GEICO Employee Reviews about "training"

Cons

Pressure to perform, long hours at times. Many late evening hours, but compensated better when working these hours

Cons

They expect their sales people to sell an automobile insurance policy from beginning to end in 15 minutes, no matter how many vehicles, how many drivers, how many tickets and accidents, etc. If the customer's cell phone dies, you can't call them back--no matter if you're just ready to take the payment. When that happens, the person calls right back in and gets someone else who takes the payment. Or, if the person only has cash at that moment, they can't buy the policy until 30 minutes later when they make a deposit at the bank or buy a pre-paid card. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! They try to tell you that it happens equally to everyone, but that's not exactly a true statement. The random person who gets your customer's payment gets bumped up in queue preference, meaning that they are considered someone who has a higher-likelihood of making a sale because of that. Depending upon the timing of when someone comes out on the sales floor, say like if they're during income tax season when they start, a person can, by the luck of the draw, be rated as a better sales person. So, if you start taking real calls in late February, early March, you will probably have a higher close rate than someone who comes out a month later. This tells GEICO that you are a better sales person, and that gives you preference in the queue. You get paid more bonus, and you get promoted and raised. Now, onto the Q/A portion of your commission (incentive). Let's say you take 500 applications in a month's time, and of those applications you sell 300 policies. At $40/policy that's a pretty good bonus check, right? Not necessarily. You can sell policies like a champ, and make GEICO lots of money, but if you take longer than 899 seconds to do so, or if you asked the customer about college education but didn't specify associates/bachelor's/masters/PhD; if you put the wrong emphasis on the wrong word in a question; if the customer says something to you that you couldn't hear correctly and it would have affected the rate by one penny--you get a 0 on that call. Now, they "randomly" review X amount of calls per month, and if you don't get a high enough Quality score, you don't get paid on those 300 policies you sold. That means that, on a busy month, you take 500 calls and sell 300 policies, 3 phone calls that might not have been down to the word and comma exactly done 100% correct--that disqualifies you for getting paid. It puts you further down the list for raises and promotions, and it ensures that you either stay where you are (making GEICO lots of money but not being compensated for it), or you eventually just quit because you can't make any headway. This job is not for you if you can't stand the idea of sitting and saying the same words and phrases to hundreds of customers every month, doing so for years or decades, and not making enough money to pay your bills. If you can somehow plan it out so that you start taking calls around the first or second week February that count toward your performance reviews, and if you're a speed talker, and if you can use black magic to ensure that a customer's cell phone never dies and they always have enough money for the first payment available on a visa or master card that is not pre-paid (pre-paid cards don't qualify for the best payment plan), then I say go for it!

Cons

They do not care about you as a human, AT ALL. It doesn't matter how many years of your life you give them. You will never be more than a number.

Cons

Training was intense felt like I was in college with all the test and averages you needed to maintain

Cons

Once of the main cons I have is the constant change; as soon as you learn one procedure it is changing. Also it is really hard to take off. Lastly the micromanaging of time is pretty intense.

Cons

Corporate environment, everything is monitored which can be a bit stifling at times. When working from home you're required to have your camera on at all times.

Cons

Everything about the training was horrific and the trainer could care less if you passed. You will study more than what you are paid for and there really is no additional help given.

Cons

I was hired in 2011 for a 'sales' position. I thought it was auto insurance sales, but it turned out to be boat insurance. I figured it would be an interesting challenge, so I went along with it. I completed the licensing training (which was excellent) and the sales training (which was so-so). I started on the floor, and I was horrified at the level of micro-management and criticism that was dished out to the employees. Every minute of your day is scrutinized. People listen to your phone calls anonymously and side-by-side for the sole purpose, it seems, of criticizing the employees and making them feel terrible about their jobs. The managers are small-minded and terrified for their own jobs, and managers in that department were some of the weakest and most inefficient that I have ever had the displeasure of working for, I kept approaching the managers to find out why they were giving me such low scores on my phone calls, since I had never received a customer complaint and I had never had a policy returned for errors. In fact, the customers frequently complimented me and told me how helpful I had been! I rarely received any positive feedback from the bosses (if that is what you want to call them), and it quickly became clear to me that they were doing what they could do rush me and others employees who did not bow and scrape out the the door. I was fired without warning, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I wne to HR to request that an investigation be conducted regarding my firing, and I was told that would happen. Of course, it did not... no surprise. Every day was a grind, and it is no wonder that turnover is sky-high, Every weekend there is a job fair - not because of growth, but because they have to replace the employees who were fired that week.

Cons

Where do I begin?? Advancement sucks depending on what department you are in. How do you have a department with only 2 people and one person has gotten promoted twice in the last year? The other person... Zero promotions but is going above and beyond with job duties and minimal training. Where is the motivation for the employee that is not getting promoted. Job post is a joke There are so many people who are just put into positions without posting or interviewing for the job. What about others who may want that position and is actually qualified for the position. For example: Sales agent to business analyst... With no IT degree or analyst experience. Another example: Secretary to statical/budget analyst which supposedly is an IT position as well. Again no analyst experience or IT background. Basically geico puts unqualified people into positions. Yes this is ok with the people who get the positions but what about the people who are qualified and have an education for those IT positions. They never get a shot. This shows you that GEICO doesn't care or recognize a hard earned college degree. What can you expect? Most of the managers and supervisors haven't and don't plan on obtaining a degree so why would they acknowledge or care about their their employees having one. If you're looking to work in IT for GEICO I suggest bypassing because they don't care about a college degree and they are not competitive when it comes to salaries for IT professionals. Plus others will have the same position and salary as you but not have the knowledge and expertise or education you have which is an insult.

Cons

Management in GEiCO, specifically in the Auto Damage field is very condescending. It my years of adjusting, I have found that for some reason in this company's department, there is just something about the workers that are in this position. They breed a mentality of you as the adjuster are smarter and more understanding of how to fix cars than the actual body shops do. (With that being said, some body shops do try to take advantage of the situation, especially with the newer hires, but that's something you learn as you develop in the position) You go to training and fix a small tear and they expect that to be your bases of knowing how to effectively do your job for the remainder of your career at GEICO. Ultimately, the decision to leave the company came down to Management. Getting a degree taught me to learn and thinking freely and think outside the box. In this position, that is opening frowned upon. They pretty much want you to do what you're told and don't question. The term 'Below your paygrade' is common thrown around by other adjusters. They pay wasn't the worst, but seems a little low especially after doing some interviews and ultimately accepting another company's offer. The big prizes and thank you's every year seem to be a luncheon, which usually has small portions. Company match 401k would be nice, but I dont see that happening. Profit sharing is pretty cool, but some people tend to be a little reckless when it comes to being giving that much money, they are smart enough to save some for you come tax time. The Training is too extensive and unnecessary and in my opinion a waste of the company's money. I remember when I went through training, they touted a '3 month course' designed to prepare you for the position. All I remember was cramming every night (which studies have shown that cramming is terrible for retention and is ultimately a not effective way to learn) fearing if you were to pass a quiz the next day or be yelled at by one of the instructors because they had very *sarcastic* styles. (note sarcasm is not suppose to be an excuse to be rude to your students). The three months of training was pretty useless considering the first thing you're pretty much advised once you actually start the job is to forget everything you learned and learn what your supervisor and body shop wants. WASTED POTENTIAL. This also isn't the type of job to really form friends or connections. You don't really see anybody or talk to anyone else unless you're calling to see why they changed your estimate or something