Great Company, poor local management
Pros
Great starting salaries, great benefits, great 401k. I was hired on at $52,000 with zero insurance experience, handed keys to a 2017 Ford Escape, a new laptop and new cell phone on day one.... Sounds amazing, right? Then you go to training. Your first 8-12 weeks with the company you will be in “training”. This is in one of 4 places, Cleveland, Austin, Tampa or Tempe AZ. You’re there a min or two weeks straight usually and as much as 6 weeks depending on your local manager. The training staff of Progressive truly cares and enjoys their jobs, and that shows. Imagine having to onboard upwards of 200+ new employees every two weeks, most of whom are in their early 20’s. Yikes. While at “training” you’re basically given the run of whatever city you’re in (Cleveland for me). You’re treated pretty darn good, given tours of the main campus, you meet the CEO, and are 100% “sold” on the company. You’re given a rental car, a cash card with $450 on it and set free after 5pm daily. It’s amazing some of these kids don’t die during the course of training. My training in Cleveland was 100% positive, and I graduated in both of my classes in the top 2%, and seemed destined for a long career with Pro. Keep in mind I have had only 3 jobs in my life (40y.o.) and thought I would retire from Progressive. I LOVED this company until I got back to my local city and was under local management. See cons...
Cons
Workload, local/regional management. I loved everything about this company until I was put under local management. My manager was completely new to the position, ignorant to what employees needed, stubborned and downright hateful when asked questions or challenged in ANY way. God forbid someone 10+ years older have an opinion.... Progressive LOVES 20 something’s that haven’t developed an opinion of the world, and that was all of my coworkers. Do not take this job if you’re headstrong and have an opinion. You will be continually stifled and ridiculed until you quit. And this is coming from someone in retail management for 20 years... They preach Work/Life balance, but not a day passed that I wasn’t making calls or dealing with estimates WAY past the 5pm hour, and many many times on my “weekends”. If I decided I wanted to enjoy my “weekend” and pushed off “work” on a Saturday, I would be buried on the following Monday with little chance to get though the workload I had. After 4 months of this hell, I literally just didn’t show up one Monday. Covertly I dropped off all my Progressive related gear, car, laptop, phone etc at the local office and just quit. It was THAT bad. I’m 40. I’ve NEVER quit a company not even at 16 years old, without at least two weeks notice, but when you are just bullied and treated like garbage by your direct boss, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.