Pros
I honestly cannot think of one positive thing to say about the company or their policies.
Cons
- You can be written up for taking more than your allotted bathroom break(5 minutes) or AM/PM breaks (Heaven forbid you become constipated, the bathroom is full because an entire team takes a break at the same time as you and there are two stalls in the bathroom, or the elevator in your building breaks down unexpectedly and you have to climb six flights of stairs -- all of which I personally experienced). - You MUST account for EVERY minute of the work day using a computer tracking system. Certain positions have their work day completely scheduled, calculated for completion of specific tasks at specified times of the day; (This includes the time you can go to the bathroom/breaks/lunch). - Work is LITERALLY measured with a ruler. If you do not finish your work, you can be disciplined. If a member of your team is missing for the day, you must in addition complete the missing team members work AND your work without allowance for the additional work. - Company provides you with specific number of sick days per year -- in my case 10. Each sick day counts as an "occurrence." Therefore, after taking 3 sick days you receive a warning (3 occurrences), after 5 days you can be written up (5 occurrences), and at 10 days fired. - Employees must bid for time off, twice per year. You have to bid against everyone in the entire company, who holds your same position. Factored in to whether an employee is granted time off: seniority and yearly/quarterly reviews. For new employees this means you may not receive time off for quite some time. - Supervisors are NOT available for assistance or to resolve issues related to work -- or most likely, interpersonal issues between the staff. Supervisors are in meetings every day, for 6.5 - 7 hours of the 8-hr work day. - Supervisor turnover is constant. In one year's time I had 3 Supervisors. None of these Supervisors had previous Supervisory experience. In addition, none of these Supervisors actually had experience within the unit they supported. - No discount for employees who purchase State Farm Insurance. (??!!) - Promotion is negligible. Only when an office is closing or a unit is relocating. For example, it requires applicants for Supervisory (NOT Management) positions, to have between 10 - 15 years of experience with State Farm itself. - Lack of integrity. For example, as part of a group of new hires, our unit was informed, at the beginning our of second week, that our positions were being eliminated and our options were to relocate to one of two (undesirable) locations OR compete against existing employees for open positions (as they became available.). - Training was completely inadequate as it involves numerous hours of watching videos via your computer with no hands-on experience prior to your first day on the job. Supervisor unable to assist as he/she never participated in nor has watched this training. - Reimbursement for classes is nearly impossible and taking a company-sponsored class to reach a certification is like pulling teeth. You must submit a business case for taking the class to your Supervisor, who must then submit it to their Manager for approval, who has to submit the justification to Training for approval. The company touts rewarding those with higher education and further training, however this is untrue. As the only one one my team (at two separate locations) with a 4-year degree and additional certification, I was not compensated any differently than an 18-year old for whom this was their first job. (Not to mention the extensive experience I possessed). - Without a Supervisor to guide the employees, pettiness and cliques formed. Tattle-taleing was encouraged and rewarded by Management. Employees were allowed to be racist, use inappropriate language, insult and intimidate others, and sexually harrass fellow employees. While employed for State Farm, an independent investigative team was brought in to our location to investigate these issues and employees were let go after being found guilty. - If you do not eat, sleep, and think State Farm you will NOT thrive at this workplace. Groupthink is encouraged and obligatory. Employees seem to be mindless automatons for whom the company is a step up from their previous positions -- as they now have benefits and a 40-hr/week job. - Overtime is MANDATORY in most entry-level positions. Schedules are frequently rotated, with employees (almost never) having two days off in a row. This includes working round the clock in some locations.