As we count down the days until our 2022 kickoff now on February 10, we’ll look at some of the WOW numbers we’ve accomplished over the year.
Payment Center – National Life’s 1,100,000 plus delighted customers interact with the Payment Center team multiple times during a policy’s life cycle – from initial payment to death claim benefit payments, and everything in between. The Payment Center’s focus is on building customer loyalty and trust through accuracy, speed, and ease of doing business.
By the end of 2021, the inbound payment teams in VT & TX will have processed over 1,000,000 manual transactions…A huge number! Consider also that self-service is on the rise. Approximately 160,000 payment transactions were made by customers on the portal while more and more agents are using straight through processing — from e-app to recurring drafts for premium! The Payment Center team also teaches agents how to use the self-service options whenever possible and want to see this number rise.
Customer Experience Center (CEC) – The Customer Experience Center’s world class customer service representatives and leaders handle, on average, over 3000 calls per day from our agents and policy holders. That’s 3000 relationships, 3000 opportunities to touch lives and more importantly, 3000 moments that make a difference. These calls can be challenging and emotionally draining but the CEC is never deterred and always delivers. Phone calls are just one of many ways our customers and agents contact the CEC and just one of many skills that our CEC reps must master… and they master them all! Balancing an increase in volume with the absolute highest quality in customer service is what sets this team apart.
Document Management Services (DMS) – Through the end of November, our DMS team of just over 50 teammates handled and processed 3.3 million pieces of outbound mail, 4.6 million pieces of inbound mail (1M physical and 3.3M electronic) that has to be indexed to workflow and about 200,000 address changes and other customer information updates. 190,000 policies were sent while they also replied to over 50k emails pertaining to questions, tracking or other support needed. Think of our DMS team as Santa’s elves and their offices as the North Pole Workshop, complete with all the hustle and bustle you’d expect. But what they wrap and prepare isn’t an XBOX or a new bike, it’s the security and peace of mind for those that matter most
Talent Acquisition – Recruiting and hiring in the days of Covid certainly come with their share of challenges. Our People Center teams faced headwinds never before seen and those winds changed almost daily. Undeterred, our recruiters accepted the challenge and reviewed thousands of resumes, screened dozens of candidates and in collaboration with hiring managers, conducted hundreds of interviews. The results were a staggering 178 new teammates that joined the National Life Family in 2021. That’s more than double the 2020 number. To continue to be a world class company, it is imperative that we find the right people who not only fit with our culture but believe in the power of Do good. Be good. Make good.
Learning and Development – National Life prides itself on being a learning organization. The first step for any new teammate is to begin diving deep into their new role and that digging starts with Learning and Development. For the majority of 2021, L&D provided comprehensive training with 2 Facilitators dedicated to the CEC and 2 Facilitators dedicated to New Business. In some instances, they were running multiple training sessions at the same time. Of the approximate 250 Business Days in 2021, 176 or 70% of 2021 business days were devoted to training Case Managers and 192 or 77% of 2021 business days were devoted to training CEC Reps.
In the months of June, July, September and November, L&D provided training EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS DAY OF THE MONTH (July, September & November for the CEC and June for NB) – two Facilitators who spent nearly 80% of their work time leading training sessions. This is on top of the weekly 1:1 sessions they have with new hires, preparing worksheets/homework, completing evaluations and trying to keep pace with any changes in the business area. As Mehran always says, our people are the special sauce. It is Our L&D team that shows our new teammates what’s in the recipe.