Medibank Reviews

Cons

slow process, heavy senior management team

Cons

Need to continue to innovate

Cons

Work can be repetitive and hard to feel engaged.

Cons

Too top heavy with little to no cohesion or accountability at all levels.
Progress is way too slow compared to other similar sized insurers I've worked for.

Cons

Working on the phones (customer service) at Medibank is single-handedly the worst job I ever had in my life (for context I've worked in similar roles at several companies in Melbourne):

- Customers are usually on hold for between 20-50 minutes - and are either MISERABLE or ANGRY by the time they speak to you. (There are 2-3 Million Customers - and anywhere between 300-600 CSO's, do the numbers).

- Every millisecond of your time is measured - spend an extra 5 minutes in the toilet? Get a 'talking to' by your "People Leader" to 'manage your time better'.

 (Your 'people leader' is sometimes an external hire with much less knowledge than you, but they have 'managing experience' - so you're usually ). You are also measured by 'how quickly' you handle the call (AHA - Average Handling Time). A bit hard when you're telling a 70 year old widow that she's not covered for her hip-replacement.

- The metrics of this time measurement go against the 'values' of the company. Explained: If i spend an extra 5-10 minutes answering multiple questions or explaining someones cover for e.g., i reduce their need to call back to ask another question - But if someone just answered their question (and not their underlying query) and gets them of the phone in 2 minutes - they have better statistics than me! (Even though that same member will call back in 10 minutes to be on hold another 45 min and speak to a completely new person again. AWESOME!

- I had 5 different 'people leaders' in a 12 month period. So after a while you stop seeing them as a 'leader' and more as a 'placeholder'

- As your breaks, calls, toilet time are measured by the second - you are encouraged to be a clock watcher.

- All the great facilities and work-life balance DO NOT APPLY to call-center workers - we are literally livestock hooked up to systems that measure our 'output' - I felt like a cow being milked almost everyday.

- There were times where I had to place a all on hold to call another department, who then placed me on hold to check with another department. Literally a chain of people on hold.

- The CEO was doing his best to bring Medibank into the 21st Century - why innovate when you had a monopoly for decades and guaranteed government contracts?

- Everyday, for 1 year; I would have a customer break down sobbing because they're not covered or their child is not covered. (They don't understand how their cover works! A salesperson wont explain because they want the sale, and why would we because we're incentivised to get them off the phone ASAP). This soon turns into pleasing/begging, or outright anger directed AT YOU, the representative of Medibank.

- You have to work public holidays (hahaha - I HATED my life when I had to do this)

- The main thing is you don't feel like a PERSON. You are a TOOL, someone to field the 'nasty general public' who in turn are nasty because they have been serviced by TOOLS - not PEOPLE

Cons

No flexibility at work. lacks work life balance

Cons

Highly regulated industry with relatively few levers available to break out in the marketplace.

Cons

not much opportunity to grow

Cons

The funding model is fundamentally flawed as there is no "always-on" funding, particularly for critical / central functions like digital.

Everything is tied to big bang / project based funding, which in turn is reliant on long-term business case funding.

This results in very stagnant top-down funding and decision making that is not very agile or responsive to anything other than executive whims.

Cons

A little behind on digital practices, and having many stakeholders and legal considerations can make getting things done a slow, frustrating process.