State Farm Reviews

Pros

Great agents
Great incentive trips
Convenient work schedule
Most agents are very flexible with coming and going from work as needed

Cons

Way too many rate increases
Hard to remain competitive
Company is technologically behind
Way too many AFO's/middle managers to micro manage agents

Advice to Senior Management

Company needs to get with the times and realize that the dot.com's are really posing a threat to their #1 spot.

Pros

Nice work environment, paid relatively well, easy paced

Cons

Little feedback on work, projects sometimes really boring

Advice to Senior Management

Increase constructive criticism

Pros

People treat you like family, compensation and vacation time are very generous, and almost all employees are State Farm Nice. The company promotes heavily from within, and it's easy to work your way up quickly if you are dedicated and good at what you do.

Cons

Employees are not always very driven. Company hires the best fits for its culture, not the best people at their jobs. Promotion is only from within, so you start at the bottom if you're an external hire. The company is conservative: almost all change is very slow.

Pros

Your co-workers are honest, genuine people who care about you and your family. Opportunities for those willing to put in the extra work. Good work-life balance in some areas, but getting harder to find.

Cons

Promotions are getting more political each year. Lots of hoops to jump through for promotions, but they don't apply to everyone. Promoting philosophy changes every few years from "broad expereience" to "depth of experience" then back again. Executive leadership is out of touch with markets.

Advice to Senior Management

Retire! Get some fresh blood in there with new ideas and who can trim the fat in leadership. And for goodness sake, hire someone that didn't go to Illinois State or Illinois Wesleyan.

Pros

Each day was a new experience. Felt my training provided me with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of providing State Farm's promise to its policyholders. Provided the opportunity to manage and develop the people who would eventually assume my role with the company and progress beyond that role.

Cons

There were times when unnecessary time and effort were needed to work through the politics at State Farm Corporate. Tried and proven programs developed in Corporate were at times ignored by the Zones, even through the programs were developed hand-in-hand with the Zones for their benefit.

Advice to Senior Management

Challenge the people at State Farm. Provide the opportunity for employee innovation and growth. While the inside claim process is necessary in today's environment, State Farm Claims has lost that one-on-one relationship with our policyholders, agency and underwriters that helped grow this great company and develop its people. This one-on-one relationship needs to be instilled in each claim employee, agent, underwriter and operations person. I appreciate that State Farm allowed me this one-on-one relationship opportunity, as it helped me to better understand what it really meant to be part of the State Farm family.

Pros

Benefits, training, pay, people - all great

Cons

must be mobile anywhere in US or Canada to get to much higher positions.

Pros

Good opportunity for job advancement and solid on the job training. Competitive salaries in certain areas of the business. Good benefit package. Nice people. .

Cons

Salaries in certain areas not commensurate with experience or similar jobs at other companies. For true career advancement, must be flexible to move to other parts of the country.

Advice to Senior Management

Adjust operations bonus structure and salary scales in certain non-core areas of the business to be commensurate with that of other companies.

Pros

Average benefits
Full company pension
Nice co-workers
Flexible work schedule

Cons

Heavy inventories
Unreasonable service levels expected to be maintained
Seniority means nothing when it comes to settlement authority; everyone is treated the same based on job title
Low raises as part of your raise allotted as cash performance and the other factored into your salary therefore it will take 20+ years to reach your maximum salary for your job grade
No room for advancement unless you are willing to leave your family behind and relocate with each promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

Not everyone aspires to live in Bloomington IL. Have you had to relocate your family? I know the Insurance industry is a competitive one, but treasure the employees that are in the trenches and value the input and their ideas. I think the company has too many levels of management and many of them are out of touch with what needs to be done. EMED/PIP is not the only area to focus on in the Northeast!

Pros

Good benefits, flexible scheduling, great people

Cons

not much of a chance of advancement unless you are willing to move across the country

Advice to Senior Management

Choose management carefully

Pros

By far the best benefits out there. And there is definitely a work/life balance!

Cons

Very low salary. Only get to a respectable salary once you have put in 5+ years. And no matter how much overall work experience you have, they only count "State Farm" experience. So even if you are 20 years into your career, as soon as you step foot in State Farm so you treated and paid like a recent college grad.

Advice to Senior Management

Probably no different from other companies, but please listen to the lower level worker bees. They are knee deep in the work, and often have great ideas!