Great company culture, rocky sales organization
Pros
1. The Culture. The people are great. The company spends a lot of time, energy and resources cultivating an inclusive and fun environment. They do this through ERGs, volunteer opportunities, company outings and department contests. 2. The Training, both new hire and ongoing. Again, The Hartford puts a lot of effort into making sure their employees are informed about changes in company policy, underwriting guidelines, process headlines, and organizational changes. 3. Work/Life balance. Your work stays at work, OT is optional, attendance policies are generous, and you're off almost every holiday.
Cons
1. The compensation plan. Oooh, the compensation plan... In just one year, Personal Lines Sales has changed their compensation structure 4 times. The first compensation plan was a joke. You had to sell 60-70 policies before you were even eligible for commission, and then the commission could barely cover an electric bill. Then the second comp plan came out, and it was mildly better, as it focused on efficiency over volume. Payouts increased, and people who had begun looking elsewhere for a career reconsidered to stay for a bit longer. The third compensation plan came out, and payouts REALLY increased. This was a great few months, because people who hit their goals made good money, but top performers were being rewarded handsomely. People were taking home $2-$3k in commission alone. But I guess the Hartford hadn't counted on people being motivated to exceed their goals now that they were getting good checks, because just as quickly as that new comp plan came, it was replaced by one that raised quota and closing percentage goals, but reduced payouts to literal dollars per policy UNLESS you're able to greatly exceed those goals. Yeah, you read that right. Agents made money and the Hartford's response was to turn around and make it harder for them to make money. And I'm sure in another 4 months, we will be changing the comp structure AGAIN. 2. The sales culture is barely a sales culture. The company has been around for over 200 years, which is really shocking when you see the sales culture is still in its toddler stage. If you're a well-rounded or seasoned sales professional, personal lines sales at the Hartford is not for you. You cannot have your own leads, nor can you follow up with a lead without manager approval. They expect you to close the sale on the very first call, in under 1050 seconds for your handle time. Considering our target demographic is AARP members over the age of 50, this is very difficult to accomplish, unless you plan on aggressively selling, which ends up hurting your customer service score (because guess what? this demographic doesn't like being aggressively sold to). They follow the Integrity Sales model--which is a fantastic model. However, they only want you to follow certain parts of it. Much of integrity selling focuses on qualifying and prospecting--which the company is adamantly against because they want quantity over quality, which goes against its core values of writing sustainable, long-term business (poor quality leads seldom stay on the books long enough for the agent to make commission, let alone yield the company a profit). In summary, we are not a sales floor. We are a contact center and cashiers. 3. Poor Change Management. Change management is never easy, but they got really sloppy on this one. First, they canned directors and other leadership. Then, they began canning poor performers, while in the process of rolling out more aggressive ad campaigns (mail, magazines, national tv ads). With the sudden cut of staff, and a sudden rush of call volume, people became overwhelmed quickly. In a matter of two weeks, dozens more quit without notice. Customer service ratings tanked because of long hold times and agents being burnt out, and abandon rates increased. Sales volume remained steady, but because of the volume of calls, you're quoting more, which reduces your closing percentage effectiveness, which reduces your overall payout. The Hartford is reaping the benefits of the increased marketing, but agents are back to the way it was a year ago: working more, and making less.