Pros
Gainshare (this is both a pro and con because non sales roles don’t have an expectation of commission but the sales roles would likely end up making more money at the end of the year had they been commissioned the whole time). DEI, there are many completely optional DEI related initiatives and programs Progressive offers which is nice. Good supervisors (this can vary wildly but Ive thankfully had great supervisors who really tried their best and cared a lot about my performance and growth). Flexible options for scheduling and they sometimes offer a way to essentially clock out if the queue is slow.
Cons
Career opportunities are dangled in front of you constantly but actually progressing to those positions is confusing and difficult no matter how much assistance they offer. Ive worked with at least 100 teammates at this point and the only time people leave sales/service positions is to pursue something in Claims for higher pay. Trainer/coach/supervisor roles exist but they are only given to those that are groomed and favored by someone already in those positions. Many of the analyst/IT/process consultant “boot camps” they offer are limited to certain job “levels” so you aren’t eligible right off the bat because you are just a grunt so you are always seeking a way to dig out of one trench and into another. Medical benefits are absolutely horrid, very expensive and seemingly doesn’t cover a whole lot. Dental and vision is fine. Metrics. You are monitored on every single thing you do and those metrics get stricter over time. They monitor how long you take to log in, to restart, how long your calls are, what states you sell, everything you do is reduce down to numbers and graphs. You are only given a 15 second interval between calls before the system auto answers it for you. Just had someone curse you out? Too bad, next call. Just had an hour and a half long call to quote multiple products? Too bad next call. Yes you get break times but they are sparse and they don’t let you take breaks in a human way. You have to take them in allotted durations. The worst con is the customers. This is less on Progressive and more on people and insurance companies in general. Most people that call are either completely ignorant of their needs (everyone wants Full Coverage, but that doesn’t exist) or down right nasty. Progressive’s quoting questions are pretty extensive in comparison to other top companies and lots of customers get frustrated over the process and theres nothing a consultant can do. The dichotomy of management telling you to be empathetic to people’s situations but selling a product that inherently reduces people to a commodity is tiring.