Our People

New York Life | March 8, 2022

Our “A Rewarding New York Life” series shines a light on the breadth of opportunity available at New York Life, and explores how a role here could check a lot of boxes when it comes to finding a rewarding career and nailing that work-life balance.  

With a history spanning 176 years, New York Life is an insurance company that thrives on its people. And when it comes to group life insurance, New York Life has been protecting employees and their families for several decades. 

In 2020, with the acquisition of Cigna’s group insurance business, New York Life took an exciting step. This was the largest acquisition in the company’s history, and resulted in what is now known as New York Life Group Benefit Solutions (GBS).

We spoke to a group of our dynamic GBS employees about who they are, what they do, and how New York Life supports their personal and professional goals. 

Kellie Adlof, Head of GBS’s Contact Center and Administrative Support

With 38 years of industry experience to her name, Kellie Adlof’s current role is the Head of GBS’s Contact Center and Administrative Support.

Pre-acquisition, Kellie was a Cigna employee working in claim operations. After being brought into the New York Life family just over a year ago, Kellie has settled in seamlessly.

In this conversation, Kellie speaks about her experience with New York Life so far—and why a career in insurance could be the perfect fit for a variety of professionals seeking engaging roles.

The Person: Insurance born and bred

Born and raised in Texas, Kellie joined the world of insurance straight out of college. Nearly four decades later, Kellie is, unsurprisingly, something of an expert. While overseeing the Contact Center and Administrative Support for GBS is Kellie’s professional role, in her spare time she loves to travel, hike, read, and spend time with her family.

“New York Life embraces family culture, the environment, and is supportive of what your needs are—both personally, and professionally,” she says.

Kellie has combined both in-office and remote working since 1999—long before the pandemic made working from home common. New York Life is introducing a hybrid “3-2” work week model, where employees work some of the week in-office, and some from home. What does Kellie think about this solution?

“It definitely has the benefits of a work-life balance. When I am working from home, I have the ability to focus more without distraction. And then in the office, I can experience the sense of community that is difficult to have when not physically with others.”

The Job:  Life as a Corporate Vice President in GBS

One of Kellie’s main responsibilities is the management of clients who are filing claims for disability leave and family medical leave. She also supports the front-end administrative operations for the claims departments, enabling them to do their job, and managing claims volumes through back-end administrative work.

A crucial part of Kellie’s job is the management of some of that work offshore, such as overseeing operations and providing administrative support to a variety of departments.

“From a cultural standpoint, I enjoy working with our partners internationally, and being able to embrace that difference in the work environment.”

Finally, Kellie runs workforce management, overseeing all telephonic work within Group Benefit Solutions. “Call operations is really taking care of the customers. It's really just being able to support the people.”

So, what does a typical day look like for a Corporate Vice President in GBS?

“From sun-up to sundown, the phones are on! You know, East Coast to West Coast, so that’s kind of the first thing in a real-time call center. You wake up in the morning and ensure everything is working as it should be. Ensuring that the real-time operation has no gaps in the service level.”

“And then the rest is being there for the people. The biggest part is motivating employees because their jobs are very hands-on and operational. We need to integrate empathy, motivation, and development for employees.”

The Culture: “New York Life is a family”

In terms of development, Kellie feels professional growth is a priority for New York Life, which she says has “a good offering for e-learning and development of management staff and their frontline employees.”

“Leadership is very engaged, very open with their communications. There are ‘town hall’ meetings, email communications, information on the company intranet—everyone has an opportunity to learn about the company and feel part of the New York Life family.”

Having worked for Cigna for over 30 years, the transition to New York Life could have been something of an upheaval. But, Kellie reports, “New York Life has done a fantastic job of integrating those employees from Cigna into their family and keeping us connected.” She feels there is a solid culture of connection with colleagues, despite spanning multiple locations, including remote.

“Whether it's through meetings, the intranet, or ‘good mornings’ over instant messenger, there are ways that we stay connected to things that are important to us outside of the job itself.”

And how would Kellie summarize working at New York Life?
“Togetherness, innovation, and caring! I would definitely recommend New York Life as a place to work.”

Feel inspired? Why not apply to one of our many open roles today.

New York Life is an equal opportunity employer M/F/Veteran/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity

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