Changes killing the company - Ability Analyst The Hartford Employee Review

- Nonexistent training. "formal" training program did not teach about position, only state policy (which is already reinforced with later training and courses, as well as thru experience. wrong training priorities) - Significant caseload fluctuations (exacerbated by frequent glitches in the outdated system and misdirection) - The aforementioned outdated system. Incapable of doing things most systems should, and extremely slow. Expect to file at least one IT ticket a month for the system not functioning properly. Getting dozens of calls not meant for me, with no way to know if theyre meant for me. Buggy system automatically assigning hundreds of tasks to me when theyre supposed to go to other people. Makes my job harder, and means customers arent getting the necessary help they need as constant reassignment and call redirections takes time. - Faulty/otherwise cheap setup equipment. Cheap monitors that need to be replaced, HP decks have occasional issues with connectivity, internet that goes out even in the office at least once a week (even in empty office on monday's and friday's) - Extreme micromanagement - A LOT of conflicting information. Being told how to do something one way, doing it exactly as you were told, and then being marked down for doing it exactly as you were told has happened on two handfuls of occasions; this was especially hurtful to me as I had KPI goals that I was chasing and I was being bumped every month for things I was not responsible for; I was very vocal about my issues with this and interestingly, it completely stopped after that point, even with me starting my least favorite and most difficult case that I was bracing for lower starting KPIs for. I wonder why that was the case. It is clear this is not just exclusive to me or my team either; I have had CCXTs being combative and rude with me on 3 memorable occasions for processing a claim a certain way (which I had done correctly) simply because they were mislead and told incorrect information. This shouldn't happen, and certainly not on 3 occasions. - Lack of understanding and accommodation for employee's circumstances. Even with communication, I was still punished for slightly less productivity while sick with a viral infection (PTO was not an option) - Constant new KPI's when the beginning ones are already unrealistic due to so much variation in team's caseloads. How can you have universal KPIs when everyone does different work, takes different time off, has different schedules and rules? 'Policy' implies no exceptions, it is supposed to apply to everyone, unless apparently you've been there for long enough and/or have figured out skeevy ways to beat the system so you don't get in trouble for work avoidance while also avoiding responsibilities (yes team, I see you sending emails asking for information that is already on file just so you can avoid processing an annoying approval and have it reassign to others) - Constant changes to structure for far too many people, causes things to slow down as so many people are being moved around. Not effective, especially when having people constantly being moved and requiring training when the training is already so lackluster; my caseload changed twice within one month, new 'training; required for both. I went from being in a position where I wasn't needed to make calls for over a year and was never trained on it, to now being thrown into a position with calls for every single claim with no formal training from my TL or anybody; only 2 shadowing sessions with someone who is on a different team (she is very helpful and knowledgeable, though.) about companies that I didn't even end up getting on this team. Prior to this, I was also expected to know how to operate an entire new (different) case and state after 1 mostly irrelevant hour of training. My solidified understanding of this case came once again from peers, not management, and this seems to be consistent with all the cases I have had. Don't expect any of your formal training to be accurate or helpful; you get that info from your peers who, in my experience, were the only saving grace for this position. That being said, this also made me realize how much I like training new hires, as the times I had new hires shadowing me was the most I have enjoyed this position; it felt nice to be able to lead them in the proper direction and teach them how to do their work correctly and effectively instead of them being told conflicting info from other sources and learning less effective ways to do their job. - No room for growth; maybe different in other departments, however claims is completely segregated from everything else; when discussing interest in growth, was talked down from my interest in moving to another department and suggested to stay in claims for several more years just so I can take a step BACK and get an entry level position in the other department. Uh, no? That had to have been a joke, right? If I am not mistaken, I am pretty sure training and education is something that is supposed to be provided for those wishing to transfer ( I could be wrong about this), qualifications permitted. I understand the concept of paying your dues and doing what you need to do, garnering as much experience as you can, but telling a qualified individual that their career growth goals are not plausible because they wouldn't be able to score an entry level position in another department due to not having more (5) years in claims is laughable; especially coming from a company that claims to prioritize employees' best interests and support them in their career paths. We have monthly behavior and development meetings where we discuss our strengths and what path we'd like to take and what goals we'd like to achieve and come up with realistic paths to achieve this, so you can imagine the shock and disappoint after receiving this answer. No support or encouragement from the start, so why would one want to stay at a company like this where they aren't encouraged to pursue what they wish to pursue? - TL's clearly have too much on their plates, they should be there to help and not elsewhere stuck in meetings for 100% of the days. Which leads me to my next issue: - Why is there no consistency within teams and TLs? Of course everyone leads and does things slightly differently, however the disparity of knowledge of information is very significant between teams. This is not necessarily their fault, as the Hartford should be teaching their TLs to lead consistently and make sure they are all knowledgeable enough to be in that position, regardless of what team they are on. - Maybe this is my perception, but it doesn't seem like an overly accepting place for younger people. I am 22 (albeit younger looking) and have noticed slightly different treatment towards myself than others with seniority. I am however noticing more younger hires coming in these last few months, which I think is good for the company, as long as the company actually listens and doesn't stick with what they've been doing. They desire so badly to be a modern, tech-forward company, but they are so rigid and antiquated in nature that it just doesn't work. The customers are very vocal about it as well. Overall, the Hartford USED to be a great place to work. The first roughly year of employment was great! But the most recent months have been the worst work experience of my life. I feel targeted, and completely demotivated. This isn't the job I was hired to do and this isn't the company I thought I was applying to. Once those changes started happening, people became confused, quality of management tanked, more rules, less understanding, etc. A good stepping stone for my career, and maybe others will have better luck and timing at the Hartford. But I wouldn't come back, so I recommend looking elsewhere.