Esurance Reviews in Sacramento, CA Area

Pros

Esurance is a "dot.com" which means they need staff available in nearly all departments 24 hours per day. For the most part, this allows employees to find and work a schedule that fits their needs to reach the best work/life balance. I currently am enrolled in 12 units of Upper Division business courses working towards two Bachelor Degrees and am able to work 40 hours a week while earning career type salary. Esurance is always trying to find innovation within the industry and within the company and have an open door policy for suggestions. The suggestions are heard and the good ones are implemented. Oh and did I mention that they are paying for my school?

Cons

Well, related to the upside of working for Esurance I think it would be fair for me to say that you do need to put in some time at whatever schedule you are hired for before receiving your most desired shift. At least in my department (Sales) that is how it works. If you leave the company within one year of being reimbursed for tuition you must repay the tuition that you were reimbursed for within that time. Seperately from my "best reasons", if you are a person not accustomed to a work environment that changes constantly, even sometimes monthly, then this is not the place for you. Because they try out alot of different ways to conduct business, there are always numerous projects starting up and getting shut down so you need to be mentally flexible.

Advice to Senior Management

Please continue to communicate as you have been with regard to changes to the Company. Please continue to listen to and implement suggestions from all employees.

Thank you for offering me a job and coming into my life at a time where I was in dire need of employment and rescuing me from another dotcom facing it's second bankruptcy filing and actually closed on my second day in New Hire Training.

I'm coming up on my 2-year anniversary and depending where you can take me after I am finished with school I very well may work my entire career for your company. I'm very satisfied.

Pros

Talent does not matter, Relationship with hire ups matter.
Stability if you are willing to work day and night with foriegn bonded labor.

Cons

Most employees have maxed on PTO accural as they are scared they will have to work overtime if the take PTO.

Advice to Senior Management

Being aggressive is good, and should not be insane that your employees work without a motivation.

Pros

Descent salary and benefits. That's about it.

Cons

Horrible management, software side of the house was run like the insurance side of the house. I do not think management knew how to run a software development team. Very timid about adopting new technologies. I do not feel my input was ever heard (though it was asked). We were still using ie6, Visual Studio 2003 with .Net 1.1 and were not allowed to take advantage of emerging technologies.

Advice to Senior Management

Your development teams do not work the same as your insurance product teams. Allow your middle and lower management to do their jobs and have more say in the direction of projects. Micromanagement does not equal efficiency and higher margins. It equals disgruntled employees and stifled creativity. Software developers are creative people. Give them room to work and express themselves. Embrace new technologies. They will very likely save you money in the middle to long run and will give your works higher job satisfaction.

Pros

Esurance is a pretty "green" company, however, remember every company uses more paper than it should. They allow you to donate $2,500 each year and they will match that, to charities of your choice (mostly 501(c)3's). They also have a couple of opportunities throughout the year for you to donate your time.

Cons

ZERO ability to move forward (unless you are in claims and then you are overworked). They hire people from outside of the company that have already done the job they are hiring them for. Forget them hiring within the company and training you. Training is practically non-existant and very "do it yourself". Many people in the company are making lateral moves because they can't stand their job.

Advice to Senior Management

Train your staff. Give them the ability to move forward in the company. Set career paths. Don't just say you are going to do this, DO IT. Research shows, if you don't invest the money to keep the employees you have then you are wasting up to 7 TIMES THEIR SALARY trying to find a replacement for them and train them.

Pros

If you are in the IT department of Esurance, the salary is terrific. Another nice thing about the company is it is very involved in charitable causes, has a very diverse group of employees and is truly a very "green" company. The employees work very hard and are very supportive of each other; the management below Director-level also is mostly competent and supportive to their staffs. It could be a really great place to work if a few things were different.

Cons

The IT senior management (Directors and above) are erractic, disrespectful and completely demoralizing. Their attempts to establish processes and introduce methodologies have been ridiculous and have actually led to a more chaotic environment, for many reasons. They do not set clear expectations, they do not follow the processes they try to dictate, and they don't bother to get buy-in from affected business groups before they announce a new process so they end up creating a political firestorm every time they try to make a move they think will improve operations. Other minor downsides include a dress code that is too stringent, and work environment where cubes are small and low, which makes for a very distracting environment that impedes productivity. Morale is very low and people are leaving in droves.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend that the senior management stop micro-managing the day-to-day details and let the very competent IT managers work together with business stakeholders to develop processes that will benefit everyone. I would also takes steps to create a climate for the employees that aligns more with Esurance's public image and at the very least, allow employees to dress more casually and be comfortable as they work, without fearing it would make the company seem less professional. I'd worry much more about the unprofessional words that are spewed from the CIO's mouth every day that make everyone underneath him feel completely disrespected and unappreciated.