International SOS reviews

The job of a TRICARE Customer Service Executive is a very varied and interesting role. In an ever changing, fast paced environment, handing many tasks at the same time is exciting and makes the days pass quickly. Assisting people in organising their medical care gives meaning to this job and creates a feeling of accomplishment and purpose. I have enjoyed most of my time there. Unfortunately, the role of a TRICARE CSE has been ruined for me and many others by mismanagement. When you first join the department, they will tell you about the RAPP scheme, which offers you promotion every six months. Whilst this sounds good, management will do everything in their power to stop you advancing. Especially some of the Senior Operations Managers who have been doing a terrible job in handling staff for years, together with the quality department who will even blame you for mistakes that are not yours, will together create a scheme that is impossible for most to pass. I have seen many hardworking colleagues failing their RAPP reviews, being told that their performance was not good enough because they have made one typo too many and not played by the rules. The fact that the department is regularly understaffed which puts more pressure on each individual, is not taken into consideration. Failing these reviews feels like a slap in the face to any dedicated worker. You will be made aware of minimal mistakes you have made, to a degree where you find yourself not wanting to touch your keyboard again. I have spoken to colleagues who lost part of their self-confidence after the Quality department made every effort in showing them that they are full of flaws. It feels like being back at school and being told off by your teachers. Another part of this role includes prioritising. You will be taught how to prioritise your work during the initial training. Then, once you are trusted to work on your own cases, one of the Assistant Operations Managers will step in, sooner or later in the day, and tell you to abandon all of your cases to work on a list of tasks they have created for you. Depending on the person, they will then occasionally chase you for progress and ask you to justify why, if so, you are not done yet. These justifications often include actually having had to take phone calls from customers, which makes being put under pressure to finish a list of tasks a patronising farce. There was a promising change in the department, last year, when some new Operations Managers were introduced. They actually possessed the human touch which the company advertises in its slogan and understood the problems in the department. However before they were able to make a noticeable impact, they were redirected away from the TRICARE department. This was a big loss for the team, as for many, they were the only managers they could openly approach with their concerns. Another way of crushing especially new members of the team is night shifts. I have been observing this practise for years and even though it has slightly improved, it is still happening. Roughly eight months after starting work in the department, members of staff will have to complete their first month of pure night shifts. (Mind you, this will also be the case if you fail your first RAPP review because you have not performed well). This usually means that this person will be the only TRICARE representative during the night and has to take responsibility for anything that happens during their 13 hours shift. Some employees who are only just starting to feel confident in their role, will be nervous about this task and ask management for training and instructions. That request, however, has been responded to with nothing but words of encouragement that all would be fine, for some individuals. And so after working the first couple of night shifts without any instructions whatsoever, you will be pulled aside by your line manager who will lay out to you the details of your failings. Now, should you be a language speaker of European languages, considering to apply for this role, I would recommend you find a better place where your skills are appreciated. Language speakers in this company are not rewarded in any way. You will receive the same salary as native English speakers, whilst being loaded with piles of extra work. English speakers will hand over parts of their work to you as well, if your language skills are required. After explaining to management on many occasions that this puts additional stress on language speakers, which needs to be somewhat rewarded or compensated for, one of the Senior Operations Managers ends the discussion by clarifying that foreign language is not a skill and people who speak a second language are not special for being born with it. Whilst it is true that all of the department’s language speakers are foreigners with a foreign mother tongue, none of them was born bilingual. The statement above is hence hugely derogative and disrespectful to everyone’s efforts of learning a second language. The software used in TRICARE department, I can only describe as an embarrassment. It looks like something a student had to hand in for a deadline at midday and overslept. It is full of basic faults that will drive any computer literate person insane. It gives faulty error messages which need to be ignored and staff will call it a good day when they have made it through their shift without a system crash. The company is currently working on a replacement of the software (which should have been done at least 5 years ago). However this is not because they care about their staff but because they are terrified of losing the contract with the US military. The same is the case with the HR software. Last autumn, the software used to manage all of International SOS London’s staff records, pay roll and holidays was shut down by its creators; same as Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft. It was then replaced by the next cheapest option which is clearly not capable to handle shift work accurately. Seeing that an estimated 90 -100 people in this company work shifts, it just shows how International SOS is not willing to invest in their people. And I am not mentioning the legal minimum of pension contribution here All in all, I can say that I started my time at the TRICARE department being highly motivated and excited for the role. The team is very close and will support you through anything. They will teach you and be patient with you. The option of private dental and health insurance as well as the gorgeous business park is also highly appreciated and adds value to the job. However, after many years of providing this same feedback to my superiors over and over again, whilst seeing brilliant people leave the department in batches, it saddens me to leave this lovely team as well as this exciting job behind me. I did not take the decision to leave out of any other reason than not being able to bear the environment that the management has created, any longer.