mediocrity you would see at a smaller business, because that's what it was before acquisition. With so many  lead/manager/director/executive titles with only a few employees under each of them, there was always a new initiative or project being pushed without the staff to support it, so employees are constantly overworked and burned out. But management ignores this because they think they are doing something so great, when they are actually lacking in innovation, have an outdated mindset, and are slow to adapt to any changes. There's not many leaders there, just overworked and underpaid employees who keep it running. Management has the attitude that they should be grateful that they are given a job.
That's how I would sum up my experience working there. 

Management plays favorites. They claim transparency and open door policy but it depends on your personal relationships with them. The office has incredibly low morale and is a toxic work environment. There is entirely too much drama and infighting, much of it perpetuated by managers by pitting employees against eachother. Grievances are not taken seriously by managers or corporate human resources and the person brining the complain is often punished for speaking out. Gallagher managers will lie before taking ownership of their own mistakes and the employee suffers for it. Promotions are based on personal relationships rather than merit. When an employee is promoted, they are seldom given proper training and large claim loads are dumped on them with no direction and no grace period to get up to speed. The training is done by other adjusters with their own large claim loads and extremely limited time to spare. There is no accountability, no trust, and no sense of investment from the top down. This has created a non-stop revolving door with a 58% turn over rate. Raises are seldom given and are consistently delayed past their promised date. Training is minimal and does not properly prepare employees for the handling of complex claim issues. Supervisors have a "sink or swim" approach to training new adjusters and you are expected to work as many additional hours as necessary to meet  Supervisors spend more time in meetings than they do supporting their teams and only care about quantity, not quality of work (until they need a reason to nitpick). There is a serious lack of communication between management and staff and any attempt to address issues with management is met with passive-aggressive retaliation. Management is manipulative and dishonest.

I would not recommend working here as an IT professional.  They just outsourced the entire IT staff and refused to listen to feedback from the internal staff of varying departments.  There have been numerous complaints about the offshore technicians and senior management has refused to listen.  To make matters worse, they created a "VIP Line" for Senior Management and people who generate over 1 million in revenue per year, so those folks will never work with the offshore company.  

Really, what this boils down to is that they want to save money by taking their already poorly paid but educated and helpful IT staff to an offshore company that costs such little money, there's no way US based technicians can compete.  Unfortunately, all this is doing is taking the cost of having technicians that know what they are doing and sending that over to the people who are trying to do their jobs.  I say this because when 5 minute solutions take 45+ minutes to complete by the offshore company, how is that profitable?  Yet, it does not seem that no matter how many complaints we receive about the time it takes, how their techs often have no idea how to fix things, how when they don't know the answer, they just re-queue people, or they just hang up and do not call back.  

I'm extremely disappointed by this company that once was winning awards for ethics for setting that aside for money when they are already a billion-dollar, world-wide organization.  I guess it's true about what they say about big business - once they get to a certain size, it is no longer about the employees.  It's about the money, regardless of how bad the idea is.  Ridiculous leadership in my opinion and one day they will see how it is affecting their bottom line.  But until then, I feel bad for the people I am being forced to leave behind.  I was one of the ones you counted on for extremely well done service, but unfortunately I won't be there anymore come 1/1/25.

Supervisors&upper management never do anything all the really do is sit around or in meetings 4-5x a day doing&talking about absolutely nothing. They won’t coach you or give you real tips to use when your struggling with your metrics or qualities. I mean they’re too busy eating Chinese food on Wednesday’s but don’t appreciate their employees at all. If management doesn’t like you then they’ll find ways to fire you. Management doesn’t know how to run a call center or a business in general. They’re very unprofessional and treat their employees like cattle. They have ONE supervisor that’s actually a GREAT supervisor the rest will belittle you, treat you like you’re disposable, and constantly try to tell you you’re not doing your job when indeed they’re the ones not doing theirs. There’s no room for growth or advancement unless you plan on being the biggest brown noser in that company instead of you know actually working hard and doing your job. There’s one supervisor there who is a complete idiot doesn’t do her job, makes snide remarks, several employees have gone to HR or higher management with serious issues pertaining to her but yet she’s still employed since she’s the biggest brown noser in that entire company. They constantly change metrics and quality scores so you don’t make bonus. They say they’re the most ethical company which is hilarious because they’re truly not. They love to give our callers the run around and no your adjuster won’t contact you and they won’t get in trouble for it because Gallagher Bassett doesn’t care about you or their employees. They give new hires the choice of choosing their schedule or the people they like choose their schedules and change it but make other employees that have worked their for 1-3 years jump through hoops just to change their schedule.

If you are considering employment at this office, in the interview asks these questions.  When was the last time they obtained a new account.  How many employees have left within the last six months. Why are there so many job openings.  In general, how many hours do the employees "actually" work per week. Then you will know what actually goes on in this office.  For years because of nepotism certain employees were paid just for showing up with absolutely no work production.  Now because the accounts are demanding their money's worth, all employees particularly claims have to suffer through changes after changes of micromanagement from Senior Management - because local Management mismanaged this office -  to make sure everyone now tows the line.. There are strict deadlines for every single - read this again - every single job duty, there is no hedging or leeway due to the fallout out of prior terrible claims handling from the chosen few.  Just as fast as someone is hired, they leave within a few weeks time.  Unless you are desperate for a job, DO NOT come here to work.  These people make promises about raises and bonuses, that never happen because they create new rules that is difficult to follow and make that the excuse as to why you are not given the promised raise or promotion.  They make unrealistic promises to the Insured to keep their business and expect the adjusters to somehow make these promises come true.  The workload is heavy. especially in the time frame they demand for it to be completed.  Expect to work very long hours and weekends. Expect little to no reward from the cliquish management.  Employees who were able to get out, got out and many more are trying to leave.  If you must work here, do so with the intention of having this as an entry on your resume.  Then leave.

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