The Hartford Reviews

I worked at The Hartford full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – set hours, decent health care benefits

Cons – poor compensation, management tries to get you to not hit goals so you don't get paid incentives

Advice to Senior Management – Help reach goals, make incentives better

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at The Hartford full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – You get a lot of PTO (vacation time) right from the start. 19 days to start, 24 days after 4 years, 29 days after 10 years. Plus 8 or 9 holidays a year. (However, when I left it was very hard to get the vacation time you wanted, at least during the popular summer months and school vacations).

Ability to work from home full time for some employees (when I left this program was on hold, but some employees were "grandfathered in").

Cons – No flexibility regarding hours worked. (This did not use to be the case, but in the last year or 2 they have decided that phone coverage is of extreme importance. This job has become more and more like a call center. If no one on your team (of 4-6 employees) works until 5:00PM, then you must take turns covering those hours. This means you may work 7:15-4:00 3 or 4 days in a week, and then 8:15-5:00 1 or 2 days a week. However, if you happen to be placed on a team where 1 or even all of your co-workers prefer the 5:00 shift then you don't have to do this. Unfortunately, you have no choice regarding what team you work on, and they re-arrange the teams often. At any time you could be forced to work an inflexible schedule. This was the "last straw" that drove me to leave the company. When I started, no one cared what your hours were, when I started, my boss didn't even know my hours!)

Micro-managing is built into work procedures. (Your supervisor is required to review ALL of your files at least once every 3 months).

Moral in office was very bad when I left, many felt threatened that they would be let go if they didn't consistently meet the very high goals set (even employees that had been there for YEARS).

When I left we were required to have 1 or 2 meeting a week with the director to discuss any files that were not "timely". It could be a humiliating experience, not to mention take time from your work. This was a new thing, we never did this in all the years I worked here before!

Technology is outdated. The system they use to process claims actually hinders your ability to work effectively. They have put off updating it for YEARS.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire superior employees to complete the work properly, train them, let them gain experience, and then LET THEM MANAGE THE CLAIMS. In this scenario there is no need for micro-managing. Superior employees will not stand for the micro-managing and will leave (as they have already).

When I left there were teams of 4-6 employees to 1 manager. The rational was that managers needed to oversee ALL of their employees work. This seems like a waste of money and ineffective use of resources.

Update the claim system! It would reduce errors and make claim handling much easier, more accurate, and more efficient.

I have tried to give a fair, honest review. For the first 5 or 6 years I worked for the company, I was happy. I never thought of looking for another job. I felt respected. It's only the last few years that I began to be dissatisfied. Many changes were made, but I think for the worse. I do feel that in another few years these changes will be found to not work, and will be reversed. But in the meantime, I just couldn't wait it out!

DISCLAIMER: This review is for the Long Term Disability Department (Life), in Syracuse, NY for the year 2012. Hartford is such a huge company that other departments and areas are likely to be vastly different. Hartford makes changes so often that in a few years, this review may be obsolete!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Lofty goals from senior management

Cons – translate to worker bee level, means do more with less time, more demands and do it well

Advice to Senior Management – Pay what is fair - for as much human intervention as is needed to correctly determine claim outcomes and benefits, pay us fairly.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than a year

Pros – There is a high demand for this job/line of work.

Cons – Its hard to get outside of your direct line of work in terms of career progression

Advice to Senior Management – Employee Incentives go far when you overwork your employees

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – good training and good people

Cons – management is not experienced in business education/knowledge and lacks fundamental leadership skills.

Advice to Senior Management – go to business school and learn how to be leaders!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – great people to work with. better than average benefits. great time off policies including being able to buy extra week of vacation.

Cons – executive leadership is almost entirely new to the company. constant changes to vision and strategy. investment in technology is years behind peer companies.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at The Hartford full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Bonuses, benefits. Bonuses are handed out yearly based upon score of mid year & increasing those scores through the end of the year review. There is then a pool for the bonuses, depending on how many are still in the role the bonus may be bigger or smaller. Pay is great for LPN's low for RN'S. You have your own cubicle to take calls. Knowledge about disability and FMLA will increase.

Cons – No flexibility of your time. Can only make up a very limited amount of PTO time per month (under 5 hours). The PTO time does include sick days. If you have kids and family this position does not allow flexibility for work/life balance. There is no talking to peers through your day no interaction outside taking call after call. High stress to meet demands of call times, even though you can not control the other person on the other line. Moral can be low with the turn over rate. Training is not consistent base on the information received in the classroom then what it is on the floor.

Advice to Senior Management – As a nurse it is very difficult to not have management that are not nurses. Explaining and presenting changes and critical thinking ideas are not considered and turned down. When making suggestions or questioning protocol you will be considered "rocking the boat" and they will look for reasons to let you go. I was in this position for 4 years and wanted to move onto case management. I had to jump through loops to finally be in the case management position. The dysfunction continued into the case management role. The grass is greener on the other side outside the disability division.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Flexible work schedule, 'remote work' opportunities

Cons – High volume work load, (i.e., 50+/hr week), non-competitive salaries, inconsistent management

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Overall co-workers are caring and thoughtful people, hard workers.

Cons – No work life balance, Poor technology,
No accountability from management,
Too many layoffs and more demands on workforce,
Senior leaders are not ethical,
Horrible compensation and bonuses,
Management only gives lip service, they don't care about staff.

Advice to Senior Management – Fire managers and directors and hire leaders that have balance and fairness.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at The Hartford full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Rapid ability to move up the corporate ladder due to constant revolving door

Cons – People put in management positions who have no ability to be great managers/leaders, micro-management all the way from the top down. A lot of "back stabbers." Job required staying late and coming in on the weekends [amazing how may people would actually be in the office on a Saturday afternoon]. Wages and or salaries are not inline with other "top carriers." Saw numerous people go to lunch and never return. In a 2 year span I had over 5 different supervisors and two different managers, all with different agenda's.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a step back and evaluate the situation/big picture , don't need an MBA from Headquarters to do that!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend