Auto-Owners Insurance – “Some good, but a lot of politics and childish games.”

Pros

7 1/2 hour work day -- without exception. Overtime is available if you're a non-exempt employee. Very little stress. Job duties are explained well, company policies are well laid out. The company claims to have never laid anyone off due to lack of funds. Some managers are really great people that talk to you and treat you like you're human.

Cons

Agree whole-heartedly with the reviewer that said this place was stuck in the 70's...Very stuffy, conservative environment. Promotions are almost 100% based on seniority, and not at all merit based. The only opportunity for advancement is if you take insurance classes and move your way into a management track. The attitudes of a lot of people that have been there for more than a couple years are to do the absolute minimum, since going above and beyond won't get you a larger raise or promoted faster -- it'll earn you more work, that's it. The apathy, morale, and lack of goals at this company among associates is stiflingly bad.

If the weather is bad (e.g. snow), you're still expected to be in your cubicle by 8:00 am, period. If you're one minute late, they make you sign in at a guard shack, like a tardy slip for truant teenagers. Being consistently five minutes late is a bigger offense than being worthless and doing nothing all day long at your cubicle and can cost you your job. Management will go up and down the cubicle aisles at different times to see who is "working", as if this is supposed to motivate and/or scare employees. All it does is annoy employees and make them feel like children. Management will also snoop through your cubicle drawers after hours and eavesdrop on conversations to see if they can use anything against you. Have any health problems or are having a baby? Be expected to make up the time lost not covered by FMLA. Have an opinion that someone that "out-ranks" you is doing the wrong thing? Keep it to yourself, even if you're 150% right. Want to get ahead? You can work hard and be a team player, making you, your team, and your boss look good, or you can withhold information from your co-workers, making them look bad and you look good. Many "lifers" choose the latter of the two methods.

Advice to Senior Management

1) Do something about the culture (see above paragraphs verbosely outlining this) - this was my biggest complaint about working here, and many other people would agree and tell you the same if they weren't afraid to.

2) More opportunities other than management are a must for any company.

3) Get rid of the glass ceiling - somewhere at the manager/director level, ideas from associates are stifled and we were talked down to like it was a dictatorship. Listen to what your associates like and don't like. Some of them have some pretty good ideas, but they never make it up the ladder.