WellPoint Reviews

Pros

Work at home opportunities are plentiful in certain departments and great if you are lucky enough to get one. The salaries are within reason as well for telecommuting positions.

Cons

This company is too big to be fair and rational and people with way-too-big egos in charge when they shouldn't be. Certain administrative employees (HR, legal, and department managers) severely lack diagnostic reasoning and critical analysis skills and take one person's opinion and run with it without any type of investigation (which would reveal that the employee was not at fault, wrongly accused, and wrongly terminated). Where is Risk Management?

Aren't managers (especially HR managers) trained to look at all aspects of whatever issues are put before them before they make life-altering decisions for employees? Or is the administrative consensus that the company's so big they can do whatever they want and hide behind the cloak of at-will employment laws? For the person who started the avalanche to admit they made a mistake would just be out of the question. There seems to be a pervasive inability to acknowledge, apologize, admit that yep, they made a mistake. Apparently it's common practice to treat dedicated employees this way. Whatever happened to a little good will? And listening to both sides of the story and critically thinking about a situation, not just judging and convicting without a trial.

Advice to Senior Management

In exchange for financial success of the well-run machine, has maintaining some level of common courtesy and empathy toward the minions become obsolete? These are the people that make the company what it is--sure, there's a few bad apples, but managers that abuse their position of authority and base significant personnel decisions solely on a superficial level without thoroughly looking at the individual circumstances, does not only do the employee an injustice and allow these egotistical associates to run a muck, but it threatens the integrity of the company as well--but maybe that's not a concern.

Pros

Some of the best reasons to work at WellPoint is the decent starting salary and the medical and other benefits provided.

Cons

Some of the downsides of working at WellPoint include: They downright lie to you during the interview. The training seems to be excellent, but, they expect you to know everything too soon. The supervisors are not really there for you. Their coaching is horrendous. They really do not honor home life values as they claim. They expect you to do the job of more than 3 people. They treat most employees disrespectfully. They deduct your use of the bathroom from your allotted break time. The turnover is horrendous. The bottom line: Its a terrible, despicable place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

The supervisors you have need to move on and out of the company. They cannot be trained to be as they should be. They are not capable to treat their employees with respect and dignity. You need to hire more employees to handle the workload properly. Employees are expected to handle too many functions and responsibilities. There is too much information and functions for the employees to know or remember. The employees are burnt out and cannot really handle what is thrown at them and expected of them. Bathroom breaks should be separate from regular breaks.
New supervisors need to be hired and trained to be respectful to all employees. Employees are people and should be treated as people with respect and dignity.

Pros

1. The greatest pro for me is the ability to work from home.
2. Flexible work hours.
3. Free use of onsite gym

Cons

1. Cost of health insurance. Each year the cost goes up & benefits go down.
2. The worry of being laid off. There is always talk of jobs being sent overseas or reducing the number of staff in a departments to save money.
3. Not always easy to move from one position to another.

Advice to Senior Management

Think of employees & what customers want before sending jobs overseas.

Pros

Stable company, annual bonuses, great salaries, great benefits, laid back environment. I would definitely recommend WellPoint as a good place to work.

Cons

In my particular job field there isn't a lot of of opportunity for career advancement. I get paid really well in my current position but it would be nice to be given other opportunities.

Pros

wonderful people although too many holdovers from multiple mergers

Cons

incredible bureaucracy, no accountability, everything is done by committee

Advice to Senior Management

reduce bureaucracy, empower employees, get rid of deadwood

Pros

Heath Benefits are affordable. Vacation and Time off compensation is sufficient. Salary is okay.

Cons

Constant change in Management means constant changes in work processes. The responsibility for results is left up to those at the very bottom of the corporate ladder. Wellpoint does not treat lower level employees with any respect. Anyone who is non-exempt in this company is definately not a value. Sending work offshore(now they are talking about more of European Market) is not a benefit to our American Economy, the employees who lose their jobs to Off shore, or the members whose premiums are not reduced.

Advice to Senior Management

I understand that the executive leadership team should make more money than say a Claims Associate but you do not need to consistently demean those jobs and the employees who give you their all. Recognition for Wellpoint only seems to come out of Indianapolis. Share the good fortune with your other states. Wellpoint has 1/2 day(on a Saturday of course) for employees to volunteer in their communities......lots of publicity around 4 hours.....this company should be doing so much more.

Pros

Many opportunities if in the right department, corporate trainings and events.

Cons

Some attitudes are still very "Old School"

Pros

dynamic, fast paced, very much in the forefront Healthcare industry leadership in United States

Cons

IT organization continuous metamorphisis from multiple companies into a single cohesive organization living up to the industry expectations. Challenged to hold onto a CIO vision with 4 in 7 years, and established loyalties difficult to overcome if you're not deft of foot keeping in with the new leadership each organizational direction change.

Advice to Senior Management

move to a more solid vision with a consistent organization to deliver.....allow best talent and most successful to lead, regardless of current, past or present loyalties.

Pros

Fabulous benefits, positive culture, good at promoting from within, decent bonuses

Cons

annual reorganization and frequent layoffs are really the bane of working for this company. It seems counter-productive to put people on severance only to rehire them a few months later instead it would be better to offer and require your people to continually improve their knowledge so that they can be ready to change as the industry changes and grows.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop with the re-organization instead of laying people off train people to meet the changing needs of the industry.

Pros

Ability to work from home whenever I wanted. Fitness center on site. Annual bonus program is fair and very nice in good years. Layoffs seemingly occur enterprise wide on an annual basis, but the severance package is generous and the company is good about re-hiring former associates.

Cons

The instability surrounding healthcare reform and frequent layoffs. The company had a major reduction in force every year for the five years I was there.

Advice to Senior Management

More transparency about the reason for frequent re-organizations and the resulting layoffs would be welcome. Especially when they occur in what was a very successful year financially.