WHO WE ARE.
Video Interview Preparation: What to Know Before You Log On
In today’s job market, video interviews have become very common. Whether you’re applying for a remote role or going through a hybrid hiring process, being prepared for a virtual interview is essential. While video interviews offer flexibility, they also come with unique challenges. Follow these tips to ensure your next online job interview goes smoothly and leaves a strong impression.
Choose the Right Location for Your Video Interview
One of the most important parts of virtual interview preparation is setting up a distraction-free environment. Choose a quiet, private space where you won’t be interrupted. Make sure your background is clean, simple and clutter-free. If you’re not in a professional setting, consider using a virtual background that looks polished and neutral.
Lighting tip: Face a window or lamp to avoid shadows and ensure your face is clearly visible on camera. Good lighting can make a big difference in how confident and prepared you appear.
Test your Technology in Advance
Technical issues can derail even the best interview performance. Be sure to:
- Confirm which video platform will be used.
- Download the app ahead of time and test the interview link.
- Position your webcam at eye level for better eye contact.
- Use a reliable headset or earbuds to ensure clear audio.
- Mute notifications and close unnecessary applications before your interview begins.
Doing a quick tech check the day before (and again 10–15 minutes before the interview) can help reduce stress and prevent disruptions.
Mind Your On-Camera Presence
Non-verbal communication is still important during a video interview. Sit up straight, maintain eye contact by looking into the camera (not at your screen), and smile naturally when appropriate. These small actions help convey confidence and professionalism.
If you’re taking notes, let your interviewer know at the beginning so they understand if you occasionally look down. And don’t be afraid to take a moment to breathe and gather your thoughts—pausing briefly can actually help you stay composed.
Prepare and Engage Like You Would for an In-Person Interview
Success in a video interview starts with preparation. Research the company, understand the job responsibilities and learn more about the team or department. Come ready with thoughtful questions that show your genuine interest in the role and organization.
To build rapport virtually:
- Nod and use facial expressions to show you’re actively listening.
- Avoid multitasking or looking away from the screen (unless you are taking notes and you’ve let your interviewer know).
- Refer to specific details in the job description to demonstrate your preparation. Read our blog about answering interview questions to help.
Dress Professionally, Even on Camera
Stick with the same professional attire you’d choose for an in-person meeting. Solid colors tend to look best on camera, helping keep the focus on you—not your outfit. Dressing professionally from head to toe can also help you feel more confident and ready to engage.
Helpful hint: Avoid anything that might distract from your conversation, such as noisy jewelry or overly bright, flashy patterns.
Send a Follow-Up Thank-You Email
Don’t forget to follow up after your video interview. Within 24 hours, send a brief thank-you email expressing your appreciation and reiterating your enthusiasm for the position. It’s a simple yet effective way to stand out and leave a positive impression.
Putting It All Together
Video interviews may be different from traditional in-person meetings, but they offer just as much opportunity to showcase your qualifications, personality and professionalism. By preparing your space, checking your technology, and staying present and engaged, you can approach your next virtual interview with confidence.
Are you preparing for an in-person interview also? Check our our blog about in-person interview tips.
For more job interview tips, career advice and information about Travelers culture, subscribe to the Travelers Careers Blog.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
My Travelers Journey: Featuring Finance’s David Harris
When David Harris immigrated from Jamaica to the United States in 2015 in search of greater professional opportunities, he had his eye on a career in accounting and finance, his passions. Unfortunately, he discovered a “pesky” roadblock: Only half of his associate degree credits in business studies from Regent College of the Caribbean transferred to the United States. So, David enrolled at Manchester Community College to complete his degree while working full time as an exterminator.
“Working at the pest control company is where my interpersonal skillset really developed. I took the time to listen to customers and they saw how eager I was to help them,” says David.
Given David’s exceptional customer service, a customer thought he would be a good fit at Travelers and recommended that he explore career possibilities there. Following that sage advice, after graduating from community college, David joined Travelers as an intern on the Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis team, where he supported earnings call preparations and delivered key financial information to management.
David then earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Central Connecticut State University and completed another internship at Travelers; this time with the Corporate Audit Claim Operations team.
“Since day one I have felt supported at Travelers and my managers and mentors have helped me grow both professionally and personally.”
David is on his first rotation of the three-year Travelers’ Finance Leadership and Development Program (FLDP) currently supporting Tech & Ops Finance. In August he transitions to his second rotation where he will work in Business Insurance with the National Accounts Finance team.
“I’m incredibly excited to go through the rotations in the FLDP. The program has been helpful in allowing me to explore potential career paths in different business areas early in my career.
David’s work for Tech & Ops Finance also includes supporting multi-year and annual planning processes, workforce planning and reporting, resource cost trend analyses (running monthly reports of software and contractor costs used for providing insights to management) and monthly operating review packages.
“Attention to detail is what got me into accounting, and it is a skill that is put to test every time I work on a monthly report.”
David and his wife have two boys, Caleb and David Jr. He enjoys playing soccer, fishing, hiking and going to the gym. For a taste of Jamaica, he makes traditional jerk chicken and pork dishes on the grill.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Mastering In-Person Interviews: Essential Tips to Make a Lasting Impression
While video calls have become the norm in recent years, in-person interviews still offer unique opportunities to stand out. Meeting face-to-face allows you to pick up on subtle non-verbal cues, build stronger rapport, and create a personal connection—something that’s often challenging through a screen.
If you’re preparing for an upcoming in-person interview, this guide shares practical tips to help you shine and keep the focus where it belongs: on your skills and experience.
Prepare Ahead of Time: Location, Outfit, and Essentials
Preparation is key to a smooth interview experience:
Scout the Interview Location: Locate the office or meeting venue beforehand and plan your route to avoid any last-minute surprises. Account for traffic, parking, and building security to ensure you arrive on time.
Dress the Part: Choose a professional outfit that makes you feel comfortable and confident. When in doubt, it’s better to overdress than underdress.
Pack Your Essentials: Bring multiple copies of your resume, a notepad and pen for note-taking, and a water bottle. Don’t forget to silence your phone and other devices before the interview begins.
Start with Confidence
Start the interview positively with a warm greeting. A firm handshake paired with a genuine smile can set the tone for a friendly and professional conversation. Your body language throughout the interview matters—maintain good posture, make eye contact, and stay engaged.
If nerves arise, remember to take a deep breath. Pausing to collect your thoughts shows composure and confidence.
Showcase Strong Communication Skills
Good communication skills are crucial in person.
Active Listening: Show you’re paying attention by nodding appropriately and responding thoughtfully.
Balanced Eye Contact: In panel interviews, try to engage with all interviewers instead of focusing on just one person.
Preparedness: Research the role, team, and company thoroughly before your interview. Come equipped with thoughtful questions to demonstrate your enthusiasm and initiative. Refer to specific details in the job description to demonstrate your preparation. Read our blog about answering interview questions to help.
Follow Up to Reinforce Your Interest
After the interview, don’t forget to send a personalized thank-you email within 24 hours. This simple step reinforces your appreciation for the opportunity and keeps you top of mind. If your interview was a panel or with more than one person, send each person a note.
Remember This
In-person interviews offer a valuable chance to connect beyond resumes and digital screens. With the right preparation and mindset, you can make a memorable impression that highlights your qualifications and personality.
Are you preparing for a video interview as well? Here are tips to help you prepare for video interviews.
For more job interview tips, career advice and information about Travelers culture, subscribe to the Travelers Careers Blog.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
What to Say in a Job Interview: Preparation Tips from Travelers
Preparing for a job interview can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re not sure what to expect. But with the right preparation, you can walk into your next interview feeling confident and ready.
Whether you’re applying for an internship, development program or a full-time opportunity, we’re here to help. In this guide, we’ll cover how to prepare for a job interview, the types of questions you might be asked and how to answer them effectively.
Common Types of Interview Questions: Traditional vs. Behavioral
At Travelers, we use two main types of interview questions: Traditional and Behavioral.
Traditional Questions
These are straightforward and focus on your education or technical skills. Examples include:
- “What types of accounting classes were part of your major?”
- “When did you receive your certification?”
- “What is your comfort level with Excel?”
Behavioral Questions
These open-ended questions explore how you’ve handled situations in the past. Examples include:
- “Describe a time when you had to learn something new. How did you approach the process?”
- “Tell me about a time when you had to complete a task under time pressure. How did you handle it?”
Behavioral questions help us understand how you work, solve problems and collaborate with others.
A Helpful Tool: The STAR Method
One of the best ways to structure your responses to behavioral questions is to use the STAR method:
- Situation – What was the context?
- Task – What were you responsible for?
- Action – What steps did you take?
- Result – What was the outcome or what did you learn?
This structure helps you keep your answer clear and concise—while still telling a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.
How to Prepare for the Interview
Start by reviewing the job description and identifying the skills and qualities that stand out to you. Think about your own skills and past experiences, whether at work, at school or extracurriculars and line them up with what the role requires.
Write out a few examples that showcase those skills and practice talking through them out loud or even with a friend. This will help you to feel more comfortable when it’s time for the real conversation.
A helpful hint: don’t try to memorize your responses word-for-word. Instead, focus on remembering the example itself and the key takeaway. This approach will make your responses feel more natural and allow you to adapt in the moment, depending on how the question is asked.
Final Thoughts
You won’t be able to predict every question you’ll be asked. But arriving at the interview equipped with examples that highlight your skills and expertise will help you feel more confident in the conversation and focused on what matters most – showing show your experience and strengths align with the opportunity.
Most importantly, be yourself. Your interview is an opportunity to share what makes you uniquely qualified, your skills, your experience and your perspective.
Want to prepare more? Check out our tips for getting ready for in-person and video interviews.
For more job interview tips, career advice and information about Travelers culture, subscribe to the Travelers Careers Blog.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Life at Travelers Podcast Ep. 6 – Benefits and Wellness
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to another episode of The Life Travelers podcast. I’m super excited about this one today. I have my guest here, Greg Landmark, and we are talking all benefits and wellness here today. So, Greg, welcome to the show.
Greg: Thank you. I’m excited to talk. Yeah.
Kim: Yeah, I’m super excited to have you. I just think this is such an important topic for our audience being, you know, potential talent, folks that might want to apply and join us here at Travelers. So, benefits is so key. So, thanks for being here today to talk about it. So, can you, first, just introduce yourself to our guests and maybe give a little background on how you got to Travelers?
Greg: Awesome. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for this opportunity. So, again, my name is Greg Landmark. I am head of Total Rewards and People Analytics at Travelers. I started my career, I have a math/finance background, so I started my, my career as an actuarial consultant. So, I use that math to start my career as an actuary, did that for a little while, and then I decided I wanted to do more broad-based consulting. I loved that, too. But then, I was doing a pitch on something to Travelers at the time, and they didn’t buy my product, but they said, hey, we want to hire you to come to our organization. So, that’s a lot of my background. I was in consulting for a while, and that’s a short 25 plus years ago when that conversation happened. So, I’ve been at Travelers for a long time and have loved it, but I was able to use that consulting background to lead me into the career I have today.
Kim: Awesome, awesome. And when you are speaking with folks about benefits and wellness, total rewards at Travelers, what are some of those key benefits that you would tell folks about right off the bat?
Greg: No, absolutely. So, I, there’s three things that are core almost all the time.
Kim: Okay.
Greg: And of those three things, I’m going to start with why it’s unique at Travelers and I think we can differentiate ourselves amongst those three. And then I would talk about other things that we do that make us stand out. And the core ones that everyone thinks about is, health care’s one. Health care’s a hot topic in the, in the country, and it’s a hot topic for employees and stuff like that. So, most companies offer health care, but it’s a key employee, a benefit at Travelers as well. But at Travelers, we don’t just provide a health care benefit. We’re going to help you succeed at health care. That’s really an important differentiator that I think we do really well, and I can speak to that more as we’re in our conversation, but that’s one thing.
The other thing is most companies have a 401k plan. We have a 401k and a pension plan. So, we share that responsibility. We had, we have both. I think that’s valuable, and I think it’s helpful differentiator to our workforce.
And lastly, and this is one that people care a lot about is, paid time off. Right? And I think it aligns with wellness, and we support paid time off. We have a really strong paid time off program. Related to that though, at Travelers, we recognize that employees will have special needs at certain times in their life or they wish they had just a few extra days, and so, we allow people to purchase up to six additional PTO days each year. And if they don’t use them, they can cash them out at the end of the year.
Kim: Yup.
Greg: And a lot of people use that benefit. So, that’s a valuable extra benefit. So, those are, like, the core.
Kim: Yeah.
Greg: But I think the other thing that makes Travelers unique is we think about, kind of, what are people’s needs beyond that? Like, what are this, like, the, hyperfocus needs that are unique to individuals? So, like, we have, for people that have student loans, and student loans are a big topic in the United States, and, so, we have a Paying It Forward Savings Program that helps match your student loans with 401(k) match dollars. And so, there’s more details around it, but that’s a unique benefit that I think I would want candidates to consider when they come to Travelers.
We also have a caregiving support benefit. So, if you have a parent that lives in a different city and you think about, how am I going to support them from afar, right? There’s a, we have a benefit that helps you do that successfully. And so, it’s a great, it’s great from that perspective.
And then I’d also, maybe the last one I’d mention right now, we’ll get into more, too, is Travelers is really leaned into mental health on a significant… We’ll talk about that in more detail throughout this conversation I hope and, but I would just say, we provide, you know, up to eight free therapy sessions and eight free coaching sessions a year through a product that’s very user friendly so that people have access to therapists. The average time to therapist, if someone wants to see one within our plan, is 1 to 2 days. Kind of, in the real world is, like, 30 days, you know what I mean? So, I’m, I’m thrilled. I’m proud of that, too. And I’d want people to, kind of, know, I think it reflects the importance of benefits and the employment relationship at Travelers.
Kim: Yup, definitely. Thank you. That’s a great overview, Greg. I want to, I want to almost break down some of those. So, you mentioned a couple of things I just want to circle back to, the first being medical. Right? Health insurance. You said, we’ll help you succeed in health, in, in health care. What does that mean?
Greg: Yeah. So, health care is really complicated, right? So, there’s, there’s a few aspects of, it’s like, what type of health care benefit is best for you? And we have, what we’d say, PPO plans or traditional deductibles, coinsurance but, like what people are most used to. We also have a plan that’s copay- based only where, you know what, let’s, let’s purchase health care the way you purchase other products. So, when you go in for any type of health care, you can select which health care provider you want to go to in the higher qualities, lower price. But what you pay is a co-pay up front. You just, no, like, follow-up payments and something. So, you’re purchasing health care like anywhere else. And so, that’s unique. So, the design of the health care is unique at Travelers.
The other thing I would say that stands out is we really want to support how you navigate through health care. So, what that means is we will, we have a vendor partner that helps people find the highest quality health care providers, and it goes so far as to actually schedule any appointments for them. So, if you, and then we have expert second opinions. So, if you have something you’re concerned about, we have free expert second opinions that come with that.
Kim: That’s great.
Greg: And we have, we have those types of services. And then for a lot of specialized areas, we have unique point solutions that help people succeed. So, it’s not just about offering the benefit, but it’s helping you make the right selection, helping you navigate and then helping you succeed in healthcare.
Kim: It’s that education, that consulting piece. Right?
Greg: Absolutely.
Kim: And now you mentioned as well, turning away from, from health care, you mentioned the student loan benefit, the Paying It Forward Savings Program. I know that you match, right, what folks would put into their 401(k), you match towards their loans? So, how does it, how does that work?
Greg: Yeah. So, it’s, this is a great, great question. And proud of how we set out, set out on this. So, the whole intent is, we respect that a lot of people have student loans coming out of school or through their schooling experience, right?
Kim: Right.
Greg: And so, a lot of people have to decide, should I contribute to my 401(k) or should I pay down my student loan? And we would say, you know what, we should contribute to the 401(k) as a company on your behalf regardless of that decision. So, if you can contribute to the 401(k), we’ll match dollar for dollar up to 5% there. If you cannot, but you can contribute to, but you do have to pay off your student loan, we’ll match that up to 5%, too, and combined, it’s up to the 5%, but we’re, we’re going to match either or depending on your ability to pay, you know, so…
Kim: So, I can pay down my debt, but I can also know that Travelers has my back to be, you know, putting some money into my future.
Greg: Perfect. Travelers has your back. That’s a good way to say it.
Kim: I got it. Okay.
Greg: That’s perfect.
Kim: Yeah, that’s, that’s great.
Greg: And I should have maybe mentioned, if you don’t mind, up front, when I talked about the benefits that we have.
Kim: Yeah.
Greg: And I’ll get to it a little, I’ll talk to it more, but we do have this concept of, we really want to support people physically, financially, mentally. I think of all areas of wellness from that perspective.
Kim: Right.
Greg: And the only thing I’d say about that, too, is we really want people to succeed at work and in life. And benefits plays a very important role in that.
Kim: Totally, like student loans, like some of those things you might not think of when you initially hear benefits.
Greg: Agreed, agreed.
Kim: Totally. Okay. Let me, let me steer us a little bit towards corporate wellness programs. So, like, I know wellness is one of those pieces, right?
Greg: Yeah, yeah.
Kim: So, can you, can you talk or provide almost, like, an overview of some of those wellness programs we offer here?
Greg: Absolutely. So, again, wellness is so important. And I think we think about it as physical, mental, financial, think in three areas of wellness that we support. And then the, the one thing I’d say on top of that is we recognize the need to have wellness champions that support it. So, in addition to the programs we offer, we have, at more than our 50 largest locations, we have wellness champions that help support those initiatives. So, you can feel the importance of wellness throughout Travelers.
Kim: And those wellness champions, Greg, they’re employees?
Greg: They’re employees. Yeah, that’s part of their role. They do their job, but in addition to that, they’re so passionate about wellness that they say, hey, we want to locally support people in wellness. So, I think that’s an added benefit we have at Travelers as well. So, I’m, I’m proud of that.
When I think about, like, each of those areas, and I can get into more detail on physical, you know, financial and mental, so, if I think about our physical wellness programs, we, it’s interesting. We have a culture that likes to compete sometimes and interact and so, we have a, we have a lot of walking challenges and things like that. So, we have tools that help support people in their wellness initiatives and challenges and stuff. And we have app-based classes that people can use, like, from a physical wellness as well. But in addition to that, we have programs that support weight health and stuff like that. So, from a physical standpoint, we have virtual physical therapy that’s available, too, to support. So, there’s a lot of…
Kim: Nice.
Greg: …things that support physical wellness.
If I talk about mental wellness, and this is, you know, this is so, important, and what I would say is we have, I just mentioned before about, through our mental wellness program, employees have up to eight, you know, free sessions with a therapist, eight free coaching sessions, as well as a lot of cognitive, app-based things that they can do with our vendor and stuff as well that helps them succeed mentally. We also have the, the caregiving support program that supports people’s mental wellness. So, thrilled about that, too.
And then, I would say, financial wellness, you know, in, in addition to our Paying It Forward Savings Program, which, again, matches people’s student loan payments with 401(k) payments, in addition to that, we have something called goal booster that helps people build an emergency savings account and things like that. And then we have, a lot of, we maximize the use of our vendors by providing webcasts and one-on-one counseling in all of these areas to help people succeed.
Kim: Yeah. Yeah, I know, I personally, you know, I’ll get invites to various webinars and things that are about financial health, are about stress management, you know, there are all those different areas. And I’ve joined quite a few. I’ve benefited a lot, even if it’s chair yoga, you know, I mean, it can, it can really bring a bright spot to the day.
Greg: Our culture is interesting because across a lot of our vendors, it feels like we have a disproportionate amount of people that engage in some of those just because I think it’s part of our culture. People want to succeed, and they want to take advantage of the programs we have.
Kim: Absolutely. I know, especially physically. When it comes to, to the mental health, though, Greg, you know, there’s such a stigma still, unfortunately, and, and I know we offer these programs, but what is Travelers doing to combat that mental health stigma?
Greg: Yeah, it’s a great question. So, it’s a privilege to work at Travelers regarding mental health for a few reasons. Our CEO, every year in October, he does the all-employee meeting, he’ll talk about benefits and for a number of years, he’ll always put up this slide that says, shatter the stigma. And he puts that up there and he himself, from that platform, talks about the importance of mental health and to shatter that stigma. We’ve had, you know, our CFO has talked passionately about the importance of mental health. And we have a, we have that, a video of that that employees can see and it’s so powerful.
Kim: Yeah.
Greg: And then I am proud of the, the other benefits that we offer and the way that we promote them to your, to your point about, we’re promoting the benefits we offer. We make it available and easy for people to use…
Kim: Yup.
Greg: …and it just shows how culturally we’re embracing mental health. In fact, it’s incredible the amount of utilization we get in those programs.
Kim: Absolutely. As far as employee involvement goes, we talked briefly about the wellness champions. My videographer and I earlier today were actually, popped into a yoga session to get a little bit of footage for, for social media. What are some of those programs that they run and, and how do they get involved? You know, how much is their involvement?
Greg: Yeah, yeah. So, again, it’s part of our culture. There’s people that are especially passionate about it. We want to lean into that passion and help, help them help others, you know, succeed in wellness and so, we, I think these, a lot of programs that we offer, often the wellness champions are promoting our programs, but often they’re running, like you said, you had a yoga session that you saw. Today on The Link here, they had a gratitude where they’re painting rocks, and it says gratitude. As you’re on your way to lunch, you have a, can have this rock that says, here’s something I’m grateful for. And I think that it’s interesting because I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out, but the energy around it is pretty high. But then there’s also, like, as the weather’s getting better, there’s a lot of walking groups that they’ll, they’ll sponsor or different events they’ll sponsor just to, kind of, meet people where they are, varied opportunities, try to support wellness and again, build on that culture.
Kim: And build on that friendly competition.
Greg: Yeah, that’s part of Travelers.
Kim: I know we, we definitely feel it in my department. It’s really fun with the step challenges and things so. As far as, you know, benefits go, can you share any stories or examples of some employees, or stories you’ve heard through your time here, that have benefited from our, our wellness programs or our benefits programs?
Greg: Yeah, yeah. I’ll do a few and I’ll try to even hit each, each area of wellness from that perspective. So, so, I think that we have stories of employees that, and having been here for a long time, I see, you know, when people retire, they’re at the end of their career, and how grateful they are for the wealth that they’ve accumulated by having both a pension and a 401(k).
Kim: Absolutely.
Greg: And being focused on the education that we provide to help them save for retirement and all those things. So, it’s humbling often to hear people succeed at retirement. So, that’s, kind of, from that perspective, I think is stories that I hear often. Then, other stories that we hear from, like, from a wellness perspective, like I talked about the expert second opinions and, and it’s, it’s been interesting because our CEO, at some of those meetings, has shared some of these, these stories as well and had, like, videos of the people. But I’ll just, I’ll share a few.
So, if I think about that expert second opinion, there’s a family that was having, challenged in having a child and they got an expert second opinion, the person was able to help them understand what was the most challenging thing. We, we have a number of family building support programs that help them, and they were able to have children, and they had twins, and they have, I have a picture of their twins and, kind of, what… The journey they went through to start a family and to know that Travelers was part of that journey, and we helped them? Priceless. I, it’s so important.
And we have family building support, let me talk about caregiving support. We have an employee whose mother lived in a different part of the country, and the employee got a call that the mother was driving on the wrong side of the road and there was issues with the mother and all these things, and they were struggling because they didn’t know what to do. How do I support my mother, who lives somewhere else, who’s really mentally challenged to live independently?
Kim: Right.
Greg: And that’s not an easy conversation, really, for, for anybody or anything. So, we have this benefit where they reached out to this concierge, the concierge gets involved with them and their siblings, and with the parent in this case. It could be with a child, too, but in this case, was the parent. And they helped say, here are different assisted living choices, here’s in-home support, and that employee was able to get their mother the support they needed, get them to the right assisted living, and in a way that was respectful to the mother and that the employee felt good about and the whole family felt great about. So, it was, like, life-changing for them.
Kim: Absolutely. It’s that guiding light in such a time of turmoil.
Greg: Yeah. It’s incredible. And then I think, like, on some of the physical wellness benefits that we’ve provided, we’ve had, you know, different things from, you know, people’s weight health where they’ve achieved the goals that they wanted to achieve from that standpoint or even the, when I talk about, like, some of the physical therapy help that we provide…
Kim: Right.
Greg: …where people are doing activities that they didn’t think were available to them and stuff like, that. So, we have, across the spectrum, we have success stories. And I would say, you know, what, what are some of the things that motivates me on the benefits side? It’s about impacting people’s lives. And through our benefit programs, we get many opportunities to impact the lives of our employees. And so, we take that seriously and…
Kim: I can tell even just sitting here, like, looking at you telling the stories, I’m like, I can.
Greg: It’s emotional.
Kim: Yeah, I can tell. It means so much to you.
Greg: Yeah.
Kim: In the future, looking ahead, what new benefits or wellness initiatives are you excited about?
Greg: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a great question. So, if I think about, you know, so, we’ve talked about mental health, we’ve added a benefit around sleep, family building support, virtual physical therapy, caregiving, we’ve, health care navigation, we’ve done the co-pay based medical plans. These are all, like, things that are, kind of, in the, in the world right now that we’ve, we’ve spent time on. So, I think, I think we try to be at the forefront of innovation. And I think that’s part of our employment brand. So, a lot of times when people hear about new innovations in benefits, like, the caregiving support I talked about earlier.
Kim: Right.
Greg: We try to be leaders in that space. So, two things stand out to me. It’s, you know, staying aware of what’s hot in the market. And, and if I, if I’d say one next thing that’s interesting, and this, we can have a whole conversation on this topic, it’s gene cell therapy, where there’s certain procedures now, gene therapy procedures, that cure some things that have been difficult for society. They’re very rare and very rarely used, but for those that can use them, it’s life-changing for sure.
Kim: Yeah.
Greg: But the other thing I want to do is lean into the member experience and the awareness of employees. I want people to know that whatever the issue they’re having, that they have access to the right support at the right time, you know, for the right purpose. And I still think there’s, there’s more we can do in that space.
Kim: Yeah.
Greg: I’m actually optimistic that AI can help us play a bigger role on that. So, I’m thinking there’s opportunities in that space going forward. So, I, when I look ahead, those are some things I look forward to.
Kim: Definitely. I mean, I, for one, can’t wait to see what you do. I mean, everything you all have done, even in the most recent couple of years, has been huge.
Greg: Thank you.
Kim: So, I’m really looking forward to it. Greg, anything… Well, I know we covered a lot, but anything we didn’t cover that, that you think is important to mention?
Greg: I think, really important, if I were to close with something, I would close with this. Travelers has a stated purpose of taking care of our customers, our communities and each other. Part of taking care of each other is helping people to be well, physically, mentally, financially, through the benefits that we offer. And we take that very seriously at Travelers. So, it’s part of our stated purpose. Our benefits are aligned to that. It’s part of our culture, it’s part of our brand.
So, I would end by saying, we work really hard to impact the lives of our employees so that they can succeed in these ways. So, I hope, I hope that having this chance, whoever listens to this, I hope they come away from this recognizing that culture, recognizing that brand, recognizing how we’re trying to impact lives.
Kim: Recognizing how much it matters here.
Greg: It matters. Thank you.
Kim: And for folks who are listening, first of all, thanks for joining us once again. Secondly, if you’d like to see all of the benefits that Greg and I discussed today, kind of, laid out in our benefits brochure, no matter where you are in the world, you can always go to our careers website, that’s travelers.com/careers, under the Life at Travelers tab, there is the Benefits page. So, definitely check it out. Or you can simply type in travelers.com/benefits. So, definitely check it out. Thanks for joining us, Greg. Thanks so much for being here. Really, really appreciate it.
Greg: Thank you so much.
Kim: And for all our listeners, we’ll be back again soon with another episode for you. And until then, take care.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Service Meets Service: Recognizing Military Spouse honorees from the 2024 In-Synch Awards Program
Each year, more than 100 customer-facing Claim and Operations professionals across the U.S. and Canada are recognized through the Travelers In-Synch Service Awards Program—honoring those who go above and beyond to deliver on our promise to care for our customers, agents and brokers.
Among these honorees are several military spouses, recognized for their dedication to their work and the positive impact they make in every interaction.
Since 2020, recruiting initiatives aimed at helping military spouses build and sustain meaningful careers at Travelers have led to the hiring of more than 300 military spouses into specific field-based roles that enable them to navigate frequent moves and other unique circumstances military families often face.
In 2024, five military spouses from across Operations were recognized as part of this year’s In-Synch Service Awards. Meet a few members of the 2024 class and learn more about the experience they bring to Travelers—and the difference they make every day.
Ashlyn C. – Personal Insurance Operations
Ashlyn joined Travelers two and a half years ago as a Customer Service Representative shortly after getting married and relocating to her husband’s military duty station. Since then, she’s been promoted to Senior Customer Service Representative and continues to find meaning in delivering top-tier service.
“Providing an exceptional customer experience is truly the most meaningful part of my role,” she said. “It’s incredibly rewarding to know I’ve made a positive impact on someone’s day.”
Before starting her career at Travelers, she also served six years full-time in the Texas Army National Guard as an E-5 intelligence analyst, supporting Homeland Security initiatives and working closely with law enforcement agencies. She also had the unique experience of participating in a National Guard recruiting campaign, appearing in a commercial and on recruitment posters throughout the state.
Now as a military spouse, Ashlyn has found continued support at Travelers. “It’s reassuring to know my career doesn’t have to pause due to relocation,” she said. “When the role allows, Travelers is flexible with remote work options, which has made all the difference.”
Her advice to others considering a role at Travelers? “Whether you’re a military spouse or not, Travelers is a fantastic place to build your future.”
Vickie H. – Enterprise Billing & Receivables Management
Vickie joined Travelers in August 2022 as a Customer Service Representative in Direct Bill, where she quickly built a solid foundation in customer service and billing processes. From there, her career continued to grow—first into the role of Account Resolution Analyst, where she spent a year and a half diving into complex billing issues and supporting process improvements, and most recently into her current position as a Senior Quality Assurance Specialist.
“Each step in my journey has allowed me to grow both professionally and personally, and I’m excited to keep building on that growth,” she said.
In her current role, she ensures accuracy and consistency across team processes, plays a key role in training and mentoring, and identifies opportunities to improve performance.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to help others grow, develop their skills, and feel more confident in their work.”
Vickie’s husband currently serves in the Air Force and she’s found real understanding and flexibility at Travelers. “There’s a strong culture of support here, and I’ve felt comfortable communicating my needs, knowing they’ll be met with empathy and a willingness to work with me.”
Remote work options have helped Vickie navigate the unpredictable nature of military life while still growing her career. “Travelers is a great place to be if you’re looking for a company that values you, supports your goals, and understands the flexibility you might need.”
Emma H. – Premium Audit
Emma has been a part of Travelers for more than three years and currently works as a Premium Auditor. Since joining the company in 2021 as a Premium Audit Associate, she earned a promotion in 2023 and continues to find meaning in building strong relationships with policyholders.
“I love making a difference. I love educating. I love the people,” Emma shared. “I have some of the most meaningful interactions with our policy holders. Nobody loves an audit, but I love building lasting relationships with our customers.”
In addition to being a military spouse, Emma is a service member as well. She and her husband both serve in the Army National Guard, and she has proudly served for nearly 13 years.
Emma describes Travelers as one of the most supportive companies she’s ever been part of “Travelers is so selfless and understanding of all things military from human resources down to direct management. The benefits that are provided amazing. At Travelers, I never stress about my husband or I having to leave for short or long periods of time.”
Her advice to other military spouses at Travelers: “Don’t be afraid to reach out for help or questions about benefits while you or your spouse is away. Everyone at Travelers is supportive and here to help.”
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Volunteering at Travelers: Nick Jones with Junior Achievement
Tell us about yourself. What is your title and what do you do in your role?
I’m a Sr. Consultant for Business Performance Analytics on our Workers Compensation Claim Product team. I leverage our claim data to create analytics tools for the product team and our various business partners, assist management with monitoring our key performance indicators and outcomes and support broader product initiatives. Examples of those broader initiatives would be new workflows that we’re exploring or predictive models that we’re developing to create efficiencies and assist our claim staff in achieving optimal outcomes on our claims.
It’s a pretty wide array of work. Sometimes it’s a relatively quick task like querying our data tables to generate a short list of claims that someone is looking for and other times I’m working on complex team projects that go on for several months.
How did you first get involved in volunteer work?
I was inspired to volunteer because helping other people is my way of paying it forward. There’s a lot of people who helped me get to where I am personally and professionally, and I don’t forget that.
I started volunteering early in my tenure with Travelers. I had friends here who recruited me to join them in some of our local Junior Achievement USA events, the nation’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future and make smart academic and economic choices. I spent a lot of time working with kids and young adults in some jobs I had prior to my time at Travelers so working with Junior Achievement seemed like a good fit for me. I also thought it would be a great way for me to connect with my coworkers outside of our daily routine while making a positive impact on our community. I’ve met a lot of coworkers who work in departments that I typically don’t interact with in my role so there’s been a professional networking aspect to it that I didn’t anticipate. That’s been an unexpected bonus.
You do most of your volunteer work with Junior Achievement. Why are you passionate about this cause?
I enjoy working with Junior Achievement because they do a great job of helping students learn essential life skills in a creative, engaging environment. I believe their mission to prepare young people to succeed in areas like financial literacy and entrepreneurship is a really worthy cause. I wish I had that available to me when I was a student.
Can you describe the volunteer work you do?
My volunteer work is primarily broken down into two different Junior Achievement programs: The Discovery Center and 3DE.
The Discovery Center is a one-day volunteer event where we help in facilitating a simulation for middle school students participating on that day. For example, during the Finance Park simulation, students are assigned a random “life situation” which includes being assigned an education level, salary, credit score and family scenario. They spend the day living out that life scenario, learning how to budget for various items – housing, food, transportation. They also learn about loans and credit. As volunteers, we facilitate discussions at the various storefronts to help the students navigate their unique scenario and understand the implications of their decisions.
3DE is a multi-week project that involves multiple volunteer sessions to help high school students work through a larger group project. Travelers and 3DE by Junior Achievement, a program dedicated to re-engineering high school education nationwide, collaborate to present the students with a case challenge in which the students work together over the course of five weeks to solve a real business problem. As volunteers, we will go to the school and meet with the groups to answer questions, give feedback on early drafts of their presentation and help them round out their solution. On the final week, we’ll return to the school to judge the presentations and select a winning team. Additionally, I serve as the 3DE lead for my local field office, so I work with 3DE to develop the case challenge and organize our volunteer efforts each year.
What impact do you feel your volunteer work has on the community?
I think the work we do with Junior Achievement really helps cultivate financial literacy, big picture thinking, and high-level problem solving. These are essential skills that everyone needs to develop as they prepare for adulthood. The impact won’t be seen immediately, but it will positively influence students and our broader community for years to come. Outside of that skill-building, I like to think that we’re also building a stronger sense of community. We’re working with teachers and students in schools close to our office, in the communities where many of our employees reside. We’re making meaningful connections with people we might not otherwise meet.
How has volunteering influenced your personal or professional growth?
Professionally, it has helped me develop leadership and communication skills. It gives me an opportunity to work on things like public speaking and leadership influence. These are skills that are transferrable to a lot of different roles within the company. There’s also the networking component I mentioned earlier.
Personally, I appreciate it a little more each year. I mentioned earlier the idea of paying it forward. The further I get in life, the stronger I feel about that because I can look back and see more moments where someone volunteered their time or other resources to help me. I’m also a parent now and can picture my own kids eventually being one of those students in need of a volunteer.
How do you balance your volunteer work with your professional responsibilities?
I view it as part of my professional responsibilities. It’s just like any other meeting or commitment I would have here. It comes down to planning ahead, managing my calendar and prioritizing my work appropriately so that I can be available to participate in these volunteer efforts when they come up.
How does the company support your volunteer efforts?
The company is great about communicating when volunteer opportunities are available, but it goes beyond that. Our leadership team leads by example by volunteering and encouraging everyone else to do the same. My manager is an active volunteer and he’s always been very supportive of me participating as well.
Additionally, the company supports volunteering by providing rewards dollars for the hours I spend volunteering. Once my volunteer hours are logged, the company provides me with rewards dollars that can be allocated to a partner organization of my choosing through the Travelers Community Connections site.
Do you have any touching/memorable moments from volunteering that you wish to share?
There is one moment that happens every time I volunteer at the Junior Achievement Discovery Center, and it never gets old. By the end of the simulation exercise there is at least one student that says, “Wow, my parents do all this stuff? That’s a lot!” It’s really cool to see that “ah-ha” moment where they have a newfound appreciation for the parental figures in their life.
Do you have any future plans or goals related to your volunteer work?
I plan to continue my work with Junior Achievement. Each year we challenge ourselves to improve our 3DE case challenge and find new ways to make the experience meaningful for the students and volunteers.
Outside of my formal volunteer work through Travelers, I have some personal volunteering I’d like to expand on. My 5-year-old son started playing hockey and I’m part of a group of parents that volunteer to run weekly practices. It’s enjoyable to see how quickly all the kids learn and how much fun they have out there. I’m looking forward to continuing that this year.
What advice would you give to someone interested in starting volunteer work?
Sometimes it can be a little intimidating or uncomfortable to try something new, but it’s easy once you try it. Start by finding an organization that shares your values and interests. That makes it easier to have confidence about the skills and knowledge you can offer as a volunteer.
Also, while it’s certainly great to volunteer in a formal capacity with an established non-profit, keep in mind that there are many other volunteer opportunities that present themselves every day. Sometimes volunteering can be coaching your child’s sports team or helping your HOA board members with a weekend project in your neighborhood. Plug in wherever you feel comfortable, it’ll be worth it!
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Life at Travelers Podcast Ep. 5 – Workforce Solutions
Kim: Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the Life at Travelers podcast. I’m here with my friend Wes Alexander today and we are diving into Workforce Solutions. And for folks who aren’t familiar with that, we’re going to dig deep. Are you ready, Wes?
Wes: I’m so ready.
Kim: Okay, cool. So first, can you tell our listeners, you know, who you are? What’s your title? How’d you get to Travelers?
Wes: Yeah, I’m the Vice President of Workforce Solutions is my current title, but I came to Travelers about ten years ago now, initially working in employee relations (E.R.).
Kim: Oh, okay.
Wes: Right, so my background is in employee relations. And even before then, I was in employment law. But, yeah, my first job here was E.R. Now, it’s workforce solutions.
Kim: How did you go from law school, you know, being a lawyer, and now into working at Travelers and being in workforce solutions?
Wes: It’s really been a constant journey for me to try to find a job that I felt like was more conducive to my personality. So, the truth is, I got into being a lawyer because I really didn’t have a plan. I didn’t really know what it would take to be a lawyer every day. And I learned about 90 days into my law practice, once I graduated from law school, that I was in trouble.
Kim: Okay.
Wes: I never really, truly loved being a corporate lawyer. That’s what I was, kind of, a big firm law firm lawyer before becoming an in-house lawyer, which was better for me.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: But it’s been a journey for me to really try to find something that I think really suits who I am as a person. And this most current position, I think, really does that for me.
Kim: Yup.
Wes: The, the long and short of it is, you know, when you’re a employment lawyer, which is what I was, your fiduciary duty, everything that I do, I’m responsible for making sure I protect the company.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: Right? So, it’s always a company-first mentality. When I moved into employer relations, the moniker is, you try to do what’s right for employees and what’s right for the company. So, it’s more of a balance. What I love about this job is that it truly is an “employee first,” right? So, I’ve gone all the way from company first, employee second to really, employee first. Not necessarily company second, I mean, this is a company function, but my goal is to, when you call me as an employee, to work with you in terms of your issues and really to put your interests first in terms of trying to figure out what’s best for you.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: And if that doesn’t align with what’s best for the company, we can, kind of, find ways to get there. But just my mentality, and my focus, being able to shift in terms of being, like, an employee-first resource, that’s been my, that’s been my journey and I think that’s actually why it works for me.
Kim: So, this role you have now is authentic to Wes.
Wes: It is. It truly is. I mean, I’m, I think I’m one of the, I think I’m one of the blessed people that, you know, it’s not necessarily, from my standpoint, in terms of how much money you make. It’s do I get a chance to wake up and do something that I, on some level, enjoy doing? This job has done that for me.
Kim: Yeah. And it’s being blessed, but it’s, it’s also working for it, right? You’ve come a long way, right? And you’ve been searching for this.
Wes: Absolutely. You know, a lot of internal work and just a lot of luck, to be honest, right? Being in the right place at the right time. And I think that, you know, the good thing for me is that my background in employment law, in employee relations, it really does suit and support the work that I do now, like, just being able to issue spot and just, you know, dealing with manager issues, employee issues. That’s something I’ve been doing for the last 20, almost 25 years. But being able to do it from this lens, in this capacity, that’s the part that I think suits me the most.
Kim: Yeah, definitely. So, so, before, because I have a million more questions, but before we get into that…
Wes: Sure.
Kim: …let’s talk about workforce solutions from a high level. Because, you know, we were talking before this episode, not many folks might know what that is. You know, what is that? We know the words, “employee experience,” sure.
Wes: Sure. Yeah.
Kim: But what is workforce solutions and, you know, what is your team doing on any given day?
Wes: Yeah. It really is a function that’s niche to Travelers. So, let me start with that.
Kim: Okay.
Wes: And the truth is the idea of the function, I wish I could say it was mine, but it wasn’t, it’s really Alan’s (CEO), right? I think what he was trying to ensure was that, you know, that there were places within Travelers where people can go to just make sure that they could speak authentically, truthfully and it was safe.
Kim: Yup.
Wes: The thing that I say all the time is, you know, we, my group, we don’t have a, we don’t have a monopoly on safe spaces, right? I guess, the hope is that many employees, they’re going to find their people, right? Whether it be some other employee or their manager or even their HR generalist, right? Somebody that they can talk to and speak freely and openly.
Kim: Yup.
Wes: Hey, this thing is bothering me, or this is causing me to struggle on my job or whatever the case is. Right? But I think the beauty in this is that Alan was able to, and my boss, now, Diane (CHRO), Alan and Diane Kurtzman is really, this is their brainchild. I think their thought was understanding that, while there will be people who are able to find their people and find safe spaces, we have 30,000 employees.
Kim: Right.
Wes: So, there are always going to be people who are, kind of, on the outside and they don’t know where to turn. They don’t know where to go. That is the, that is the genesis. That is the crux of our practice, right? Being able to just be this open space where you can call and the sheer fact that you call is confidential and anonymous and your issues, you know, again, with some, with some guardrails, are going to just be held with my group first, and then we can decide, kind of, where you go so that you can feel good and safe about what it is that you share. So, that’s the, the high level. I mean, we break it down into certain components. We can get into it as much as you want.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: But at the end of the day, you know, when people ask me what I do, what I try to tell folks is that our North Star, this Workforce Solutions North Star, it’s providing safe spaces for employees, places for employees to go when they don’t know where to turn.
Kim: Yep, yep. And I’ve seen you do that, you know, personally even through, you know, we have meetings with, you know, members of HR where we talk about certain topics or a listening session with a Diversity Network, right? So, it might not be the employees coming to you, but more so, hey, we’re going to host this for you, you know, bringing it to them.
Wes: Yep.
Kim: So are there, you know, can you talk about those experiences and maybe others that I might not have mentioned?
Wes: Yeah, I kind of break them down into a few different categories. Right? So, the first category really is designed to be this open space. Literally any employee at any level can reach out to myself or the Workforce Solutions team.
Kim: Small but mighty.
Wes: Small but mighty. But you can reach out to us, get on our calendar, and in those conversations, we can consult, we can coach or we can just listen. So, that’s, kind of, one big bucket.
Kim: Yep.
Wes: The second big bucket is this idea of what we call sensing sessions, which is some leader, some topline leader will say, hey, you know, I have questions about how people are experiencing, you know, my organization.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: It doesn’t have to be, by the way, like, a trouble situation. Sometimes it’s, you know, we’re coming in because there’s noise, but other times it’s just we’ve made changes or we’re restructuring or we’re, you know, establishing a new business process and I want to see how my people are really, you know, feeling about this. Can you, Workforce Solutions, come in, put people in rooms or maybe even have one-on-one conversations and really get underneath, like, how is your job really? How do you feel about this change, really? Because the truth is we’re just people, right? And while I think most of our leaders, when they really do ask, they’ll say, you know, we’re changing this thing. Kim, let me know how this feels to you.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: And you may be the employee who’s, like, totally comfortable raising your hand in 3GS (Auditorium) and saying, you know what, senior leader? I don’t like this. Right? And by the way, bless those people. Right? Those are important people. And, and I believe we do try to encourage that. And I think many employees will feel comfortable doing that, but we’re people, right? So, some employees will hear that question and look around and, you know, their boss is in the room, or maybe their boss’s boss is the one that’s on stage.
Kim: And it doesn’t feel like the place.
Wes: They sit on their hands.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: Right? And then they go outside and they find somebody they trust and say, why are we doing this?
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: Right? Like that’s most people, right? And, and, and what we want to do is, for those folks who aren’t sure where can I go for, for truly explaining how I feel about this business change? The sensing session is designed to provide that space for you, put it in the aggregate, keep you safe, and then roll it back to your leader and say, hey, here are the three or four things that your people really think about this change.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: So, that’s another big bucket. The last, kind of, big bucket that I’ll mention is what you were talking about. This idea of hosting conversations, safe spaces for employees to talk about things that we generally don’t talk about at work.
Kim: Right.
Wes: I think it’s really important for me to say out loud, like, you know, this isn’t just a free for all, and these are always voluntary and are always structured. We have a set of ground rules.
Kim: Oh, yeah.
Wes: Like, we’re really adamant on adhering to in terms of making sure that people, instead of just getting on some call and espousing wild opinions or just giving their, you know, theories on the world, instead, what we really, what’s important for us to gather is, what’s your experience? What have you seen, what have you gone through…
Kim: Those “I” statements.
Wes: “I” statements, leading with an “I” statement and ensuring that, you know, when you speak your truth, there’s nothing to argue about. Your truth is your truth.
Kim: That’s right.
Wes: So, we can’t get into a back-and-forth conversation about what happened to Kim, because what happened to you is what happened to you.
Kim: Right.
Wes: Instead, we use that to draw connections. Maybe I can build something, I can take something that you’ve experienced and put it into my life.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: Right? That sort of thing. And we get closer and more connected because we learn more about one another as people and I am a firm believer that the better we know each other as people, the better we’re going to ultimately produce business outcomes, which is what this is all about.
Kim: That’s right. Well, it builds community. It shows you that people share your experiences…
Wes: That’s right.
Kim: …that you might not know about.
Wes: Right, or not. Right? It’s like, oh my gosh, I didn’t even know.
Kim: Well, that’s stimulating self-reflection.
Wes: Right.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: Why haven’t I experienced that or how would I handle that or what can I take from this?
Kim: Absolutely.
Wes: That’s, that’s a lot of the work, too. So, those are, kind of, like, the main, main buckets of providing safe spaces.
Kim: Right. It’s important work. And Wes, what do you think it is about you said this is, you know, niche to Travelers.
Wes: Yeah.
Kim: What makes Travelers different in this space?
Wes: I think it’s our commitment to our culture.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: If you have heard Alan talk through what’s important to him, what’s important to us and not just him, what is historically, traditionally been important to Travelers in terms of putting the place first and being invested in everybody else’s success and really, truly being collaborative and really thinking what’s best for the place long term. Those are the components, right?
Kim: Yep.
Wes: And when you take the work that we do, it hits on all those things.
Kim: That’s right.
Wes: Right? Whether it’s, you know, hey, here’s an opportunity to put the place first because we are going to allow for employees through focus groups to really express their experiences and, and tell their leaders how they feel in a candid way, right? And here’s a leader putting the place first, for example, and saying, you know what, this may not feel good to get this feedback, right? Like, I don’t know exactly what these employees are going to say when I allow Wes and his team to come in and lift up the hood, but I am going to put my self-interest below the interest of the place in that I really want to know what is best for the place.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: Like, that’s what I think makes Travelers want to have a group like this. I think this is what connects to our culture and the fact that our culture is really important, and I think that’s why Alan has allowed for this and wanted this…
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: …because I think, and again, I don’t want to speak for the man, but I think if he were here, what he would tell you is that our culture is one of our competitive advantages.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: Right? We sell insurance.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: Just like the other places that sell state and federally mandated, like, insurance. Right? This is a product that has government regulations so you can only do but so much. So, what’s going to make us different?
Kim: What’s inside the walls?
Wes: I think it’s our culture.
Kim: Yeah. And, and your daily role is, you’re embedded in the culture just based on the work you do.
Wes: Yeah.
Kim: How do you personally experience the culture outside of your day-to-day? What are what else are you involved in?
Wes: Yeah, I think for me, how I personally experience the culture is a couple of ways. One, I’m involved in the Diversity Networks. I enjoy the work that we do just in terms of showing up for those cultural events, learning those experiences, getting to learn the experiences of others. I’m here for all of that. You know, I also like to, just on behalf of the organization, you know, I participate in a couple of different, kind of, outside, one’s, a nonprofit. It’s the Urban League of Greater Hartford, and I participate on behalf of Travelers and I love to be able to do that because it’s a community organization designed to improve the local community in which we sit.
Kim: Yes.
Wes: I sit on the Governor’s Workforce Council, again on behalf of Travelers, to try and push initiatives that, from a statewide perspective, are trying to get people at work and figuring out how Travelers can be a part of that.
Kim: Right.
Wes: Right? So, you know, I do that, I think, because as I’ve now continued to be here, I think it’s important for me to also show our connection to our community, because we’re such a big employer here.
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: And people hear that I work at Travelers or hear that, you know, I have a connection to Travelers, and they want to hear more about what it is that we do and how we’re investing in Hartford. So, yeah, I try to do that because I think, again, I think it’s important for us to be connected.
Kim: Yup. Definitely. So, at the beginning of the conversation, we were talking about how you moved from a role that didn’t feel as authentic to you…
Wes: Yeah.
Kim: …and into this role now. Would you change anything about your journey?
Wes: No, not one thing, because each experience builds on, and then allowed me, to get to this point. So, no. It was tough, and there were some moments where, I’m going to tell you, I really disliked getting up in the morning and going to work, right? Like, just knowing you’re in the wrong job?
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: For me there was nothing worse, right? It had an impact on how I showed up in other places, too, at home with my kids, with my wife. So, no, it was, it was, it was necessary, I think, to be able to that now be, like, comfortable and credible and having those experiences in employer relations and as an employment lawyer, I think it really does lend and assist me as I do this job. So, it was needed. It was just my journey, you know, and it just kind of worked out this way for me, but also I was intentional about it, too, like, I was honest with myself about, hey, you know, I’m doing this and I’m trying to feed my family, but I don’t love this so I got to keep trying to move towards something that feels better for me.
Kim: That’s right. And I ask all my guests this.
Wes: Yeah.
Kim: If you were talking to somebody who’s interested in working at Travelers, what would you tell them?
Wes: I would tell them that Travelers, I think success at Travelers is really, a two-part formula.
Kim: Okay.
Wes: I’ve said this all the time. Number one, whatever it is that you are asked to do from a perform standpoint, whatever that thing is that makes you a subject matter expert, right, and all the things that we do here, you got to be great at that. Right? Because we are a perform culture. You have to get your job done. It is table stakes for you to come in here and be nice at what you do. I think that’s number one.
Kim: Okay.
Wes: I think the second piece of the Travelers formula is that you have to be committed and willing, if you are looking to get more, to put yourself out there and build relationships because I think our culture matters. I think we’re a relationship culture, and I think it does impact how people speak about you when you’re not in rooms, in terms of how you show up. Right? Are you willing to bring answers to the table, are you, you know, making connections with people, maybe outside of just the normal people that you work with? Or even just the people that you work with. Are you invested in learning who they are? I think that this is, and I don’t mean this as like a negative or a pejorative, but this is not my first rodeo, right? I’ve been in a lot of different corporate spaces. Travelers is the most relational place I’ve ever worked. And I don’t, you know, I don’t say that’s good or bad. I just say it is. Right? So, to me, I want to give as many people, like, what I think is, the answer to the test as possible. Like, the formula. Be super good at what you do, plus make relationships, equals success here. I just, I’ve seen it now too many times…
Kim: Yeah.
Wes: …right, to not believe that that is the formula. So, that’s what I would say to anybody. Like that, to me, is, that’s how, that’s how you move through this place.
Kim: Yep.
Wes: Kill your job, meet, invest and, and, take the time to build relationships with people.
Kim: Yep. Yep. Now, Wes, I feel like you brought an energy to this episode. It’s just a feeling I have. You might have heard that before.
Wes: Yeah, yeah, I can’t help it.
Kim: I feel like people will hear this, and they might want to connect with you to learn more about Travelers.
Wes: Yeah.
Kim: So, if folks, because we’re going to post this out on social media, if we tag you…
Wes: Please.
Kim: Awesome. Well, thank you not only for being here Wes, but also, just for the work you do because it is so important, you know? And I know you feel blessed and a little bit lucky and that sort of thing, but, you know, you, you bring so much to the company and it’s very much appreciated.
Wes: No, I appreciate it. I say this all the time. This only happens because our leaders allow it to happen. I mean, when you think about exactly everything I just said, this only happens if I have the support of the most senior leaders in this organization for the work that we do. If they think it’s important, if they’re going to, like, push their people to utilize this, right? So, you know, I’m just I am thankful, but I’m only, you know, right, I realize that I’m only as good as the invitation. Right? So, you know, as much as I can really impress upon you all that this is, this is our leaders’ doing and them just allowing us to have this space to do it, knowing that this is niche, knowing that this is something that doesn’t happen in other places, again, I think it speaks to how special our culture is.
Kim: Awesome. Well, thank you, Wes, and thank you to our listeners. Thanks for joining us once again and we’ll be back very soon with another episode for you. Until then, take care.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Travelers Recognized with CIO 100 Award for AI-Driven Innovation
Travelers has been named a recipient of the CIO 100 2025 Award for our cutting-edge New Business Submission Automation in Bond & Specialty Insurance. This AI-powered solution accelerates new business registration, enhancing both employee efficiency and the customer experience.
This marks the second national recognition for the innovation, following last year’s Gartner Eye on Innovation Award. The achievement underscores Travelers’ ongoing commitment to leveraging technology to drive business impact.
New Business Submission Automation uses automatic data collection to significantly accelerate the registration process. Speed is critical in our industry, as quote turnaround time plays a considerable factor in customer and agency satisfaction.
New Business Submission Automation has far-reaching implications beyond B&SI. Created with the future in mind, this flexible model is being adapted by other businesses to increase process efficiency and data accuracy across the enterprise.
This is Travelers’ third CIO 100 Award within the past five years, following our wins in 2021 for digitizing customer service capabilities and in 2020 for our Wildlife Loss Detector, which also earned a Gartner Eye on Innovation Award.
The CIO 100 Awards celebrate organizations that use technology in innovative ways to deliver business value by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers.
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.
WHO WE ARE.
Courage, Resilience and Discipline—Adapting to the Civilian Workforce
Lisa Kopitzke values the skills and experiences she gained in the military and the meaningful career she’s built at Travelers. As a U.S. Army Medic, she sharpened her courage, resilience, and discipline — strengths that have guided her through 15 years at Travelers. Now a Lead at the Advanced Analytics Information Technology Center of Excellence, Lisa is proof that the skills gained in the military can translate into a thriving career in insurance.
As an Army Medic, Lisa was stationed in Augsburg, Germany and Fort Hood, Texas. In Germany, Lisa said she was privileged to help soldiers, their families and military retirees at a local medical clinic. Her time as a medic not only gave her technical skills but also shaped her mindset, which carries into her work today.
“In the active military, I was in the medical field. And there isn’t a day at Travelers that goes by that I don’t draw upon that skill set of helping others and growing in my servant leadership skills,” she said.
Throughout her career at Travelers, she has held several key positions, including Sr. Architect and Risk and Security Officer. She also serves on the Technology and Analytics Training Advisory Board. In her current role as Director of the Advanced Analytics Information Technology Center of Excellence, Lisa leads multiple employee working groups focused on enhancing the value of software and strengthening support within the analytics community. She attributes “connecting with such great colleagues” as something she likes best about working at Travelers.
Lisa’s servant leadership was also evident when she provided assistance to hurricane victims in 2017. Team Rubicon was seeking veterans, medical personnel and civilians to provide boots-on-the-ground support, and she was prepared to answer the call. Since that experience, Lisa has continued to volunteer with various youth organizations in the community, such as scouting, coding, and robotics programs.
Throughout her experience at Travelers, Lisa has found her own support through the Military/Veterans & Allies Diversity Network (MVADN). Through this diversity network, our military professionals and allies can connect, celebrate service, share insights on transitioning to civilian roles and support those navigating deployments. “I’m also proud to be a member of our MVADN and can feel the immense backing of such a large, caring community.”
Lisa’s military experience, volunteer efforts and work at Travelers show that military veterans can build meaningful careers in insurance. “As a large company, Travelers excels in guiding with warmth, leading with respect, and cultivating a culture of thoughtful collaboration. It’s a place to thrive.”
Fifteen years ago, when Lisa came to Travelers she said, she was “thrilled to be recruited by such a supportive team that acknowledges the discipline and focus that she cultivated in the military.”
With her experience in mind, she offers this advice to anyone in the military considering a transition to Travelers or the civilian workforce: “People are people wherever you go. The main difference is in how we communicate and what we expect from others. Be adaptable and you’ll find your footing.”
SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR LATEST BLOGS
Want to stay up to date? Have stories sent directly to your email inbox.