Below-Scale Pay & Excessive Overtime - Eligibility Specialist Unum Employee Review

A lot can be said about the benefits at UNUM, but for all its perks, fair compensation is not included. I started UNUM as a Scholar in the Leave Management Center while I finished out college. Upon transitioning into the role of Eligibility Specialist - which is only paid a dollar and a few cents more than their Scholars/Interns - I felt comfortable at the pace they expected us to complete work. Then COVID-19 hit. Rather than hiring additional ES' to help the influx of claims being filed, UNUM went into a hiring freeze and set mandatory overtime to nearly 15 hours each week, including mandatory Saturdays. Despite their employees - including myself - being personally impacted by the virus, there existed no flexibility in time off, whether it involved bereavement, illness, or PTO. I approached our Employee Relations Consultant about the intensity of the job, working 55 hours a week, 6-7 days a week. I was informed UNUM had no policy on the max amount of hours they could require of us, and to stick through it all, hoping the caseload would wear down. For months, we were provided with meager time off, to the point that only working 10 hours overtime was considered a good week. As the pandemic continued, the ES' organization began to lean more heavily on its ES', asking us to learn processes normally exclusive to the LES, PFL, and ADA Specialists. This involved additional, insufficient training that we were unable to rewatch in case we needed a refresher, and no pay raises to scale with the additional job tasks we had not initially signed on to. I'd like to clarify that additional, new work isn't anything to complain about. But working at 34k annually with a role that began to bleed into the responsibilities of three separate departments complicated a role I already felt stretched out in. And then the metrics came in. Initially, we were judged by how many claims we were able to reassign in and complete. At the turn of the year, however, a barrage of metrics were instituted that the managers swore by, but upon questioning, could not speak to the reliability or validity. These metrics ranged from how long we were in a claim to how UNUM judged us to be productive. For instance, we would be timed on how quickly we could run through a claim, but contrarily we'd be marked negatively if we didn't stay in a claim long enough. It was a balancing act, and our jobs and promotions were constantly on line for metrics that functionally did not hold up to statistical accuracy. Many teammates resorted to cheating to meet numbers, working late into the night when no one was online, or cherry-picking claims they knew could be quickly worked up and sent out. Despite this knowledge being presented to senior management, these workers remained without punishment. It seemed for those people who pulled what they were supposed to and worked the hard claims - which often required waiting for forms and papers - were in constant fear and in threat of being fired for being unable to triage out claims that couldn't be worked out in one day. When promotion time rolled around, I was passed off on a pay-raise as a result of not exceeding the previous quarter's metrics. Just 3 hours later, however, I was recognized as the topmost achieving performer in the department. The messaging didn't add up, and I felt I could not be appreciated there anymore. Speaking to their diversity, UNUM boasts diverse policies and programs. To their credit, UNUM does throw a lot of money at community involvement and includes sexual orientation as a protected employment class. I'm a gay person, and felt pride in a company that similarly was proud to employ queer persons. The only incident I can recall was a new manager who took over during my time as a Scholar. This manager would repeatedly make disparaging remarks and outright exclude scholars who were LGBTQ+. To the point I raised the issue to HR, this manager would constantly threaten to fire queer scholars despite their over performance for asinine issues, such as rescheduling their work hours for tests or calling in after a death in the family (I know it seems dramatic, but unfortunately it's true). I was happy to move into the ES organization after that experience. Culture-wise, UNUM is extraordinarily territorial and competitive. Claims can be immensely confusing at times, and there's a variety of departments and people whose hands touch a claim before it's approved. Some LS' and DBS' and LES' are happy to help in case there's a question that needs answering. But more often than not, there's a culture of annoyance that entry-level positions are climbing up the ladder to ask for assistance. In sum, I'm proud of my time at UNUM, but I would not consider going back nor recommending a friend. I was grateful to find a job paying double what I initially made at UNUM, and though I did shoot for opportunities internally, I ultimately decided leaving the company was best for my professional and personal life. Though my team was the greatest bunch of people I have worked with, I felt undervalued and disrespected by management, despite many times being sworn I was heard and appreciated. Actions speak louder than words, and unfortunately more often than not UNUM's generic company-wide emails were the only source of positivity in the company.