Pros
-Great place to gain insurance experience and acquire licensing on someone else's dime. -Until 2017, the time-off policy has been the most reasonable of any place I have worked, if you had the time, you could almost always use it. -Perhaps this will also change, but if you are less than an hour late for whatever reason, you can make up the time and not be penalized. -Free coffee and "food days" -They're a big company and it looks good on your resume. -When you tell people who don't know the insurance industry what you do for a living, they may actually believe that you have a "career." -If you can somehow make it out of the claims department, or at least into management within claims, you will get paid twice what you should be to do nothing, with no accountability to anyone. -You may get to travel for training. -In theory, the company is large, global, and has many opportunities . -There is still a pension plan offered, which is rare in the private sector.
Cons
-Compensation for auto claims is VERY much below market, other departments are much better paid and respected. -The Albany, NY office is very small and seems to have an inferiority complex. Claim reps are worked a lot harder and much more is expected of them relative to other offices. -The office maintains a call-center atmosphere. While many colleagues are wonderful people, just as many are toxic individuals. The level of gossip will take you back to your junior high school days, as will the levels of micromanagement and favoritism. -New adjusters with no experience are hired at greater compensation levels than existing employees, don't let the company's salary "grade" levels fool you. -If you are over the age of 30, and/or your physical appearance is average or less, your odds of advancement are slim to none. -Job postings are just for show, management knows who they want from the get-go. -Questioning management or failing to toe the company line in any way is a "career" death sentence. -MANY changes made to auto claims in the past year: adjusters must now do work that was (and still should be) done by 3-4 separate specialized people. Training for these new responsibilities was minimal, and the pay raise? NONE! -The benefits continue to get worse and while the cost to the employee goes up: the health insurance is more expensive for less benefits (and the PPO plan will be extinct after 2017, replaced by low quality, very high deductible coverage), the retirement plan just got cut, and you now have to beg your manager for permission to take days off. -The Albany facilities are the shabbiest of any other Liberty Mutual office I've been to. The building is not company-owned and is now managed by a slumlord. A "renovation" of the restrooms took 2-3 months, when it should have taken 1-2 weeks. In fact, it still is not complete! The old minimum wage contracted janitors were far superior to what now passes for "cleaning." The restrooms do not even have paper towels! Other offices get cleaned multiple times a day, have a cafeteria, and even more. -Other departments can work from home on a regular basis, as can auto claim managers. Are auto claims adjusters entrusted to work from home in this same manner? Of course not! -You are often better off asking a colleague for help than a manager. You'll get better advice and not annoy the people who are supposed to be there to assist, advise, and help you grow, -Employee survey results for claims workers are horrible, and home office keeps their blinders on. -The "Peter Principle" is in full-effect. -Turnover is on the upswing I have invested too many years at Liberty to go elsewhere, but may do so anyway. What was once a great place to work is now a "churn and burn" operation. The company did give me a nice paper to hang on my wall upon my fifth year of service. Since Albany is an "open office" that doesn't have cubicles, I put in my file cabinet, where it was subsequently chewed up by vermin.
