Pros

In comparison to many of the other stuffy, super conservative life insurers in Canada, Equitable has been making some inroads. The level of politics, the rat-race, and the dog-eat-dog mentality is generally better than peers (far better than most). The compensation is very fair. Expectations are high - challenging, but not impossible. Pride in the company is very strong and quite contagious. Senior Management is generally very approachable (although a bit on the shy side?) Tremendously capable quantity/quality of people in the mid-to-upper management ranks for the most part - including some very progressive thinkers. Strong leveraging of technology for an organization of this size - aren't buried in a myriad of conflicting systems.

Cons

Based on the size of the company we should be able to move further and faster from a culture perspective. There is an industry opportunity to be a 'less-traditional' life insurer and Equitable should be the one. People management capabilities are acceptable, but dated - HR policy tends to be behind where we, as a medium-sized, high-capability organization should be. We do lack a "rah-rah" people leader - a "Chief Morale Officer" type of person.

Advice to Senior Management

Get out in front of the people in an engaging, morale boosting manner. We aren't buried in bureaucracy and should leverage that to kick it to the next level.