Allstate Workplace Reviews

Pros

Allstate offers great benefits, es[ecially if you think long term and into retirment.

Cons

High workload and often stuck on processes.

Advice to Senior Management

Allstate has got to do better with keeping up with Advanced technology and think out side the box when it come to their processes.

Pros

My initial manager shared information and gave clear directions that benefited his staff and was a positive influence within the office. Salary was also a main reason for working there as well as the benefits package which also made working there worthwhile.

Cons

Once my initial manager was promoted, I realized that I was pigeon-holed in my role and that my movement was limited. Also, the senior managers within the office were extremely secretive with sharing information. My direct line manager did not have a good relationship with the office manager, so that negative vibe was passed downward to the rest of the staff. Staff would receive information at the last minute and were forced to work past your normal work schedules quite frequently. People were constantly on eggshells and after a while you start looking for your way out, salary or not.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat staff as if they are an important part of the organization and not constantly tell people that if you don't working here "in this economy, we can have someone else in your spot." Managing by intimidation only works for so long.

Pros

The quality of the product and service.

Cons

Trying to move up to a higher position besides commissioned pay.

Pros

The landscape is nice. Both the inside and out are aesthetically pleasing. They have a nicely paved walking trail. For the most part everyone is professional, pleasant and communicating efficiently to get tasks completed.

Cons

Presently, there is a strict dress code and we have to "earn" the right to wear jeans on a Friday. This makes me feel like I am back in school.

Advice to Senior Management

Some of the permanently employed lower management are getting too political.

It's slowing them down from disbursing work.

Currently, they are getting away with not meeting deadlines when they shouldn't. They have perfectly capable staff. If they weren't focused on politics and keeping the staff under them repressed they wouldn't have a problem meeting the deadlines.

Make them feel secure under the condition that deadlines are being met and they will be forced to let go of the reigns a bit.

Also, on a side note, the employees don't want an Allstate totebag if not everyone is going to get one. It makes your permanent workers feel awkward when there are long-term contractors sitting right next to them that "didn't get one". I would suggest not giving them out in the first place.

Pros

They train and pay for your licensing; Great benefits package from DAY 1!

Cons

Not flexible with scheduling if you are in school

Pros

There are pockets of stress-free low-turnover areas to work in., work life balance, decent benefits, pretty campus, clean secure building

Cons

pockets of stressful areas with high turnover, AWD does not get all the perks of Allstate at Northbrook, poor promotion choices in some areas

Advice to Senior Management

Maybe upper management should be more in touch and pay more attention to the general mood of the employee population.

Pros

Flexibility to work from home is a plus point in working for allstate

Cons

Salary is not comparable to the market.

Advice to Senior Management

Cutting down employees is not the only way to cut down costs. Lokk for other options.

Pros

Excellent benefits, good company, strong history. Corporate support for this division is outstanding. 95% of the work is done independent form management or other office staff, I see that as a positive.

Cons

Recent culture of change has been difficult to convey into the voluntary products market. Field sales staff is all new as of 2008 but HO still works in the old environment. The two processes are yet to come together effectively.

Advice to Senior Management

Clean up HO business submission and underwriting processes. Make things more efficient for the field force so that it is apparent to our broker clients that we all work as a team.

Pros

In my opinion, the best reason to work for Allstate would be the benefits. The profit sharing plan within the company is a very good one, granted to make it really pay off, you need to do your homework and invest wisely. Also they offer a wide variety of options to choose from when it comes to medical insurance, so that you can tailor the amount of coverage you need to YOURS and your family's needs, instead of just shoving everyone under one blanket plan. Dental, Vision, Life Insurance for both you and your dependents, Long Term Disability, Group Legal and the ability to purchase additional days off are done yearly. They also offer a pretty competitive Paid Time Off (PTO) Bank, depending upon the amount of time you have been employed there. PTO combines both your vacation days and sick days, which of course must be taken into account.

Another great thing about Allstate, while morale may not be up to par, the people that work within the company really are the best part of working there. Having worked in several different departments myself, I can tell you that regardless of outside factors, the people I have worked with have been top notch and a pleasure to work with.

Cons

Unfortunately, when I first started working there, I would have said that there were very few downsides to working there, however as the years passed, I was able to say this less and less. One of the major downsides for working at Allstate is that there are far too many hands in the cookie jar in far too many places, which doesn't leave much room for things to operate very efficiently. It is advertised within the company that the different departments within the company are in place to ensure that things happen more efficiently, however that leaves far too many people depending on other departments to do their job or answer any questions you may have for this to work properly. And it seems that while the company is so large, there are never enough people to allow for people to both do their job and answer the questions that need to be answered. So due to this, corners are cut, things are not properly documented, things are rushed through too quickly and end up having to be sent back due to errors and it creates mass chaos for not only that one person who cut that corner, but for everyone down the line that was/is waiting on them not now correct their error.

Another thing that does not help is the time restraints that are put on processing items. The managers in these areas have lofty ideas as far as how long the turn around time should be for different items to be processed, however when there are hiring freezes, cutbacks in employees and overtime is disallowed, it makes these turn around times almost impossible to achieve. When I first started with the company, the idea was to 'exceed the expectation' and the turn around times in processing areas was a reasonable amount of time, but was almost always exceeded, leaving our customers and agents both very pleased and the employees content. Then when competitive strategy came into play and it was suddenly more about beating out the processing times of other companies, suddenly you are dealing with angry customers, agents an other in-house employees, because you aren't able to complete things in the time frame that the company as a whole is now advertising, leaving the employees completely deflated, frustrated and feeling like they can never catch up.

When it comes to career opportunities, currently, there really are none in most area's due to hiring freezes. Which bring up another issue... OUTSOURCING!! While I completely understand that with the economy the way it is today, it is much cheaper and cost effective to pay someone in another country to do the same jobs that you are currently having to pay competitive salaries and wages for... HOW IS THIS HELPING THE US ECONOMY! By them taking away all of these jobs they are furthering the economy in other countries and moving several hundred 'valued employees' into the unemployment line looking for other work with potentially a limited skill set, depending on what area's of the company they have worked and what opportunities have been available to them.

Personally, I currently could not recommend Allstate and it's affiliates as a good/sound place to work, because you really never know if the job you have is a secure one, or if next week they'll tell you that they have decided to 'outsource' your job.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to Senior Management, place more value in your employees than you do in the almighty dollar.

When your employees tell you that something doesn't work, listen to them and see if there is something that can be done about it, instead of just writing it down and filing it away to deal with at a later time.

Your employees are not only your backbone, but one of your best sources of word-of-mouth advertising. Keep them happy and odds are they will talk up your company every chance that they get and others will take that into advisement when considering purchasing the 'optional' services and products that your company provides, even if it is at a slightly higher cost sometimes.

And don't forget, Allstate is a US born company. Keep it that way.

Pros

the awd is a very good place to work if you looking for a steady lay back position. If you want to make money be a part of the senior management. The benefits are ok however you will pay a higher than usual benefit. The available pto time ar fairly good. the management are flexible. they are really supporting diversity and it's ttue for the upper management too.

Cons

There is no premium just upper management got a check here and there. you can ask for a raise but you won't receive a lot. You can get a 25$ gift card once in a while.

Advice to Senior Management

I can't really say anything other than fire half of the division and start fresh. ok that was just a joke.