Pros
Good co-workers: processors, marketing reps, claims reps, underwriters. Most are all really good people. There is some good management too. Great benefits ( though other companies offer just as good, or better). At this point AO includes benefit dollars as salary dollars. So your paycheck will reflect the benefit dollars as money you earned). It's nice - because you don't have to pay anything out of your paycheck to cover the insurance premiums - BUT - at tax time it will definitely come back at you....So there is a pro/con here. Also - employees used to be able to keep 90% ( perhaps at one point it was 100%) of the benefit dollars not used. For me it was usually around $1500 I did not use. By the time I left, the total amount you got to keep reduced to 60%. They kept dropping it by 10% each year. Mind you...this is even with the Stock Market dominating over the last few years, and the company making a heck of a lot of underwriting profit + profit from investments. Oh - and having upwards $15 Billion...WITH A B....in surplus. Christmas Bonus ( % based on years of service, up to 10% of salary) , and 401K match of essentially 4%. Incentive bonus is nice - but not what it was a few years ago. If you are not making 70K or more you are getting a lot less Incentive bonus $ than you used to. Once again, the company found a way to be prudent ( just a polite way of saying cheap). I will say... in many ways the companies prudence is smart. But somehow the expense ratio was in the 37 to 38% range while I was there...maybe more? Something is slipping somewhere...and this figure effects the company incentive bonus. Job Security - as long as you do some work, and have half a brain, it's basically impossible to get fired. They can't afford to lose any more people than they already do.
Cons
Rigid. Favorites are played, even if those 'favorites' are terrible at their job. People that should lose their job don't because Michigan ( where the company is incorporated) may have the most strict termination laws in the nation. From other people I've talked to on this side of the industry, their employer's would fire many of my old co-workers in a heartbeat based on their actions/behaviors/attitudes/ lying on resume ( BUT - THE JOB SECURITY!) Pay is based on a 37.5 hour work week ( and it shows) but company expects people (especially more seasoned people) to work extra, for already a below average wage. Yeah - in the 21st century. Basically - a lot of things.
