Insurance and the Human Connection
Insurance and the Human Connection
By: Darla Finchum, Chief Claim Officer at MetLife Auto & Home
In a world where digital technologies are continuously integrated into our personal and professional lives, there is a balancing act between human connection and automation. Despite the benefits of automation and new AI capabilities, employees still seek a humanized workplace where they can thrive. In fact, 65% of employees note their co-workers are like family and 60% said work helps shape their identity, according to a recent MetLife survey.
It’s clear that work life and personal life delineation is getting thinner and employers need to have a deeper understanding of how to help employees thrive. For instance, looking at value belief system – the purpose of work for greater insights on what motivates engagement and loyalty. MetLife found that nine out of ten people would choose a company with similar values over a job that pays more. The survey asked more than 1,000 employees over the age of 21 in a variety of industries what they look for when selecting a place of employment. Three quarters said they want a company that both supports them financially and acts as a good corporate citizen by demonstrating that it cares about the community and well-being of its people.
Not only are the company’s values important to employees, but also the role of the employer. In fact, looking forward to the next five to 10 years, millennial employees are looking for their employers to be more involved rather than less. MetLife’s Role of the Company survey found millennial women were more likely than average to desire greater involvement from companies in providing career development and training programs, financial wellness, health insurance and retirement security.
Understanding not only what its employees’ desire, but also the role it plays in its employees’ lives, MetLife Auto & Home has worked diligently to provide its team members with an environment and culture in which they can thrive. When we re-opened its Freeport, IL offices in May 2017, the company focused on providing an updated cutting-edge collaborative work environment to foster innovation. Recruitment for the new office focused on college graduates with two to four year degrees, who wanted to work in a professional atmosphere with growth opportunities.
In the first few months, more than 100 new team members were hired, exceeding the initial plan of adding 150 jobs over two years, bringing today’s total to more than 300 employees. As a company, we estimate will add nearly 100 additional jobs by 2019, bolstering our local workforce. Furthermore, as a company who strives to be good corporate citizens, MetLife Auto & Home and our associates are supporting Freeport through volunteerism and supporting local initiatives to help bolster the community, including financial contributions to the Greater Freeport Partnership and working with NonProfit THRIVE, an organization that runs a platform designed to match volunteers with nonprofits and track volunteer hours.
Across MetLife Auto & Home’s 16 offices and nearly 3,000 associates, understanding what the employee values can not only support and help them to thrive but also have a positive impact the business. The next generation of the insurance workforce has an opportunity to share their values and contribute to a more humanized workplace as well as use their voice as innovative, problem-solving customer advocates. These rising professional can not only make a difference within their company’s culture but a positive impact on their communities and customers they support.
For more information about MetLife careers and opportunities check out: https://jobs.metlife.com/
Our future is looking bright, and I like the balance we are gaining with technology.
Excellent article!
Very thoughtful and forward-thinking article. Makes me proud to be a part of MetLife!
Great article, at MetLife employees are people not numbers. Thank you Darla!
Your article was very informative. Thank you for sharing with us.
Very nice article!
Thank you for the nice article Darla! It was great to see the changes in Freeport highlighted and the positive impact on the community!
Very good article. It is spot on with the importance of personal touch between employer and employee. Just as the personal touch is important to our handling of our customers claims. It has been my experience that at MetLife Auto and Home, this personal touch by management to the employees, from top down (and by top I mean from the President), has been authentically demonstrated consistently and has contributed to the success of our company.