USAA Reviews

Pros

-Beats living in your car.

-Good place to ride out a terrible job market until a better opportunity comes along.

-Ever increasing workload means you will stress out before you burn out.

-After you memorize "the Mission," you can quickly forget about it.

-Friday is Taco Salad Day.

-Baby rattles bring back fond memories of "Mom" and preschool. (Never touched one BTW).

-You don't have to worry about "Sales Quotas," just "peer-average Referrals."

-If you give "two weeks notice" to "pursue other opportunities," and refuse to disclose what those other opportunities might be, they will "walk you out," that same day, and you will get a nice two-week paid vacation! (Remember that I told you that, you can thank me later).

Cons

I apologize in advance for the length and "depth" of this post, but my intention is to assist job-seekers in their decision-making process. I will therefore provide as much information as possible, but I refer you to the many other fine reviews of USAA on this site that will tell you essentially the same things as I am about to:

Avoid this "Association" if you have any other opportunities. If you don't, take the job, but remember, you were warned by me and about 100 others. . . .

1) Make no mistake, (despite what you will be told when offered a position) this is an EXTREMELY sales-focused call-center job, like any other, worse than most, and here are some of the many reasons why:

Your "performance metrics" are NOT adjusted to account for any "downtime" like IT issues, meeting overages, required or unexpected after-call work, etc. At other call centers, managers will proactively "back out" such factors from your stats, to protect your numbers and performance metrics - not at USAA. This will result in your being "coached" for factors entirely beyond your control. (See the many other fine reviews regarding the weekly "coaching" sessions you will endure).

2) No commission or individual performance-based bonus.

Despite the meager salary and mediocre benefits (remember to only count the "benefits" you actually use and receive, not those that are merely "available"). There is an annual "discretionary" bonus that "may" be paid to ALL employees, at the same rate as any other employee. What does this mean? Quite simply, you could "sell" three times as many "referrals" as the gal in the cube next to you, but you will both "bonus" exactly the same.

3) The broken and dysfunctional compensation model.

As in point (2) above, the extremely heavy focus on "cross-selling" and "deepening" of "member relationships" means that any high-speed, top-performers will quickly learn that there is zero incentive to be so, especially since those who perform just barely over the "peer average" will earn just as much as they do.

This hurts the members and the mission, because skilled representatives will quickly leave to pursue better opportunities, while low speed/low skilled drones will stay until they are fired for incompetence and performance issues.

This broken compensation model is leading to a "culture of mediocrity," whereby the high-speed producers quickly quit and move on, and the low-speed non-producers are eventually fired, which leaves only those monosyllabic, monotone drones in the middle, soullessly reading from their tired scripts about "understanding your needs better," as their rears grow wider and their dreams wax dimmer.

I actually sat in a team meeting with a manager who replayed what she said was an "exceeds expectations" call to us, where a member had called in about their auto insurance policy. (See other reviews regarding this performance metric).

The representative who took the call did not even mention the coverage limits of the policy, which borders on an "omissions" infraction for a licensed agent, yet because the rep got a "referral" on the call, it was an "EE" call, or exceeds expectations?

Our whole team sat and listened incredulously to the rep, who was clearly only focused on the ever-elusive "referral," as he did an abysmal job of actually doing the work of an insurance agent who was concerned with "protecting the member's security."

After the meeting, a teammate told me "there wasn't one of us in that room, besides the manager, who believed that was an EE call."

4) Mid-game rule changes regarding promotion, salary increases, and advancement.

One example of this:

Listening to a manager and a director tell your team, with straight faces nonetheless. . ."Good news everyone!" (*Professor Farnsworth voice*)

"Promotions and salary increases will no longer be based on training/skills completed, but strictly on six months of exceptional performance once you have acquired those skills!"

"Yaaaaaay!"

"So Mr. Director, you mean that instead of us getting a raise and promotion NOW, after completing our level 2 certifications and training (as the expectation was set for us as new employees, months ago) we get to wait another six months and "possibly" get the promotion/raise?" (In fairness, we were told, and this is a direct quote) "it could be as early as three months, if the stars align for you!"

"So you mean, Ms. Manager, that employees who are hired today have exactly the same potential to get raises and promotions as those of us hired over six months ago?"

"Yaaaaaay!"

Forgive the sarcasm and lack of seriousness, but I am making a very strong point to you. This is exactly the kind of Orwellian thinking propounded by management at USAA. Something that is clearly and obviously a major setback for you, the front-line employee, will be presented as a "positive," somehow. It may indeed be a positive for "brand-new" employees, but it certainly was not for us.

Mr. Director, just because it is brown, and you serve it to us in a bowl. . . does not make it taste like chocolate ice cream.

5) The broken and dysfunctional "mission statement."

See (3) above. The focus on obtaining "referrals" to the exclusion of all else has led to the loss of focus on the mission. Ask the members if they think their "financial security" was protected as they were "referred" for a checking account, while absolutely no mention was made of increasing the limits of their "minimum liability" insurance policy. Ask them "after" the occurrence that leaves them "exposed" for 50k in liability, whether or not they would have rather had "the conversation" about their liability exposure, or the free checking account?

Advice to Senior Management

Read the mission statement, Mr. CEO. Look at your chip and remember what you told us at every company meeting. Read these reviews, by actual front-line employees and members. Remind the front-line managers and directors to actually do what the mission statement says, first and foremost.

As you hide your shaking left hand behind the podium, think about this:

What will your legacy be?

Will you be remembered as the CEO who broke the spirit and the hearts of the employees of this great Association?

Or will you be thought of as the man who was as feverishly devoted to the well-being of the front-line employees, as you clearly were to the members?

Remember sir, that we are members, too.

Pros

It has a great mission! The current CEO is a caring business professional and most of the C-level management are some of the most talented individuals in business.

Cons

If you are different, you are not "management material." Some of the long-tenured middle management personnel feel very threatened by folks hired from outside the company. Getting new ideas to be considered can be an uphill battle. Being a very successful executive at other companies doesn't mean anything if you do not have the USAA "brand" on your forehead! One has to participate in "group think" to advance in their career.

Advice to Senior Management

Place some value on individuality. The "USAA way" is not the only way! Many of the employees are afraid to say aything negative about management or the company for fear of losing their jobs. Those who disagree with their supervisors have been know to disappear.

Pros

Benefits, work life balance, great campus

Cons

Promotions, numbers driven, not focused on customer service but more focused on selling products

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership doesn't fully understand the needs of lower roles

Pros

The benefits and pay are great and the best lever used to keep employees on board. The mission of serving the military is intoxicating!

Cons

The company operates in a vacuum and has no transparency! It is one of the few companies trying to look forward without letting go of antiquated practices like having a separate place for Executuves to eat. This creates a culture and class war that perpetuates a lack of transparency.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership needs to start arguing and disagreeing with each other to challenge the status quo. Passive aggressive collaboration is hurting leadership and frontline MSR.

Pros

This company truly empowers its employees to do the right thing for members. I've never seen another company as committed to its mission.

Cons

The company is very bureaucratic. The organizational structure is so matrixed many leaders are not empowered to run their business in an efficient manner. In short, there is a lot of unnecessary overhead in the guise of 'integrated blah blah blah' or 'trite buzzword strategy'.

Advice to Senior Management

Empower your business leaders to make decisions. Not EVERY decision needs to be made by some 'committee' or 'council'. It's getting way too bureaucratic.

Pros

Competitive salary, low-stress, good benefits and time off packages. Pretty diverse job opportunities if you are willing to move. Decent pay for a decent job.

Cons

Call center work is call center work. Phone jocks sometimes get stressed because of unexpectedly high call volumes. Your experience depends a lot on your direct supervisor.

Pros

The pay, the people, the benefits and the great company mission.

Cons

The heavy sales environment can be wearing.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

great benefits as far as insurance/ medical, dental, vision and the pay is good compared to other call center companies.

Cons

unrealistic expectations. you are treated as a number and not a person. If you need time off you have to schedule it a year in advance. If you need time off because something came up they wont give it to you. If you are in the hospital and are on fmla they will find another way to get rid of you.

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend actually listening to what your employees have to say. If a manager is treating their employees poorly they shouldnt be a manager. Treat your employees as human..not a number.

Pros

401k, nice furniture, building and cafeteria, work with nice , educated employees and wonderful customers

Cons

poor management
management cannot be trusted, inaccurate performance appraisals, pay for performance is not alive at USAA, when you meet or exceed goals the information is not shared with you until the end of the year review and then it may be left out of your review and not even acknowledged and certainly not with pay raises, no room for advancement, only a select few or friends of management, you are monitored for how long you are on restroom breaks and have to carry a stop watch with you for lunch and breaks so you do not go over a minute., tenured employees are harrassed and feel pressured to leave the company, allowing them to hire less experienced employees to be hired, therefore those experienced handle complaint and errors that have to be corrected on their behalf, they don't retain the experienced employees. This leads to members who are not happy with the service and cancel all of their policies. Once you are on the floor and handling phone calls without any breaks between calls, you do not feel valued and are just a number. Managers are greedy and don't care about the feelings or well being of the employees, and they also lie to their employees. They also will hide to prevent from taking over a phone call or complaint which employees are required to do when the member wants to leave the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Fire a few managers that are not people oriented and can't handle communication with upper management and Human Resources on how to retain employees, help employees deal with stress of the job, keep enough staff so that there are breaks between phone calls, and managers that lie and do not provide pay for performance to employees when it is deserved. Also fire a few who hide from taking over phone calls which they are required to do. I do not feel Joe Robles knows this is happening. Managers have been given too much authority and no one is monitoring the managers to make sure they are doing performance reviews correctly and equally. A manager may do whatever they please even if not ethical. They can put or file false information about an employee and pass it on to others. Employees fear for their jobs and live in fear half the time, if they do not use the same scripts the manager has given them to use on the phone with the customers. They are "numbers" oriented rather than looking at the strengths and weaknesses of employees and see the employee as an individual who is unique and important. Employees cannot be 100% and certainly not in every category. Promotions and pay raises are selective meaning goals are not equal to pay. Someone meeting same goals or higher than another may not see a raise and the others that did not meet goals see a raise., as it is political and employees are singled out. Human Resources and employee relations do not take action with managers to perform their jobs in an equal and ethical manner. The manager is always right and the employee may as well not even go to HR. Performance reviews can't be modified or corrected once they are written, even if not accurate.

Pros

The salary is competive, the benefits are excellent, the annual bonus is wonderful. The raises are ok. Decent place to work compared to many other call centers.

Cons

If you are not used to a call center environment, this is not the place for you.
Very high work load. Stressful.