Lincoln Financial: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 3, 2016, at the 10^th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to work at Lincoln Financial Group over the summer.

My experience working at Lincoln Financial can be described as astounding, awe-inspiring and unforgettable. They presented me with a platform for growth and let me take on industry changing projects with the potential to save the company hundreds, thousands and even millions of dollars.

The approach that Lincoln Financial took with me and my internship program presented me with an opportunity to do big things and left it up to me to take advantage of that opportunity. They placed me on the Speech and Desktop Process Analytics team, which is a branch of the Continuous Improvement Department. It was very much project driven and gave me the freedom to take each project in a different direction.

At the completion of each project I was required to brainstorm a list of recommendations for improvement, and along with these recommendations we would conduct a cost benefit analysis. The cost benefit analysis allowed me to see the potential impact that my recommendations and implementations could have on the company.

This innovative approach really helped me see the impact that I was having on the company. Lincoln Financial’s innovative approach to their internship program didn’t just make me feel like I was making a lasting impact on the company; I WAS making a lasting impact on the company. I was working on projects that allowed me to make recommendations to change major processes within the company. By the end of my twelve-week internship, I was able to see some of my recommendations actually being debated for implementation.

An example of one of my recommendations being considered was from a project that I did regarding a form that gets sent out to clients when their annuities are going to mature. The clients have three options when their annuities mature; they can surrender the contract, annuitize the contract or extend the maturity date to age 99. We started to notice that our call center was receiving a high volume of calls from clients that don’t understand their options. One of my recommendations was to include an insert with a brief description of each option and what the results of each choice would entail. Including this insert would result in less confusion, thus resulting in fewer phone calls from clients regarding this annuity maturity form. Each phone call that we take costs us roughly $21.50 based on the length of the phone call and how much money our employees make per hour. Let’s say that we receive 10,000 phone calls annually with questions regarding this form. If we could eliminate all of the phone calls regarding this particular form, that would result in $215,000 in savings.

This is just one example of one recommendation for a single project. Keep in mind that most projects I completed were supplemented with five to 10 recommendations.

Lincoln Financial Group provided me with many ways to grow personally and professionally. Throughout my summer internship I was provided a supervisor and a mentor. My supervisor would be my day-to-day boss, while my mentor would be someone that I could reach out to whenever I needed advice or just someone to talk to.

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The professional and personal relationships that I developed with coworkers, supervisors, and mentors throughout the summer are relationships that will last a lifetime.

–Tyler Speigl
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My mentor’s name was Adrian and he helped me out so much this summer. Adrian and I met biweekly and this was my opportunity to ask him any questions that I could come up with. I was blessed to hear each step of Adrian’s life from high school all the way until where he is now as the vice president of annuities. Being able to hear his story and how he got to be where he is life is going to help me tremendously getting to where I want to be in life. He shared with me many great life experiences that all shaped him into the wonderful person that he is now.

Along with my mentorship, Lincoln also held numerous events throughout the summer that provided me with an opportunity to network with fellow employees. IAO All-Star Day was a wonderful experience and I had the opportunity to meet so many awesome people. IAO All-Star Day was a celebration for the Individual Annuity Operations department because of the major success that the department has had over the past few years. IAO All-Star Day included a free catered lunch to all employees, a pep rally and free admission into the Fort Wayne TinCaps baseball game. At the baseball game I had the opportunity to mingle with many other Lincoln Financial employees and get to know them on a personal basis.

The professional and personal relationships that I developed with coworkers, supervisors, and mentors throughout the summer are relationships that will last a lifetime. I was truly blessed to have such an amazing experience working at Lincoln Financial Group this summer.