Pros
Decent pay for internal employees, provided they act like sheep with a serious caffeine habit.
Cons
Agency is a whole different story though. Agents are subcontractors who are often absentee and almost entirely disconnected from their clients and their workforce. While underwriting standards have been raised systemically prices have also increased as well as sales requirements. Metrics internally have been transformed into a beating for all employees and consolidation has lead to a drought of knowledge endemic in the organization in the interest of saving a few bucks. Actual employee staffing levels have decreased enterprise wide and have been supplemented with a rotation of contingent contract staff. Once a mutual corporation that paid dividends to policyholders now incentivizes bad policy holder collection by not supporting the sales force to retain quality business.