Pros
Auto-Owners is one of the best places to be introduced to the insurance industry. The training program they have developed for the branches in Lansing is second to none. The job itself is extremely easy and low stress. If a low stress environment is more important to you than being underpaid your entire career, then A-O really is a great place to work.
Cons
While there is room for upward movement at A-O, it really isn’t worth it unless you plan on being RVP/Director someday. Unfortunately, the only way you will get to that level is if you are part of the good ol’ boys club. At any management level lower than that, the compensation ($1,500-$2,000 raise to move from Underwriter to Underwriting Supervisor 🤯) is not worth it. There are many underwriters who make more than their supervisors. I have never heard of a company undervaluing their management more than A-O. On top of that, branch management is babysat by Home Office, which in turn forces them to micromanage their own associates. The annual bonuses (which are NOT guaranteed and vary year by year) are the only way I was able to afford working at A-O. It is a well-known fact the only way to make good money at the company is to leave and come back after getting paid a reasonable salary by a competitor. They continually bump up the starting salary for new hires, while not equally compensating their existing employees. They have bred a culture of non-transparency for this very reason. No one knows the salary range for their own position (not even your own management), yet there are salary caps in place. This results in Home Office throttling the already small annual raises to prevent associates from reaching that unknown cap. While it is a core value, hard work is not rewarded at A-O, which breeds complacency. It is next to impossible to get fired, so some people do the bare minimum without any worry of ever losing their job because of it.
