American Fidelity Assurance Company Reviews

Pros

Salaried account manager
Company car
Expense account
Some flexibility in scheduling
Bonus paid on sales
Company provided laptop and supplies
Paid time off / holidays

Cons

Hard to make consistent bonus money
Low starting salary without subsantial bonus throughout the year
Have recently taken away a consistency bonus that allowed for a more consistent earning throughout the year. The bonus was based on business on the books. Now there is nothing to entice a Account rep to keep business on the books more than a year.
Business from one rep is given to new reps as they are hired. No compensation for original rep.

Advice to Senior Management

Distribute wealth evenly. There needs to be a better focus on developing new accounts. Only a few employees companywide working to develope new accounts.

Pros

For the last 8 years American Fidelity has been featured as an employer of choice by making the Fortune 100 list annually. American Fidelity has minimal turnover keeping highly qualified employees on staff. Jeans Days are always an added bonus on Fridays.

Cons

While minimal turnover and a "small company feel" are great attributes, they do add to the feeling that employees have no way to move up within the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

Take notice of the "Under 30" age group to make sure that you remain attractive to in coming College Graduates.

Pros

Company Car - brand new ford fusion with most of the bells and whistles.
Expense account
Laptop with withless card
Cell phone reimbursement
Salary plus commission
Sales conventions

Cons

Work-Life balance - You are required to travel as necessary. It used to be that just the people who wanted the opportunity to make extra money would travel to better accounts. But now, things have changed. If there is an enrollment that isn't going very well, the manager of that account can have her resources used in a better account and then require other reps to travel to her account to work. If the rep cannot make the trip, the manager puts immediate pressure on that employee until he or she gives in or could possibly lose their job.
Equality - If the manager isn't your best friend, then expect to fail. This company has so many political issues which prevent it from being a great company. Management doesn't play fair. If you have been in the company for many years and developed your accounts, you will be asked to share and get nothing in return. Not only that, if you are brand new, you get placed in the crappy account and struggle to find a place to work throughout the year. Of course, you can travel to different enrollments, but when I say travel, I mean drive anywhere from 1-6 hours. But, if the distant enrollment was any good, you would not be invited because only the top reps would have access.
Audits - Within the last 5 years, AFA decided to get into the business of performing dependent verification audits which entailed meeting with every employee of the school district and forcing them bring in official documents to prove their dependents are in fact eligible. These were a serious pain in the rear. AFA began to bend over backwards for these opportunities which resulted in AFA reps working from 7:30-5:30 and meeting with 20-30 employees per day, filling out tons of paperwork which took about 10 minutes to explain and fill out before the sales pitch even began. The audits have caused so much grief for the reps working there. Yes, it is an opportunity to sell a lot, but it really puts wear and tear on the reps.
Recessionary hiring - When the recession first started, AFA began to hire even more reps. Not only that, as the economy began chopping away at school employees, AFA held its ground to continue hiring and growing at 10% per year. Well, this was a big mistake because in 2010, most of the reps did not make their quota, get promotions, raises. In 2010, probation was the a common discussion and grounds of termination were in everyday discussions.

Advice to Senior Management

Limit the amount work for the reps in the audits. Rotate reps in and out of audits to keep them fresh.
Fix the work-life balance issue. Hire people in areas which you want them to work. If you secure a large audit, recruit people to travel to that area. Offer them incentives for traveling other than 'the opportunity to make money.' It's not fair to the employees.
Don't let state managers hand pick an 'elite team' to give preferential treatment to. Don't let the state manager set rules to an 'elite team' one year and change them the following year to ensure the previous elite team does not need to rotate.
When thinking about hiring new employees vs letting go current workers, think about how much it's going to cost to find, hire, and train a new employee vs bending the quota rules during the recession to keep current employees. The system was so bureaucratic which allowed for very little wiggle room and caused several veteran reps to be terminated. It doesn't help the moral at all.

Pros

Great benefits package, compensation decent

Cons

poor leadership, battle of the "new school" and the "old school" styles of business, outdated software programs, IT support poor

Advice to Senior Management

Step outside the bubble... AF is a great place to work, but there are too many people politicking and not doing the job they are getting paid for. Smaller departments need more regulation. Office politics are too brutal. Too much in-fighting,

Pros

One of Fortune 100's Great Places to Work
On-site fitness center
On-site clinic
On-site cafeteria
Management treats you with respect
Mulitple company-wide parties per year
All Colleague Bonus

Cons

Pay is average
Chance of being promoted isn't very high
Takes a long time to be promoted
Location of the buildings

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, this is a great place to work. I do think that people are in positions just because they have worked for the company for so long, even though they may not be deserving of the position.

Pros

Within the IT department the managers are flexible with your time as long as you perform well. If works falls behind they will pull back on the flexibility (which is warranted). Cafeteria on site, on site physician's assistant, onsite fitness center with many programs to choose from. They have fun a few times a year, once they brought in several blow up sets (obstacle course, laser tag, slam dunk challenge), always something to look forward to. Most management is very approachable. They do not keep you on old hardware for too long. They are currently redoing a lot of the cubicle layouts for better lighting and communication of teams. Also, currently in a large push toward newer technologies. Good internal training on non-IT related subjects. Corporate is conservative with finances, we still had a comparable bonus even through this economic downturn.

Cons

With the recent economic downturn has come many, many, new regulations. Although they must by law be implemented, management is doing a poor job of communicating with the rest of the department what those changes are *and* how to properly continue our workflow. Dramatically increasing time to deliver projects. You hear one thing from two people in different departments and then hear a conflicting item from another person.

Seems like some of the management make a decision without properly getting input from other members of the department. Only to discover that later on the decision is not going to work and now requires revamping the system. Or dragging of feet on some projects. A lack of determined intent on moving forward exists.

Advice to Senior Management

Training: Realize that people cannot learn the new technologies in a one week crash course from a contractor, nor in weekly classes. Smaller teams would help as well, one or two individuals well versed in the technology (leads) along with three or four that could learn from the two leads while working on an actual useful project.

Technological decisions: Ask more of your IT members for their opinion and give a little time for some of them to do some research as well, you never know what might come up.

Communication and intent: When you pick a way that the team agrees with be determined to stick to it ALL the way through, not just on the surface. Also, make sure the team members work well together, there is nothing that kills productivity more than working with someone you can't get along with.