insurance advisor

branch manager

business advisor

insurance manager

administrator

Westland Insurance Group

Westland is an alright place to work. They are a typical corporate place to work. The pay is fair and the benefits have been the best I’ve ever had. However, it’s not worth the lack of care for their employees. 

Interview process was easy and went well. I applied through Indeed for Insurnace Broker (auto csr) and I was coming into this industry with serving and retail experience. 

My first day was a meet and greet online with what they called “cohort”; my trading group essentially. However, I was not given my login until the next afternoon. Meaning I missed a day and a half of training. At the time I didn’t think too much of it. I’m a very understanding person, sometimes to a fault and I chalked up that incident as just being disorganized. Or perhaps some was going on personally.  

In hindsight, it was a red flag. I trained with my cohort virtually and was in office 1 or 2 days a week so I could shadow and support the office with clerical duties. This was probably the most boring part. I was to listen to how the brokers spoke with clients. Whenever I needed a break I would take care of the mail or if it was the end of the month, do inventory. During my office shadowing time, I did not feel motivated or engaged. I didn’t enjoy coming to the office. The environment was despressing. No one really talked to each other. They just focused on their work. Even with clients it was all business. They were very monotoned And it seemed as though they didn’t care. In my opinion, I think everyone at that office was in a routine and just burnt out. Most of them have been in the insurance industry for a long time. 

At the end of my 1st month, the office manager looked up the next MPI training course and scheduled me for one at the end of my second month. Meaning I needed to take 2 training courses at the same time. 
1. Westland Course, preparing me for my Fundamentals of Insurnace exam
2. MPI’s IWS certification 

For me it was doable but I can imagine for some people that would be overwhelming. However I did pass the MPI course. 

After 3 months of the boring, un-engaging training, Westland sent me for my (FOI) exam and I passed. 

Late August, MPI went on strike, meaning if we had to call them for a transaction, it would take the whole business day to process. Eventually, the office I worked at just flat out denied some people for Autopac, simply because the Broker didn’t want to wait in hold for 8+ hours. Does that show care for clients? I don’t think so. Especially when other Brokers (the one I currently work at) were still processing Auto transactions with signed authorization letters from clients. Though it took a day, those clients got their insurance needs met. 

In  late August,  Westland acquired another brokerage. That meant there would be 4 Westland’s on the road, all in about a 2-5km of each other. So they terminated a few people, including me. I am assuming this had to do with the newly acquired brokerage. I assume they are going to close a location down and either transfer people to other offices or terminate more people. 

In summary, Westland says they care about their people, clients and their community. From my experience, I did not feel that. You are a number and it is a business that cares for only profits. 

I am thankful for the experience. They paid for my exams and now I have a Level 1 license. I currently work at a locally owned brokerage where the owners genuinely care about not only us but the clients as well. So if you are the type of person that care bury your head at your desk then it’s for you. But if you care about your clients, if you want an honest, positive and consistent work culture, then Westland isn’t the place for you. 

Or just stick it out for a few months so you can get your Level one license for free, get benefits and a decent salary. Then once you pass your exams take those certifications to a Locally owned brokerage. 

Here’s why you should reconsider working for Westland insurance. In your interview they’ll continuously mention the word career to make you think it’s a professional environment and room for promotions. The “world class”’training they offer is non existent. They hire people who have never worked in insurance in their lives and then expect you to train yourself and then are surprised when you mess up. My manager was the worst, every time we’d ask for help she’s either hand us a piece of paper or give us the dirtiest look. I tried reaching out to regional managers several times and no one would help me. Before you can even do the job properly you have to spend $800 which you’ll get reimbursed and if you leave within 6 months they’ll take those fees from your wages. So keep that in mine before hand since the pay is incredibly low. Trainees aren’t meant to be in the office alone and must always be supervised by a level 2 agent according to council rules. I was left in the office ALONE as a trainee for several hours. They don’t pay you if you stay late, you have to bank it which I’ve never seen any other company do. Ever. If you want a raise for becoming a level 2 they’ll offer you a measly 60 cents all the while buying every insurance office ever but don’t care about their staff. In the last 20 months my office had about 30 employees come and go. And don’t even bother to ask WHY they’re leaving so they can at least make improvements. You will also endure some of the worst abuse from ICBC customers - never in any other job have I been spoken to or yelled at the way I was at Westland. You can do non skilled jobs for more money than this!

You start the day off logging into the phone system. You bring up a list of policies and client profiles that you haven't been able to finish from the week prior. The system tells you that there have been 50 new tasks that you must complete by the end of the week added to your workload by management. You look at your task list, because you have had no support or assistance and everyone else that is working there is in the same boat, your tasks begin to build up. You check your total tasks and notice that you have 500 tasks from all of the ones you couldn't complete from prior days, all of them vary in completion date and difficulty. Between walk-in clients who are unhappy with how the company has been treating them, the numerous calls from clients to cancel their policies, you are able to squeak out a measly 10 tasks by the end of the day. Most of these tasks appear due to the system not correctly pulling information from previous year policies. The rest are automatic renewals that have stopped renewing due to an error which takes hours to fix. You cry a little inside at the end of the day and dream about the mountain of tasks that you must complete or else the clients will get their policies late and take it out on you.

No support, no assistance. 
Barely paid a live-able wage, wage is way under the average pay for a level 2 agent, still paid the same as a level 1 agent who just does Auto. 

My first insurance job was at Westland Insurance. I was hired on with no insurance experience and they paid me $12/hour. After two years of working there, I brought my wage up to $15/hour. I was doing auto, rv, travel, tenant, and condo insurance before I left. I left Westland primarily due to pay but also because of workload and management.

The company is constantly expanding which causes the employees to have to take on extra work from rollovers. They also tend to send experienced employees to other offices to help which causes under-staffing. Their rapid expansions cause employees to suffer.

My manager (who has since been promoted) was not very personable. She was always stressed and angry. I was always uncomfortable around her. She was often very unprofessional when speaking with employees and customers. She is also not empathetic and has yelled at me for getting emotional during our one-on-one conversations.

At the end of my time at Westland, I was training an employee to do auto insurance. It was her first insurance job. I found out while training her that she was being paid the same amount as me even though I had been there for almost three years. This was the ultimate factor that made me decide to quit. It proved to me that I was not appreciated for what I did.

I would like to add that none of my former co-workers still work for Westland in the two years since I left. In fact, a few of them work for my current company.

My office particularly has shown a lot of personal growth in the past four years I’ve been here. We’ve worked hard to grow our team to where it’s at today and I’m proud to call these people my work family. Management is supportive in whatever endeavors you pursue, and encourages learning and advancing your career with the ability to be reimbursed for course costs. We have fun at work whenever we can without interfering with productivity. If someone has to leave for an appointment, family emergency, etc. don’t even worry about it, we’ll cover for you no matter what. The “office life” isn’t for everyone, but we certainly try our best to be as welcoming as possible to new and current employees. Dealing with clients can be an issue sometimes, as with any workplace, but most transactions and interactions with clients are simple and straightforward. Every once in a while something will walk through the door that no one has ever dealt with before, but the challenge is my favorite part of learning. There are basic tasks that need to be completed around the office, but other than those, each day is different with the opportunity to learn something new.

Many branch manager responsibilities are largely administrative and repetitive and could easily be automated. The role focuses heavily on scheduling, monitoring call metrics, generating weekly reports, and attending recurring meetings with regional management that often revisit the same topics without clear outcomes.

Operational support is limited. Managers are frequently unavailable to take calls, even when clients request escalation, leaving frontline staff to manage difficult situations without authority. Budget management emphasizes cost control rather than operational investment, with frequent reminders about being below budget but few actionable strategies to improve results.

There is little guidance on how to organize work or assign tasks based on employees’ strengths. Senior leadership offers limited ideas to drive sales beyond insisting on a 100% call-answer rate.

Frontline agents are expected to handle constant phone availability while managing complex files and multiple insurance products, leading to excessive multitasking and frequent interruptions. Overall, the workload pressure is significantly higher for agents than for management.

Working at Westland Insurance has been an incredibly rewarding experience as a manager. The company's commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive workplace culture is evident in every aspect. The leadership team values open communication and actively supports professional growth, ensuring that each team member feels heard and empowered.

The collaborative environment at Westland Insurance promotes a sense of unity and shared success. As a manager, I appreciate the emphasis on work-life balance and the flexibility provided to meet individual needs. The company's dedication to employee well-being is reflected in various initiatives and benefits, creating a truly supportive work atmosphere.

Moreover, Westland Insurance's commitment to excellence extends beyond customer service; it's embedded in the way they treat their employees. I am proud to be part of a team that not only excels in the insurance industry but also values its employees' contributions and fosters a positive, fulfilling work experience.

Westland Insurance is one of those companies that comes around once in a lifetime. They are a local family run company that has seen explosive growth and are now one of the largest P&C brokerages in Canada.

With rapid growth comes new opportunities, exciting projects, and it is amazing feeling to be on the winning team. Granted the pace of growth does inevitably create workload challenges for some however teams are empowered to address their challenges and the company is constantly adjusting to its growth.

The culture is a bit of unicorn. The leaders are entrepreneurial and take calculated risks while being open, humble, caring, and approachable.  The family values installed by the founder and the CEO are a key part of the culture and they have done a good job of protecting the culture as the company continues to grow.

If you are looking for a fast paced growing company that values its people and the community, Westland Insurance could be a good fit for you.


The hours are very hard to have a life outside of work. Always short staffed and too busy with walk in clients to be able to focus on the behind the scenes work needing to be done. The phone system is like a call centre and almost every call incoming is an angry customer that has been thrown around the phone system and not able to reach the branch they wanted to. Not efficient at all. The management in the office I was in gave very little guidance and most of the training was self taught. Training that was done, wasn't by the manager but by several different people with different ways of doing things. Manager takes holidays at same time as others and leaves remaining employees working 8+ days in a row to accommodate and no breaks some days. Some great staff at the office that are fully taken advantage of and overworked. 

Aside from the obvious from previous reviews left by past and or current employees (which, all agreed with), Westland had poor management and even worse behind-the-scenes employees. Dealing with underwriters is dreadfully frustrating akin to pulling teeth, and the programs used for your work are even worse. They cut back a lot of funding lately, even doing layoffs of support employees, and just continue to buy, buy, and buy more small insurance offices.
The employees you work with are amazing, no complaints, but do be careful of a couple bad apples amongst the batch that slip under the radar with the company and HR due to being the best of buddies with management as favoritism is noticeable. 
While they will pay for licensing to advance your knowledge and CAIB level, it can sometimes be stunted.

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