I am writing this review with mixed emotions. I have spent almost a decade with this company. During my first several years with PEMCO, I had some of the best professional experiences of my career. Leadership was excellent. Benefits were excellent. Workloads were manageable. Stress levels were low. Employee performance goals were achievable. However, as new leadership came into the department and in an executive level, things have radically changed. If you are considering working for this company, specifically in Customer Service, be aware of the following;
1) I have never worked for a company that has made requesting and obtaining time off so difficult. You will be forced to request time off 6-9 months in advance. Most of your requests will be denied. Securing time off on short notice (outside of the 6-9 month in advance window) is all but impossible for average employees. For these reasons, employees PTO balances have soared and their sick time balances have plummeted as the only guaranteed way to secure time off on short notice is the use of sick time.
2) You will be met with constantly moving goal posts for measuring your employee performance. No longer are you measured by your insurance knowledge, service and timely handling of calls. You are now measured on how much money you can save or make the company. Your schedule and pay will be based on how many people you can convince to sign up for paperless options or online accounts. A year ago if you managed to secure a cross sale that resulted in a new policy, you received a small bonus. Now, you must secure many of these a month in order to keep your job. Failure to secure these cross sells will result in undesirable shifts, no annual raises and ultimately, termination.
3) This company will own you and every second of your time on the clock. This may make sense to some, as this tends to be what a job is - However, this feels different. Your every second of every day will be tracked. In the bathroom? Tracked and recorded. Taking a few minutes after a difficult call? Tracked and recorded. Recently leadership has become obsessed with ‘employee efficiency” meaning that during your 8 hour work day, you will likely have no more than just a few minutes of rest between work. There are no slow days. There is no coasting. There is only one work mode, and that is pedal to the metal, full tilt, strap in and hold on for hours straight until your scheduled breaks. Speaking of those breaks, they are built into your schedule. If you are late to a break because you are on a call that goes longer than expected, this is counted against your employee adherence to your schedule, though it is through no fault of your own. This fact brings me to my last point…
4) There is an enormous disconnect between leadership and employees. This seems counterintuitive as the company tries to promote a culture that is open and accessible. However, the thinking heads that come up with these new adherence ideas or cross sell requirements seem so far removed from the realities of what the job has become, that their ideas seem generated in a vacuum with no eyes as to what is achievable by an average employee. 3-4 years ago most employees seemed at ease, relaxed and content. And now, just within the past 2 years I have talked to a half a dozen coworkers who have found themselves feeling so hopeless about their prospect of not only enjoying their work, but keeping their jobs that they’ve actively thought about self harm. These are coworkers that I know well, who provide WORLD CLASS service and have extensive institutional knowledge. But their leadership is consistently failing them by moving the goal post ever higher - keeping that employees job security just barely out of reach. I feel that this is by design. I am disappointed by what PEMCO has become.
