Pros
- Work environment is friendly and casual - An excellent training program (Academy) - Management is very open-door - Frequent opportunities for advancement or lateral moves into different departments - Competitive pay with pretty large end-of-year bonuses - Decent benefits - 6 or 8 week short-term disability pay for childbirth (at a percentage of salary depending on tenure) - On-site café - On-site gym - On-site clinic - On-site chair massages * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I genuinely enjoyed my time at Progressive because of these reasons and more. I have always felt supported by my superiors and motivated to give this job my all because I know the company treats their employees equitably. The dress code is extremely casual and the environment is laid back for the most part. Expectations are clearly communicated and performance is now evaluated based on behaviors rather than strictly numbers or metrics. The gainshare (profit sharing) is a huge perk - for 2015, I received over 10% of my salary as a bonus!
Kontras
- Claims workload can be difficult to manage at peak times - Work-life balance is not what it should be - Split schedules REQUIRED for un-tenured adjusters - Even after becoming tenured, it is difficult to obtain a non-split schedule - The attendance policy needs reworking * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Centralized Claims Organization falls short in its promise of a work-life balance. While the workload can be difficult to manage at times, this is not really what I'm talking about (though as a newer rep, I had to consistently clock in overtime hours to keep up or get caught up). Split schedules are a requirement when you sign on as a call center adjuster with Progressive, but management makes it seem as though eventually, you will be able to request a more traditional schedule. I have not found this to be the case and I have worked in this organization for two years. In fact, one of my coworkers recently celebrated her five-year anniversary with Progressive and only JUST got weekends off, the great white whale of a CCU rep. Even applying to work one weekend day and one weekday off in a row (i.e. having Friday and Saturday off and working Sunday or Sunday and Monday off and working Saturday) is denied for some mysterious "business need" that is never elaborated on. Additionally, the attendance policy needs to be tweaked slightly. While now there is a sliding schedule that allows for tardiness to be made up for (as long as you are clocked in within 30 minutes of your shift start), a late arrival or early quit is equal to an unexpected absence. If you are sick, or if you have something suddenly come up and you are not pre-approved for time off well in advance (and time off is difficult to obtain on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays), you can quickly find yourself barred from advancement opportunities until infractions begin dropping off ONE YEAR LATER. If you have a particularly rough go of it with illness or family issues or anything that has you unexpectedly late, leaving early, or being absent entirely, there is not much you can do but wait out the marks against your record. It's disheartening at best and crushing at worst, especially if you're a capable and high-performing candidate whose career aspirations are put on hold because of unforeseen circumstances.