Sun Life Reviews in Kitchener, ON Area

Pros

Good Pay
Nice Historic Building and Great Location
Friendly People

Cons

Not much team work
ie. lots of cubicles

Advice to Senior Management

chill out sometimes
don't need to work 14 hrs a day!

Pros

There is a lot of freedom with the job.

Cons

Cons
Sun Life's salarys are not very competitive

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more competitive salary and benefits package.

Pros

They have an excellent pension plan and good health benefits, which really they ought to being an insurance company. They are very friendly to start with.

Cons

The training is awful. You never get taught about the actual insurance products so everything you do regarding them, is left completely grey.The actual trainers are often clueless about what they are teaching and personal opinions rather than business ones are the main force behind evaluation.
This is such a political organization and if you don't connect with the right clique you'll be on the outside forever.
Any creative thinking or questioning of company policies is punished. Pointing out a superior's mistake or even just asking "why?" will get you scalped.
The company is practically 90% women so the bitchiness and back stabbing is abundant. (Please note that this is not a sexist comment as I am female).
The corporation itself feels very 1984, for you have to fill out a DSC sheet everyday, showing what you worked on and how long it took you to complete each task. If you don't account for 90% the razor blades fall. Please note that running to the printer, mail room or washroom, and even time spent speaking with your manager or colleagues does not count as work time and must be made up.

Advice to Senior Management

Training should be done by the people who know the role, not by specialized trainers who get a general idea but have no clue of the actual practice. Just having a resource person in the room is not enough.

Pros

Mature processes, contributions to the community, reasonable compensation

Cons

Not enough opportunities to learn the business, little professional satisfaction. Manager takes little interest in your career and is very inflexible.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow new employees to learn the business

Pros

Besides senior management, it is generally a collaborative work environment dedicated towards getting the job done. The people you work with will have your back and you'll meet lots of nice people whose goal is simply excellent customer service.

Cons

Prioritization of the projects and employee engagement are recognized as issues. Any gains in engagement they may have made have largely been wiped out by the global layoffs and outsourcing.

Senior management seems out of touch with how the company has performed well in the past.

The goals and mission statement of the company are ill-defined and largely come down to "we've got your back"... not really differentiated from other financial instiutions in my opinion.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop focusing on the short-term bottom line. Long-term growth should be the goal.

Pros

Great people and pretty comparable compensation.

Cons

You are expected to work whatever hours needed to get the job done and you rarely see that time back. I assume it is like that most places though.

Advice to Senior Management

Spread out deadlines if possible so there is a better balance of work - not more than can be done on some days and then nothing on other days.