Pros

Increasing investment in drect is probably the right choice but upsetting their agency plant

Cons

HR runs PL these days & the company currently takes stack ranking to the nth degree - very negative place to work in the past 2 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Dial back the HR role

Pros

Time off is good, pay is decent. People are great.
Just have to really watch out for yourself in the company to make sure you don't get comfortable where you are; there is no real push for you to progress.

Cons

slow, boring, repeptitive, don't get stuck w/ the wrong manager! I had a great manager and then they switched me and it's awful.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more vocal in wanting your employees to progress, to further themselves.

Pros

This firm avoided the poor investments that led to the TARP bailouts of other financial firms and is therefore in an excellent financial position. As a result, the firm is investing dollars and emphasizing strategic efforts to take advantage of their enviable financial position. Excellent recruiting and HR functions and a vibrant workforce infused with energy. There are good opportunities for advancement here. There are also excellent opportunities for visibility.

Cons

Be careful: the smiles you are greeted with during your interview may change once you're aboard - and change quickly. The organization is a maze to work through and confomity is valued over personality. I've been here a short time and my honeymoon was over before it started and the rose colored glasses I wore have been removed.

Advice to Senior Management

You have firm with an enviable history with a strong position in a terrible economy. Take advantage: review your organization from top to bottom. You have a great vision but you may be surprised at the poltics and dissonance you find in the layers below.

Pros

Travelers was a large company, good benefits, forseeable promotion schedule. The housing assistance was well received, as well as cash assistance in reference to housing - enough to get you on your feet.

Cons

I didn't like the fact that there was absolutely no communication between anyone - I was absolutely left alone, and with no guidance, I had no idea what my managment was thinking; about me, my performance, and their ultimate goal. It was as if I had to triple guess their motivations; and therefore it was impossible for me to "do a good job" by taking initiative.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not alienate members of the workforce. I am not talking about my former immediate manager, many people have problems of that sort. It was the entire ALDP structure, how it was clandestine and needlessly secretive it was; even the upper management was secretive.

Pros

Overall a good place work. Bonus structure is good for industry standards and rewards production. Life work balance is excellent. Well managed company

Cons

Professional development leaves much to be desired and thus the company has trouble holding onto top tier talent. System issues are frequent. Trending toward a micro management style due to increase usage of analytic reports.

Advice to Senior Management

review your professional development structure for top performing talent

Pros

As an intern at Traveler's insurance I been given an incredible number of opportunities. I have attended a meeting with the CEO, lunch with a member of senior management and been given incredible advice from coworkers. The company is very supportive of interns. Managers are friendly and understanding.

Cons

As someone who is not in an intern program but rather someone with a basic summer job, I would say that the expectation for work is very low. Many of the other persons with a similar position to me are directly connected to high level executives, take the job for granted and do very little work. As someone who worked for a connection and employment, I came in expecting to do work and learn about the responsibilities of a regular employee. Instead I spend most of my time asking managers for work and killing time.

Advice to Senior Management

My only advice would be to: 1) continue the conservative approach to investments; 2) Look with more ferver at expansion into international markets; 3) Give summer interns the opportunity to participate in work with the office.

Pros

great salary
great bennies
low key atmostphere

Cons

too many audits
confusing computer system
over documentation/duplication of processes
bad location

Advice to Senior Management

Revise the way audits are down. Way too many, too soon, and by too many people..
This just encourages people to work for a score and not pay attention to each claim on it's own.
The volume of work is often insane. Hire more people. Many processes are duplicative.

Pros

Working at Travelers has been a great, well-rounded experience. Working for a large company provides plenty of opportunity- both laterally (I've changed jobs and careers without changing the building I work in), and upwards (growth opportunities abound, if you're proactive enough).
The culture is something that is hard to quantify, but makes working here a pleasure; the interactions I've had with (most) senior management has been positive, my immediate management is great, and my coworkers are a great bunch of people. Additionally, in this economic climate, it's reassuring to be with one of the strongest companies around- and the minimal dip in its stock price over the last 6 months has also been a nice-to-have. The benefits are good- but not great. There's a fairly generous PTO policy, and the 401k match is a nice 1:1 up to a certain limit (especially with many companies cutting this), but there are middle-of-the-road health and other benefits.

Cons

Similar to other large companies, Travelers can move slowly when it comes to adopting new technologies or making decisions. If you can work within and on the 'system' of the place, and accept that any company, large or small, will be political, it's not a real issue.

Other than that, I don't see many other downsides.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more. Inside has been lively with news postings about current events, but some more interaction with senior managers (webcasts or articles) would be nice.

Pros

Travelers gives great opportunities to entry level students right out of college. When discussing my position with other graduates, exposure to senior management is far above that of other comanies and other industries. The pay is very competitive and the chance to be promoted is exceptional. The average analyst is able to be promoted within a year.

Cons

it is a highly competitive envioirnment which will require more than a 40 hour workweek

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest that senior management stay on the current path. They have done an exceptional job with the current market volatility.

Pros

The people, the pay, the flexibility, strong company

Cons

Leadership could be a question

Advice to Senior Management

invest in your employees