GEICO Reviews

Pros

GEICO focuses on hiring from within the company whenever possible. This provides an environment where jobs feel very secure and everyone feels they have the oppertunity to move up if they have the ambition to do so.

Cons

Although the self-advancement oppertunities within GEICO are limitless, the compensation that goes with it is not. There are two major groups within GEICO, those who have been there for 10 to 20 years and those who have been there less than five years. The older group recieved raises that were much higher than deserved and not based on merit. As a result raises have been slashed for newer employees. Also GEICO's no longer provides a pension plan for their newer employee. No additional pay or retirement benifits are provided to replace this. GEICO is a great place to start a career, but not a great place to stay.

Advice to Senior Management

Raises and compensatoin should be merit based and not tenure based. You should not have two people doing the same job and have one making $150k and another making $50k.

Pros

Great Benefits - car, medical, dental, life insurace, profit sharing is absolutely fabulous. You can meet a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds

Cons

the hiring process can be long and it can be difficult to get noticed in a large company. No regard for your home life

Pros

Good advancement opportunities in claims if you are in the "in" with management

Cons

Management treats people like you you are expendable. HR Benefits makes fun of your FML leave and one of them in particular will try and friend you on facebook to see if you are really sick. No work life balance, be prepared to explain why you had to go to the bathroom for 5 minutes instead of 4, even in "salaried" positions.

Advice to Senior Management

PLEASE TREAT US LIKE ADULTS AND PRETEND LIKE WE ARE NECESSARY. It's our backs you ride on to your management bonuses!!!!

Pros

good pay and benefits, work with good people, great job security, nice bonuses with profit sharing.

Cons

Cheap and unwilling to spend money on employees and facilities.

Pros

Process completed in one day.

Cons

Detailed back ground check that takes a while to complete.

Advice to Senior Management

pending.

Pros

Promote from within
On site/ paid training
Decent Pay
A lot of free merchandise

Cons

Some motionless supervisors and managers
Very strict guidelines on attendance
Constant change in procedure

Pros

They pay well and have excellent benefits, medical and 401 K. There is also good opportunity for advancement with the company.

Cons

The employees are treated like children and monitored as if they are not trusted to do their jobs on their own. It fosters an 'us vs. management' attitude that is pervasive at every level of the company

Pros

-Competitive starting salary (compared to other entry level positions)
-Impressive health/dental benefits package
-Top Notch Training
-Tuition Reimbursement
-Fast advancement
-Fully vested (100%) after 6 years
-Awesome profit sharing
-24 hour gym within the building
-Cafeteria with good food and reasonable prices
-Given your own personal work area
-Overall fun office atmosphere

Cons

-Decent but not generous vacation time. (Builds slowly). It will also max out for the year quite fast, so the option to build a great amount of vacation time is not an ability. But in the long run it is really not all that unreasonable.
-Picky about personal leave.
-Sick policy is different (not necessarily bad, but just a bit different)
-Constant increasing goals take getting used to, but in the end is a motivational tool. So it is not technically a con.

Advice to Senior Management

No words for upper management. I will instead use this area to discuss previous ratings and reviews on this occupation/career; as well as an overall personal view of the company.

-I am just taking a guess but most of the harsh negative views of this company are not entirely fair and may come from disgruntled employees just needing a place to vent. Every occupation has them and the angry ones are almost always more inclined to state their dissatisfaction publicly. Everyone is entitled to there opinion.

-Also a good amount of the negative reviews may come from younger persons with out much experience from other occupations. I see many complaints about, "impossible goals" and extreme "micromanagement". Sure, working here fresh out of high school or after previously working at Wal-Mart or Ruby Tuesdays, high goals and expectations may seem unnerving. But what many fail to realize is that this is a motivational technique to push and drive employees. This leads to expansion of the company as well as personal gains to the employees committed enough to achieve such goals. This occupation requires a "give-take" relationship. If you give a lot of effort you will be rewarded, with an incentive of $$$ (pay raise) I might add.

-Sick Policy may be hard to grasp. Indeed they give you sick time to take, and yes they allow you to take it. But they are big on "dependability" and in the end this is major factor in your job performance reviews. But come on people, you can't really complain about that. Come to work, be rewarded. Yes accidents and emergencies do occur. Taking a day or two off for an emergency will ultimately not effect much at all. In my previous occupation they would do an entire investigation on you for using a sick day to check the validity, now that was bad.

-Yes, a bachelors degree is required for manager positions. Lets face reality; a bachelors degree is becoming the new high school diploma. Especially in the last 5-10 years when so many financial assistance options are offered. GEICO offers full tuition reimbursement to get your bachelors!!!! And offer a decent variety of reputable colleges and universities to attend. Yes, GEICO does have a 2 class/ semester limit, but that is assurance for GEICO that you cannot/will not burn yourself out. Use the additional time it takes for your bachelor's to become the best you can be at the jobs that are available to you at that time. That way when you do become a manager you will be extremely knowledgeable. Also decreasing the "incompetent manager" complaints made by these previous disgruntled employees. If it bothered them that much, they should have done something to improve the system. So don't be one of those that complain about GEICO not hiring you as a manager unless you possess a bachelors. USE the system provided and become a manager.... its free, they even pay for your books! Common sense dictates... you know the rest.

-I will stop here, this review has even become too wordy for myself. Whether you have started the application process or you are debating on starting it; rest assured that GEICO truly is a pretty good gig. And lets face it, during these times of high unemployment, its a job; and the last time I checked, they are hiring.

Pros

GEICO has great benefits and great margin to grow and learn different roles within the company. They pay for college for business associated degrees. They get you involved in team work and community affairs, charity. They share in the profits made by the company.

Cons

The downsides of working at GEICO is being micro-mananged. Also lack of holiday time off availability. It's not really easy to get approved for a lot of time off during Christmas unless you have tenur. Call volume is quite high at times.

Advice to Senior Management

Create a better balance between customer focus and associate focus. Sometimes the focus on customer satisfaction is driven so hard that it alienates and oppresses the associates working.

Pros

Great benefits
Easy money and good bonuses if you are good at your job
There is always room to move up or to a different department
It feels like a home
Management is ALWAYS throwing contests and giving away prizes to keep the environment fun
Fantastic Supervisors!

Cons

Upper management is always changing what they want. They give fair warning but it can still be frustrating after you are used to performing in a certain way.

Advice to Senior Management

I think it woud be helpful if you listened to what the phone associates say a bit more. I appreciate the innovation but there are changes tht were made that the sales associates knew would not improve the company. And we were correct.