Twelve-year-old Jenna Serunian said she got to see a different side of her mother when she went to work with her on “Take Your Student to Work Day” at Disability RMS last Thursday.
“I thought it was impressive that she had good public speaking skills,” she said after watching her mom give a presentation to a roomful of people.
Kathy Serunian, vice president of claims for Disability RMS, said it was fun having her daughter at work with her, although it was harder to get actual work done. “It’s fun to have her here although she’s been irritating me,” she joked. “It’s wonderful to have her here.”
April 27 was national “Take Your Child to Work Day.” Disability RMS added a spin on it by making it “Take Your Student to Work Day” so people without kids of their own could bring a nephew or a niece.
Amy Thompson, Disability RMS director of human resources, said she got the idea to celebrate the event company-wide last year. She said about 40 students from the greater Portland area came and she thought they had “a really good time.”
The company gave the kids an overview of its business using presentations on disability claims, customer service and how the company makes money. Disability RMS is a provider of disability risk management products with about 300 employees in Westbrook.
Thompson said they tried to teach the kids about the company in creative ways. One presentation included the use of SpongeBob SquarePants characters to help explain how the company makes money, which she said the kids seemed to particularly enjoy.
Thompson said the kids listened to presentations and also shadowed their parents during the morning. She said at the end of the day, they asked the kids what their parents’ or hosts did at their job, and most of them “had it dead on,” Thompson said.
Seven-year-old Pride’s Corner second-grader Abby St. Clair, whose father Dan St. Clair is a claims manager, said she had more fun than at school because she was able to learn in a different way than at school where “we always do math. Boring math.”
Her father said that as young as she is, it was a good opportunity for his daughter to see what her dad does when he leaves the house every day to go to work.
“She understands mom and dad leave everyday, but where do they go?” St. Clair said, adding that he thought she might ask him questions about his day when he gets home now after spending some time with him at work.
Serunian said she had a basic idea what her mother did for a living before last week, but she didn’t know what to expect. She said she got to sit in on her first real business meeting and said she wasn’t bored, but thought it was interesting. She said she understands now why she has to do math in school, because her mother uses math every day. She also said she thinks the average job is more complicated than she thought it was before.
Disability RMS Chief Executive Officer John Roberts said he thought the day was “a good time.” He said his children are too old to bring to work now, but he got to bring his daughter Alison, who is now 22 years old, to work with him when she was 10. Roberts said his daughter had a better understanding of his job after spending some time with him in meetings, although she said it was kind of boring.
Roberts said Disability RMS tries to make the work environment fun for its employees, and he thought it was good to have the kids get to see that. The kids got to sit at Roberts’ desk and get their pictures taken with a sign reading “President-in-Training” in front of them.
St. Clair, who grew up in Westbrook and still lives here, said he came to the company because it was good, growing company with a good culture that is good for Westbrook.
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