Safeco Reviews

Pros

1, Nice people to work with;
2, nice location right to the downtown Seattle;
3, good benefit;
4, some opportunity to change job internally

Cons

1, pay is just so so.
2, salary increase is not appealing
3, lot of politics
4, good only if you can stay there longer, slow and not too much to learn for a entry level job

Advice to Senior Management

1, Need to match the pay to the market to retain good people
2, company culture is to encourage playing politics instead of coming up with innovative ideas, less room to promote than other companies

Pros

Now part of Liberty Mutual, benefits are fantastic- good vacation time, pension. Employees are dedicated to making the customer experience a good one.

Cons

There was a lot of uncertainty during the transition n from Safeco to Liberty Mutual, with major layoffs. This was to be expected, naturally.

Advice to Senior Management

I have nothing in the way of advice, as I left just a few weeks after the change of ownership. The layoff packages seemed to be reasonable, as I understand from my former colleagues.

Pros

If you need to pay your mortgage or rent - then Safeco is just as good as any other corporate office

Cons

My biggest complaint is the archaic computer system (CVO) that the company
refuses to upgrade

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to your competition: Farmers, State Farm, Am Fam - all operates on modern computer software.

Pros

work life balance was a plus.

Cons

everything else. bad managers, political environment, inept execs.

Advice to Senior Management

when you're making decisions on the organization - put people into jobs they are capable of doing, not simply choosing the person who has the most tenure.

Pros

Safeco had a good Work/life Balance along with working alongside some of the best people in the business. The best part of working there was working with the people who truly cared to give it their best. A great place to learn

Cons

No career advancement in IT, unless you decide to leave to become a consultant somewhere else. Upper Management more concerned about making a fast quick buck than actually promoting a company. Consistent direction change and low morale. Consistent cost cutting to the point where it becomes ridiculous, this is our best year ever, but we can't afford to keep the lights on type of mentality. The salary range is ridiculous compared to what the industry offers.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to offer some real leadership and grow the business instead of just trying to make a quick buck. Don't try an trick us with "our jobs are more risky therefore we deserve a higher salary" since we are aware of your golden parachutes and job hopping capabilities. We get paid less and have more risk than you.

Pros

Liberty Mutual is not traded on Wall Street, so no more vain CEOs worried about the stock price. GREAT people to work with. Mid-level management is OK, and senior IT management is coming around. The flexibility of being able to work from home and set my own schedule somewhat has been one of the primary reasons I have stayed with the company, especially since the birth of my son last year.

Cons

Uncertainty with the sale of Safeco to Liberty Mutual. The somewhat dated IT culture that Liberty Mutual is bringing in. Mid-level and senior Liberty Mutual management is very cover-your-a**. That has been a very strange thing to witness. The thrashing that the Executive leadership put the company through the last couple of years has left some very deep scars. A lot of good, key people have left the company because of that.

Advice to Senior Management

I think that the company is headed in a good direction right now. Please don't take away the VPN option to employees.

Pros

The current health care plan is fairly robust and paid time off is probably average to above average. The ability to work from home is nice, but probably could be a downside if someone isn't organized or structured enough to stay on top of things. Salary reviews have mostly been consistent, albeit not always at par with the rest of the industry. Regular updates of company events and news are timely and often are useful. The intranet is typically a good source of information, including access to org charts, individual profiles, paychecks and a link to review of health and other benefits.

Cons

Salary reviews, while consistent, haven't always been at the cost of living (COLA). Management doesn't always communicate well to direct reports. Time off is questioned and one feels almost guilty for taking a needed day off. Work-life balance is virtually non-existent as one feels compelled to be working well past 5 in the evening and even on the weekends. The best examples of a positive work-life balance aren't always shown by management. All too often one is inundated with email, sometimes frivilous or not useful. It is impossible to keep on top of email and keep ones in-box cleared out.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend they do a top down review of middle management to ensure efficiency and efficacy.

Pros

Independent working relationship. Lots of flexibility. There are basically no fixed schedules as a field rep, and the average work day is approximately 10 hours. There is very limited, if any, oversite from management, if you do your job properly.

Cons

Territory too large. Company will not pay overtime, even though average workday is 10 hours. Unable to approach management. Limited advancement-I am making less today than I was in 1996.

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to your employees.

Pros

Working from home (certain positions)

Cons

Lack of communication from senior management & seeing tenured people who have worked hard and dedicated themselves to doing a goo job for the company for many years end up getting rewarded with outsourcing, downsizing, job elimination, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to promoting from within - the culture the company was built on. Of course, that will not happen because Sr. mgt was more interested in getting big bonuses for themselves and selling the company rather than anything near what would be considered as on-the-job competence

Pros

Work-life balance. Plus, there are a lot of incompetent employees around, so you can look good even if you're only doing average.

Cons

Senior leadership does not even understand the basics of the business we are in. There has been no attempt to make it a welcoming, energizing place to work. The atmosphere is one of "you don't like it? Too bad, just suck it up!" Benefits are getting less, and our pay is not competitive. And so many of the lower level managers are as frustrated as the employees, that their negative attitude drags the rest of us down. We keep bringing in senior leaders from the outside, who make some showy displays with short term decisions, and then they bail out before the true impact of those decisions hits home.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn how to grow the business, instead of just selling off pieces of it. Then selling yourself. It becomes very frustrating when cost cutting is the only focus of the business, instead of figuring out new opportunities for the company.