State Farm Reviews

Pros

Lots of good benefits not typically found in other companies, and good work/life balance.

Cons

Promotions are quick from lvl 1 - 3, getting promoted to lvl 4 or to management or IT architect is overly difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Smooth out the progression of your employee's careers. It should also be more rewarding to earn a promotion. Currently a promotion means a paltry 7% increase in pay.

Pros

There is a personal satisfication to helping people recover from the unexpected.

Cons

You can not help everybody because this is a business..

Advice to Senior Management

We must always be about the welfare of the many communities that we service.

Pros

Flexible work schedules, State Farm Park, great benefits, respected by management, opportunities for growth

Cons

Takes awhile to advance; the large corporate environment/feeling restricted as an employee

Advice to Senior Management

Don't start all of your employees in the bottom third of the salary range. It doesn't take long before people realize their pay is below the market average and they'll start looking elsewhere. Try to make the starting salary more competitive to help retain the best employees.

Pros

Good Pay and Awesome Raises

Cons

Can get stuck in one job too long.

Pros

Opportuntiy to advance; own your personal business; financial stability; family network; bonus structure to achieve your personal goals; opportunity to impact others

Cons

Financial responsiblility you are required to take on; no gurantee you will be kept on staff as agent after your first year of employment; too much money spent within the organization on the management side;

Pros

Opportunity for growth, one company one product, small office environment, hours are great, lots of flexibility with management,

Cons

Not 100% switched over to real time customer database, their billing products are cumbersome, you are unable to access documents on behalf of customers; i.e. Duplicate declaration pages, questionnaires, estimates. Requests have to underwriters have to be duplicated, you must upload and documentation to the insurance company via change requests, you cannot simply email them. products are very different from independent agencies. If you are coming from Independent agency then going to exclusive, it may feel like a culture shock. Their technology is not quite as advances as i was used too.

Advice to Senior Management

Only advice would be the technology. Going paperless is the new thing with most companies, and there are many products out there that allow you to fax, email, edit, etc documents from your desktop.

 Filing documents on a shared drive can be messy, but being able to file customer specific documents in the customer files would be beneficial and allow for organization. The fact that you are unable to access duplicate declarations and other documents from company website is unheard of these days.

Pros

State Farm Insurance is a great company, you just need to find the right Agent to work for in order to succeed and make a decent salary

Cons

Salary is below market average

Advice to Senior Management

Offer Benefits
Salary Increase
Workload
Hire more people

Pros

Job stability
Benefits and rewards offered
Management support; depending on you manager (who changes often)
Training and edication
Raises are better than most companies with ranges from 0-15%, the average is 7-8%

Cons

Cut throat. The field office is a thing of the past, but was the best environment to work in claims. I have been out of high school for 15 years, but working in a centralized zone it feels like I never left. There are a great many who will step on whomever to get ahead. Choose your work friends carefully and even then be reserved in what you share.

Workforce management has made what used to be a decent job into one where everyone is micromanaged in 15 minute increments. A button on your phone for breaks, bathroom time, training others time, non production time, in the phone time, queue time...

Getting a day off at times is impossible. Monday & Friday are prime, many vacations cut short becuase those days were full, regardless of flight, hotel, or money down already arranged months in advance.

The new claims system offers a lot, but not for the claims handler. What used to take 30 mins tops, now is double and even at times tripple the time. Add to that managment who expects volumes of work. This creates an atmosphere where quantity wins over quality for many.

Advancement and great raise (above the average)? Raises and promotions are not always based on your work or ability to produce quality work or deliver a quality experience to the customer. Too many chiefs and some chiefs should never be in leadership roles. While others are well rounded and fair to all even in discipline and reward.

Do not get me wrong I am thankful for my job. Most days I like my job, but over the 14 years I have been there each year seems to bring changes that are not always based on the lines the company preaches about being family and customer oriented. I hope this changes and have witnessed some in leadership making efforts even with tied hands. I know from others who have left to other insurance companies,that the grass is not always greener.

Advice to Senior Management

Please consider who you are placing into the team management role.

 Listen to the people doing the grunt work. We do the job every day, at times 7 days a week, working different shifts that do not aways work with family life. We want the days back where we are treated as valued individuals and not numbers or machines.

Yes, as a manager you get benefits, but we all can't be in management and maybe for you to understand you need some faceless person creating a schedule for you, telling you when you can take a break, go to the bathroom, go to lunch, changing the hours you need to work, what you have to work on and when to work on it, all the while watching you closely through a computer program sending you e-mails telling you to check yourself as you are out of compliance, you were 1 min late logging back in from break or lunch, or took too long after a call before taking another, be a machine for 2-3 months and not a manager. Be told your child being sick means nothing since you already missed 3 days for a sick child. Then watch the managers managing you take 1 hour or longer lunches every day, take off 5-7 times for sick kids, leave early, and then hear them tell you it's different for them because they are in management and have more "freedom."

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