Pros
I have learned A LOT about insurance coverage and construction. The training makes you think you won the lottery in terms of employment. The training is fun, interesting and engaging; they definitely pick the right personalities to sell the position in a way that makes it seem like a dream job. You are given 20 days PTO starting out, can work from home at least two days a week under normal circumstances, flexible hours, up to a 10% annual bonus based on personal performance and company goals, and decent health benefits with HSA. 10 weeks paid PATERNITY leave was recently added. They contribute a base % for 401k and also match up to a certain %. It is really hard to find other jobs that provide 4 full working weeks of time off with the option to work from home and leave early every Friday.
Cons
Opportunity seems to exist only for those willing to say “yes” without any pushback. If you speak up against a process or attempt to advocate for someone, you are seen as negative and will end up with a target on your back. Your success is somewhat defined by the supervisor you are assigned from Day 1 - some are easygoing and understanding, others are by the book and put up a road block for you. This is a mentally demanding job. At times, it can feel like the work/life balance doesn’t exist. You have a flexible schedule (7:30 AM to 7:00 PM, 40 hours a week), which is great for appointments and personal life. With that being said, be prepared to spend most of your time off thinking about work, or wake up thinking about how much you have going on. Most coworkers you talk to have gotten back on or started taking medication (anti-depressants or anti-anxiety) just to try and cope with the stress. Going on PTO for a week during busy season? You will likely come back to untouched work and will be digging yourself out of a hole for the next week or so. They turn you off from receiving claims half a day for each day you’re gone (i.e. one day of PTO = cut off from new claims at noon the day before you leave). This model is not set up in your favor, as most people receive their full claim load before noon. The idea is you work ahead, so that you are caught up through the day you return, but it is not possible to do this. They encourage taking time off, but good luck getting time off in summer. The department bids for vacation time at the end of the year and the people familiar with the situation scramble to take every Monday and Friday from June to August. Most people are strategic and take the day after a holiday to avoid being filled with the claims that came in during the day off. This is not fair to new employees who start at the beginning of the year only to find they can’t take a single day off when the weather is nice. Sporadic days pop up on the calendar, but it’s like striking gold when you see a Monday or Friday. No issues with finding extended time off January through mid-May and September through December. This is a heavily metrics-based position where you feel like you’ve been set up to fail. The job cannot be done in 40 hours in the summer, and even management is aware of this, but instead of recognizing that they’re at fault for not figuring out an appropriate staffing model, they continue to push overtime and blame the employees for any customer complaints on delays (“You didn’t set proper expectations”). Outside of busy season, it can be enjoyable because you have things to do, but can deliver great service and wrap things up quickly. You are measured on customer surveys, but customers can give you a bad survey if they were upset about the type of policy they have and it will count against you, possibly even ruining your overall rating for the year. No matter how much they try to say they aren’t focused on numbers, numbers are brought up during every meeting. The most recent number being thrown around is the percentage of calls that go to voicemail. Overall, would not recommend being an adjuster to even my worst enemy.