I no longer recognize the Progressive that once marketed itself as a great place to build a career.
From my experience in customer service, it feels like the company has found a way to reduce its workforce without officially calling it a layoff. Instead of eliminating positions, they continue increasing workloads, adding responsibilities, changing metrics, and raising expectations until employees become burned out and leave on their own.
Every year, frontline employees are expected to do more with less. More metrics. More monitoring. More pressure. More responsibilities. Less support.
The biggest disconnect is leadership. While representatives spend entire shifts handling nonstop back to back calls, leadership often seems focused on meetings, presentations, and sending motivational quotes that feel completely out of touch with reality. When employees are drowning in work, another inspirational message isn’t support it feels like a slap in the face.
The focus on metrics has become exhausting. It feels like every minute of your day is measured and scrutinized. No matter how hard you work, there is always another target to hit and another expectation to meet.
I’ve watched morale drop significantly over the last few years. Good employees are burned out, stressed, anxious, and actively looking for a way out. Some have taken leave because of the pressure. The company talks about employee well being, but many frontline workers feel differently.
At the same time, Progressive continues investing heavily in AI, automation, and vendors while hiring is on freeze until who knows when. Employees are expected to absorb more work while hearing constant messages about efficiency and transformation.
What makes this especially frustrating is that the company is thriving financially and has become one of the largest auto insurers in the country. You would think that success would result in more support for the employees who helped build it. Instead, many frontline workers feel more expendable than ever.
There are still good people and good managers throughout the company, but the overall direction has created a culture of frustration, burnout, and declining morale.
I used to recommend Progressive as a place to work.
I don’t anymore.
