Allstate Reviews

Pros

A great product for all consumers that qualfiy.

Cons

Allstate can be pretty expensive sometimes - but the value is there.

Pros

Sales = Unlimited Income Potential

Cons

In current position No Salary, Commission Only

Advice to Senior Management

Salary plus Commission

Pros

Great mutual funds and fantastic ability to control your schedule. If you are a trust fund baby and want free time, this is the place for you.

Cons

The downsides start at the top with the selfish un-ethical greed of Tom Wilson. Like a waterfall, this philosophy cascades down through management unless you subscribe to the multi-level marketing philosophies of many sub-producers you get an override on. As rates increase and the well seasoned agents book and income vaporize, potential financial clients vanish. Middle management, with strong commission breath, ask you to spend more of your small income on marketing. You can not advertise from an empty pot so you pray that car and home clients come into the agent asking to rollover their IRA while the agent is attempting with all their strength to beg them for a life insurance review. Allstate has no salary, no benefits and Tom Wilson pulls down 4 million a year while the stock has tumbled 15% and layoffs are everywhere. Ask a seasoned veteran agent what they think of the management and its concern for the foot soldiers....Buyer beware

Advice to Senior Management

Fire all the incompetent middle managers who carry too large a load, lower your auto rates so we can compete and can Tom Wilson

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

good benefit with 4 weeks of vacation first year

Cons

managers don't know what they are doing
constant threat of layoff cause low morale

Advice to Senior Management

little chance to advancement if management dislike you.

Pros

Allstate is a great company. I have only worked here for a year or so but have enjoyed my time so far.
The position is commissioned but you are paid a 'guaranteed' advance on commission which allows you to budget for your expenses.
Beyond the advance you can earn more money by reaching and exceeding monthly sales targets, and then can make generous quarterly bonuses based on both your performance and that of your agency.
Overall Allstate has been a great company to work for and I would recommend the company to anyone.

Cons

The sales targets are based on prior years, so you could find it difficult to attain at times. The company preaches sales activities such as networking and cold calling, the latter of which is a dying art in the age of Do Not Call lists and access to online information for the consumer.
But aslong as your sales are on target the activities are secondary, only if you are struggling will management actively push you to reach your activity targets.

Advice to Senior Management

I think senior management are quick and fair in their actions to make sure they are reacting to the markets and trends.
I would suggest they look at the compensation package and targets to ensure it is optimal for the majority to help improve retention of employees, especially over the first couple of years when you are grafting to build your referral base and book of business.

Pros

Independence, ability to increase income.

Cons

High cost of obtaining leads.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a handle on rate increases. The back to back to back increases ruined a lot of business.

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

Flexibility, location, nice pleasant environment

Cons

Lack of opportunities for advancement

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in your employees