Allstate Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Great people to work with, great Brand.

Cons

Not enough people understand the business of insurance and the ones that did are no longer there. Unfortunately the current leadership doesn't understand that this problem is critical.

Pros

Flexibility...profesionalism...fun...excellent place for first job

Cons

Cronyism...more objective performance maanagemetn needed

Advice to Senior Management

Advancement if motivated and with the right sponsorship

Pros

Great benefits/recently reduced premiums
Generous PTO bank
Management supports work/life balance (work from home, PTO, flexible work schedules)
Great coworkers
Has programs to motivate employees to be more health conscious
Many networking opportunities within the company
Great facilities in the home office

Cons

There are a lot of resource capacity issues in ATO and business. It is very hard to get anyone's attention because everyone is stretched so thin project wise. Instead of hiring more people to fill in the gaps from more projects being slotted for release, we are laying people off. The quality of releases is going down because everyone is simply stretched too thin.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the yearly layoffs. It is hurting employee morale and causing a lot of good talent to search for employment elsewhere. The CEO and senior management should take modest pay cuts before layoffs are even discussed. There is without a doubt more than enough work to go around.

Bring the salary 'bands' more in line with the IT industry standard. People are dropping like flies because people aren't happy with their salary and the constant threat of layoffs.

If these two changes are enacted, morale and productivity would skyrocket.

Pros

Good Work and Home Life balance

Cons

Glass ceiling, cronyism, mismanagement, old-world approach to work and recognition.

Advice to Senior Management

Get real. Other Insurance firms are eating you for breakfast.

Pros

- flexible hours/good work/life balance

Cons

- large, can get lost easily in the mix of things

Advice to Senior Management

keep it up

Pros

It is a very stable environment and company strategies and initiatives are clearly explained to employees.

The benefits package was very generous.

The facilities are also very impressive and many of the buildings have recently undergone or are currently being renovated.

Cons

Advancement is a very slow process. Employees are there for several years before they can expect a promotion or significant pay raise.

Northbrook is not very close to Chicago. A downside for those wanting to live in the city.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to create a clear line of sight from company strategy to senior management to employees. It's beneficial to know where the company is going and how an individual's work impacts that.

Pros

The benefits are good. Some areas of the company are fine to work.

Cons

People are treated as tools to advance the company goals rather than respected assets. There is a growing lack of work/lifevbalance.

Advice to Senior Management

Trust your employees to do their job. Give promotions and raises based on performance rather than political motives. Remove bad managers even if they have been with the company a long time.

Pros

Work from home one to two days per week. Fairly good salary structure. Good discount programs including for Allstate insurance.

Cons

Absolutely no job stability. Two layoffs in two years (1st was 20% of the work force, the second 10%), despite the CEO taking his raises and bonuses. Management decisions are made with a goal of keeping one's job, rather than what's good for the company. Former excellent work life balance completely scrapped, with overtime expected. Plus, all IT changes are moved to production during the weekend, and if you have changes, you must be available to supervise those changes (over the weekend). Most of the long-term employees who were knowledgeable about the systems are now gone, eroding the accuracy of current projects. The pride that the company workforce formerly had is completely gone, due to the way management has handled things the past few years.

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to treating your people fairly, and get back to valuing them. They can't feel valued when they've been in danger of being laid off for over 5 years now, seen numerous productive colleagues let go, and seen more and more jobs go overseas. There's a reason that projects aren't as accurate as they used to be. You've lost a ton of business knowledge, and regardless of the ability of the overseas resources, they don't have the commitment that the home office employees do.

Pros

Sr leaders know we need to change, financially strong

Cons

In the past Sr leaders over complicated our vision, need to focus on core strengths-brand, employees, agents, scale.

Advice to Senior Management

Go back to our core, keep it simple. Invest in the infrastrucure employees, agencies, Technolgy

Pros

great work-family balance; company really cares about the employees' wellbeing

Cons

bureaucratic, decision by committee, short-staffed