Great-West Life Assurance Reviews

Pros

- Great work-life balance
- Competitive salary for IT professionals
- Gym, cafeteria
- Stock purchase plan
- Training and development policy is very good

Cons

- Salary for junior level PM not as good as other companies, gets better for intermediate/senior levels.
- Very process driven

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in junior level staff with potential for management.

Pros

- Repetitive work. If you like doing the same thing on a daily basis great.
- Appears to be have some type of Job security, especially in the Business environment. Less so in IT.
- They spend money on landscaping their lawn and company looks nice from outside.
- Free lunch per month when you retire. (Big deal).

Cons

- Boring
- Get things done approach from top down, without much decision
- Nice lansdcape, but hey cubicle walls from the 70's still in used in Head Office where clients do not see.
- Company with very optics aware from public stand point.
- Non Transparent approach when dealing with employee compensation.
- If you have some hopes to be in Management...good luck unless you have an actuarial degree.
- Low morale.
- Bad pension plan. They compensate you with a free lunch once a month.
- One word: If you are a dore in GWL, you go no where in the corporate ladder. If you are a BS type individual you have some light in the turnel.

Advice to Senior Management

You cannot advice management, because they do not listen. Its a top down approach style. Nothing change from the CEO change over to Loney except more work down the corporate ladder. Canada Life was a mistake.

Pros

- gym, cafeteria
- sports leagues: Hockey, volleyball, baseball, etc
- there are some nice people trapped in this organization.

Cons

- very structured, top-down management
- old technology because they're extremely cost conscious
- morale is low
- no training, work reviews or leadership training to speak of
- old fashioned and managed like it's the early 1950's

Advice to Senior Management

Sooner or later, this low-cost, follow-the-leader approach is going to catch up to the organization. You can't squeeze water from a stone, and it's difficult to imagine an organization succeeding in the 21st century where most people hate their jobs.

Pros

One of the largest insurers in Canada

Cons

Low cost environment leaves employees with less skills than competitors

Advice to Senior Management

Very conservative can be a good thing

Pros

Flexible hours, gym at head office, very good benefits which begin immediately on start date and options to top-up benefits, nice people.

Cons

Management is highly underqualified, young staff often treated poorly, older building needs some attention and renovation, no microwaves available for lunches.

Advice to Senior Management

A lot of the leaders worked their way up the ladder, which is fine, but many don't have the skills needed to be in leadship positions. It is necessary for leaders to have college or university courses relavant to supervisory positions before they can be in charge of employees.

Pros

This company is dedicated to training, education and promotion from within. They provide a wide variety of resources to help you get your job done.

Cons

If you don't like the idea of insurance in general, this may be a tough place for you to work. Also, there is a heavy workload which if you like to ponder things before making decisions may be a challenge.

Advice to Senior Management

Trust your staff.

Pros

Very good experience learning about insurance products, pay is decent, but could be much better.

Cons

At times to fast paced, and alot of scrutiny about your quality and productivity of work. At times its hard to draw a fine line between what is done right or wrong.

a bit cliche as some people have worked there for ages,
They should start looking to attract some younger bright minds .

Advice to Senior Management

Opportunity for more advancement,
better rewards for peoples hard work,
Flexibility for junior workers and non-management positions to give suggestions on new or alternate ways of carrying out work.

Pros

- Good work-life balance
- On-site gym and cafeteria
- Flex hours or compressed time options
- Friendly staff and managers
- Good opportunities to move horizontally and vertically
- Learning and training policy

Cons

- Less salary versus competition and other industries
- Bureaucratic and slow processes and change
- Dated legacy information technology

Advice to Senior Management

- Review salary policies and align with competitors or other financial services companies.

Pros

Very good job security, slow and steady growth, training and education budget, no stress, team envoroment, good career starter position

Cons

Low salary and overall compensation, slow promotions

Advice to Senior Management

Improve advisor compensentation, improve employee compensation, improve IT systems, invest in the development of new products, grow the toronto and montreal offices

Pros

Friendly work environment, very good technology, good training, great benefits including tuition reimbursement program.

Cons

Nothing critical to say about the company

Advice to Senior Management

No advice to give to the management