I worked as a Claim Representative for five years in one of the many claims
branches. I came to the company having years of claims experience.
There is high turnover in the claims division. Poor training. Sink or swim mentality with a ridiculously high volume of claims. The company likes to hire recent college grads and toss them the fray handling claims that they are unqualified to handle and do not have any training for. Structured classroom training may not even take place for months for new hires. Recent college grads aren’t even paid a salary – they are paid hourly.
They prefer to hire by word of mouth as opposed of interviewing several people
from the talent pool at large. This results in an odd mix of driven talented
individuals mixed in with odd untalented mediocrity. This mix created
tension in the office among people that do not get along or like each other.
This is a Fortune 500 company with no job descriptions or career paths.
Job openings in other departments or within the claims division are not posted. I never solved the mystery during my time there how certain individuals get promotions (many seemingly unqualified) and transfer into other positions and departments.
It’s a mystery that never sat right with me and I remain suspicious of it, especially because many of these people just seemed to be very average. Promotions and transfers seem more political than talent based.
The company customarily hires trainees to only handle auto claims and then
“promote” to handling property claims. Even though the word “auto” is in the company name and more auto policies are sold than all others combined, the company oddly views handling property claims as being elite over handling auto claims.
The company brags about its high J.D. Power rating for auto claims service.
That can likely be explained by the fact that claims with an estimate
of $3,500.00 or lower are not inspected. Most auto claims fall in that category.
That makes for over-payments and paying uncovered claims. You will
never have a policyholder get upset by getting an over-payment or
payment for something that isn’t covered.
